Second, let me just recommend that you avoid seeing concerts at Humphrey’s By the Bay on Shelter Island.  While Jojo says the acoustics are good, much better than at House of Blues, the crowd is…how can I put this nicely…lame!  This is my second concert there, and both times the crowd has been boring, listless, obnoxiously inattentive, and quite drunk.  It really felt like we were sitting in the middle of a hen house throughout the entire show, non-stop drunken lady chatter.  And when we tried to liven up the show by coming up front to dance (because everyone else was seated), security sent us back to our chairs!  I’ll pass on any concert held here in the future.

Back to the music itself, I highly recommend Eli Reed if you are looking for some new soul to light a fire inside you!  When he sings, you cannot resist the urge to clap your hands and bob your head to the beat.  Duffy is soulful as well; she gave a very mellow and cute performance tonight.  Her voice is very unique, it’s got a tang to it that really sticks to you like syrup!  You may have heard her music on the radio, the single “Mercy” is pretty popular right now.

At the end of the night (10pm, so early!!!), I walked out of there still singing Eli’s joyful, rockin’ chorus: “You wanna take my love with you, everywhere you go!”  I wish he played for longer, and I wish the crowd would not have been raucously chattering during his expressive and explosive performance.  Next time Eli!

If I had to characterize her style of music…actually I can’t. She is so versatile! She’s up there on stage, with her super cute shoes, her acoustic guitar, and a simple band composed of an upright bass, a drum kit, a piano, and an accordion. Her first song, which I can only describe as “Hang on St. Christopher,” had a bluesy, swinging attitude that had Stellan and I feeling the music right away. She transitioned into soul, then rock, then into simple and heartfelt country, then blues, then into this amazing ballad in Spanish, then into a jazzy song that made me believe she was plucked straight out of the 1950s! It’s inconceivable how 1 person and 1 voice can embody every one of these styles, yet Patty Griffin does it, and she does it so well. She is genuine

For her first encore (no one left until she came back out a second time), she sang this sweet, soulful song which was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr. The title is “Up to the Mountain,” and it is truly beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes and down my face. You can listen to it on her myspace, or look it up on seeqpod.com to hear it.

I really connected with Patty Griffin’s voice and her music, it compels me and warms me so. *sigh* It feels good. If and when she comes back to San Diego, I can guarantee that you will enjoy seeing her perform and hearing her music live.

(photo from Patty’s myspace)

**update: We went to this sold out concert at the Belly Up without tickets, just hoping for a chance that someone would be scalping. Just our luck, someone’s friends did a no-show and they sold us their tickets for face value! Yes!