The best concert I've seen this year

Sunday night, Stephen Kellog and The Sixers played the Cat's Cradle for what is probably the very last time. A group of us, led by Sarah and me, went; I had purchased tickets the moment I learned of the show.  The group, which I have loved since Sarah turned me onto them, is making what they are calling their HI-ATE-US tour, because they are taking an indefinite hiatus from performing. 

It's no surprise that this was an emotional show.  Knowing this band, it's also no surprise that it was an excellent show. 

What was surprising was how amazingly emotional it was, how superb it was, and how everyone in the band managed to squeeze so much intensity into this sixteenth stop of their final tour.  They smiled and teared up and played with abandon, all of them clearly still friends, all of them still loving these final shows together. 

In addition to loving the show, I found myself moved and with a great deal to think about, some of which will no doubt find its way to this blog over time. 

As the last full number of the second encore, they played one of my very favorite songs of theirs, "My Favorite Place."



Gradually, the members of the band stopped playing their instruments and gathered together around the microphone, until they were singing to the occasional strumming of one guitar, and then they were singing a capella.  They motioned the audience to join, and we did.  We all sang together, louder and louder, as the power of live music brought musicians and audience together in that perfect joining that makes your heart burst and your spirit soar.  Their love of performing came through in the repeated refrain, and so did our love of their music.  Sarah sobbed, and though I do not cry, my eyes filled and a few tears leaked onto my cheek. 

If you like this group, if you like live music, or if you simply want to witness artists doing their very best right to the end, catch one of their remaining 13 shows. 

Over 28 hours later, my heart still aches from seeing them.