The minute I saw this show pop up on the 9:30 Club website, I bought tickets. That was back in April. I painfully waited five entire months and it was more than worth the wait.
Over the five months, I had developed a few assumptions going into this show. One, Dallas would focus mostly on his new album, an album which is fantastic, but doesn't have that same emotional hold on me that his older albums do. And two, the show would entirely consist of Dallas with his guitar playing acoustic versions of all his songs. These assumptions were silly - Dallas is amazing to his fans and would never short-change us from all the C&C songs we grew up with. He also knows how to rock.
Such as the VC show, I had high aspirations of the front row. It didn't happen - I ended up being 8th in line outside, with another thirty inside. We did see Dallas go back into his tour bus after playing basketball - I think we were all too shell-shocked to say/do anything. The girls behind me weren't paying attention to anything, so my new concert buddy was able to cut the line and join me. I must say, I love going to concerts with people more so than just myself. Although, I'm convinced a person should be as passionately into music as I am to make good company. Carrie fit the bill and I hope to go to more concerts with her in the future.
Lucy Rose and her band opened. She was adorable and I could almost understand why the two sets of couples in front of me were there to see her versus C&C. The band wasn't too cohesive at first but really came together wonderfully by the end of the set. Initially, I think everyone was a bit nervous. I've been listening to her album since the show and I really enjoy and recommended it. At the very least, check out my favorites from the album: Red Face, Lines and Bikes. During the middle of the set, Lucy told the story of her and her band walking around D.C. trying to convince six different record stores to sell the album without luck before the show. For some reason, that story made me really sad. Come on, DC.
After a relatively short period of time, Dallas prepared to enter the stage. The song to welcome him on was strange and we endured an anticipatory minute for his appearance. He and his band came out and started rocking. The Hurry and The Harm was the opening song - I'm a big fan of bands opening their shows with their most recent album's opening song. It's fitting. Of Space and Time and The Lonely Life followed. I still didn't trust Dallas enough at this point to not play his entire new album. When Grand Optimist came on, I knew he'd play a great set with lots of variety. As Much As I Ever Could was an interesting first choice from Bring Me Your Love but he proved that song is underrated. Weightless was the last big rock song from the first part of the show. I can't get over how amazing it was to see that song live. After spending most of the past year with that song as my alarm in the morning, experiencing it during the show woke me up in other ways.
At this point in the show, the band left and we got Dallas all raw and acoustic. Day Old Hate was another intriguing choice that I wouldn't have expected, but greatly enjoyed. Northern Wind was dedicated to a couple Dallas had met previously in the day, who had had a special moment with the song. When I think about it closely, Northern Wind is a far better love song than The Girl. Comin' Home had been on a playlist of mine leading up to the show and I was really happy to experience it live - the song had a way of bringing everyone together to sing.
The third part of the show, once the band had come back on stage, left little to be desired. Sleeping Sickness was just not meant to be this hyped-up rock ballad. I almost couldn't keep a straight face... I feel awful about this but my conflicting emotional feelings tied to that song also didn't help. Thirst, Fragile Bird and Sorrowing Man were all good ending choices, but I was exhausted.
The encore was long. What Makes a Man? was the first song of three and Dallas went through this whole spiel to get the audience to sing with him during certain parts of the song. From here on out, we'd no longer get the chance to interact so intimately with him and it was the perfect song to start saying goodbye with. As much as I was expecting The Girl to be the song of the night, the show, for me, truly ended here.
Looking back, Dallas' stage presence made the show. He's such an approachable-seeming, humble musician. The encouragement to sing along was appreciated and he even called out all the grouchy attendees who were getting upset over all the off-key, off-measure sing-a-longs. A girl was celebrating her birthday in the front row (even had a birthday tiara) and he did a shout out to her (I'm pretty sure that made her year). He casually played off all the "Marry Me Dallas" fangirls by pointing at his ring. The man is chatty and all the interaction with the crowd made this show so memorable and his music somehow more easy to relate to. A two-hour set was long but you could tell how much he was enjoying himself. I also loved how his drinks of choice were a shot of whiskey and a beer - I wasn't expecting anything less.
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