I saw Steve Martin perform tonight with another band called the Steep Canyon Rangers. I'm really glad I decided to do the splurge and see him. It was very well played bluegrass/banjo music and Steve Martin was entertaining throughout.
It was playing at the Granada theater, which I'm convinced is SB's "music" venue and the Arlington (one block down, literally) where I saw David Sedaris is the "theater" venue. The theaters are completely different. Arlington inside looks like the outside of a little villa in Italy or something (ceiling is painted blue with clouds for example) and the Granada is, well, more grand. :P I think it's larger than the Arlington too. It has a similar set-up as the Carnegie Hall except the seats in the balcony are practically vertically up. LoL Having the student rate tickets meant I was in the nosebleed seats (seriously). My friend and I were in row U. I think there were not 5 rows behind us either. I think we were the 3rd from the top. So it was a little weird looking down on the stage because you're high up at a very steep angle. Anyway, it didn't matter so much since they were simply standing and playing music.
They played most songs that he wrote -- a few new ones that are going onto his next CD with the Steep Canyon Rangers featured (he said in 6 months) and a few from his current CD The Crow. He was amusing in between songs and there was a point where he left the stage (in an amusing manner -- "I haven't Googled myself in an hour, so I'm going to let the Steep Canyon Rangers play for a little" and then asked for a beer from the bass who apparently has a cut out in the back of it and he pulled out a beer) so Steep Canyon Rangers could perform a few songs. They played two, he came out and said, "I'm too drunk to play. Can you play another?" So they did an A Capella song about being in heaven walking around and seeing all these people in different colored shirts and saying who they are and the chorus was basically "Why don't you sit down? I can't. I just got to heaven". It was very, very well done and we all clapped and cheered so Steve came out and had these pieces of paper he handed to the guys and said, "Religious people have their beautiful songs. Atheists don't have any songs..." and went onto this thing and they sang a song called something like "Atheists don't have songs." It was HILARIOUS. They sang it A Capella and Steve sort of sung with them (piped in a line here and there) and it just cracked us all up. It was like Christians have their "Rock of Ages", Jews have their something else, etc, etc, Atheists have their Blues. Then it'd go to the chorus which was basically about atheists don't have songs. Then it'd go through various songs/types of music for various religions like Catholics have their Gregorian Chants...Atheists have Rock 'n' Roll. It was really funny.
He played a song that was about his dog and after the song ended, this dog suddenly springs across the stage, goes immediately to Steve who is getting his other banjo, he pets it, there's a collective "awww" from the audience and then the dog is called back off. It was so cute!! He brought his dog, whose name is Walley or Wally. It was a yellow lab.
Steve has 4 banjos which he keeps at different...pitches? Tunes? Something since his songs are all so different. It's to help eliminate tuning in between songs, except he ended up having to retune A LOT. It became a joke and at one song he couldn't get it to tune (he has an electric tuner he uses) and the banjo player from Steep Canyon Rangers had to tell him which key. So Steve got it tuned and said, "Thanks for making me look bad in front of the audience." And then made a joke saying the banjo was suddenly really out of tune like someone did it. And he looked at the other banjo player. He also made a joke about the other player since he has 4 banjos, he told the guy, "I don't consider you the 2nd banjo player...(we all think this is sweet)...I consider you the 5th banjo player." We all laughed.
He also uses an iPad for his set list, which he had on stage. So he made a few iPad jokes, one being the fact he uses the iPad ($600 as he said) for the set list when the Steep Canyon Rangers use a piece of paper or paper plate when they play alone, which is much less expensive. So he made a joke later about how it's not really an iPad. It's just a very old iPhone. He put it up to his hear and pretended he was talking into it. He also made a joke that the great thing about having the iPad was he could Tweet in the middle of concerts. So he did a pretend tweet "Tonight's audience is especially hot..." and we all laughed and he said "laughing out loud...l-a-u-g-h...abbreviate loud...l-u-d-period". We all laughed of course.
So, anyway, it was an enjoyable night. He's known the Steep Canyon Rangers for sometime, I think. He met them through his wife and this is the first time they're touring together. Actually, I think Santa Barbara might have been the first stop? They said it was day 2 of the tour (Steve kept making jokes he'd been on the road too long, which is why his memory was failing or why he was so "tired" and couldn't get things correct). I got nothing signed by Steve, though I came prepared with his CD The Crow and Shopgirl. LoL They had signed posters of the tour for $35 (I've spent more on books before...), but I passed. I could have bought a Steep Canyon Rangers CD and had them sign it too, but it was too crowded and the guys were in a place I couldn't even see. LoL Overall, it was a great performance and I'd see him again if I could. Ticket pricing would be the kicker... :P I'd do $40 at max, if it was just me. Course, I spent $30 and it was a student rate (plus fees)...Eck.
ETA: They actually started tour on the 1st of the month...Go figure. No clue why they said it was the 2nd. LoL It's been a week!
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