There is nothing greater in the world than being surprised. It’s that great feeling you get when you expect something or don’t expect anything at all, and all of a sudden the thing that you’ve been praying for happened, or the person you’ve been thinking about called. It’s the spreading of warmness that fills your heart when you knew something was going to be good, but you had no idea it was going to be great. That’s how I felt as I walked away from the Orpheum Theater in Boston on Saturday night. I smiled from ear to ear, it was cold but I was in a great place.
I had taken the train from Providence to Boston in the afternoon to go to the Joshua Radin/A Fine Frenzy concert. I had paid a very small price compared to what I was used to concerts costing in the Brazil and I was going to get to see one of my favorite singers in concert. My friend and I put the directions from Newbury street to Orpheum theater into the map app on her phone, not really knowing where we were going. We followed the line, we were the moving dot, we walked down an alley, and at the end, hidden behind three major buses, was a little entrance with flashing Orpheum Theater written over it. We walked in, happy to be hidden from the cold, amazed at this hidden gem we had just stumbled into.
We showed the usher our tickets, she looked surprised and asked us who knew to get such great seats. We didn’t tell her we knew a girl who probably knew someone, we smiled and let her lead us to our seats. The stage was decorated in a homey manner. Rugs everywhere and lamps scattered around the floor. The stage had more instruments than we thought possible, nine guitars, three keyboards, one piano, two drum sets and a banjo.
The show started with an opener, a senior from the Music Conservatory in Boston named Sarah. A pretty girl with a pretty voice, but that’s not really what we were there for. We wanted Josh, we knew A Fine Frenzy was going to come on first, but we just wanted him to come on stage, to serenade us. Once Sarah was done singing, they turned the lights back on, and a fat man in a Hawaiian shirt got on stage and began moving things around. He took a guitar and a banjo with him. Before I knew it, the stage was slightly transformed, the lamps had all been turned off and there were Christmas lights strewn across the red keyboards, and a computer perched atop another one.
A very calm lead singer of A Fine Frenzy came on. Sure, I like her music, but there was definitely something off about her. Her voice was as beautiful and soft in the live performance as it is in her record. She was the epitome of a hipster. Yet the entire time I got the sense that she was out of it. She didn’t seem to connect with the crowds, nobody was screaming out her name, beginning her to play songs. She kept looking at her hands like they were foreign objects and she didn’t know what to do with them. They hovered over the microphone, or were stretched out in front of her in a claw like form. She sang mostly songs from her new album, which meant no one was singing along. She disappointed me, I expected her to blow my mind, to make me sing along to her mellow, yet sad, songs. But she didn’t. she sang one song I liked, and the rest, were just ok. Again, I found myself looking at my watch, wanting time to pass so that the real reason we were there could come on stage. She closed her number with “Almost Lover” a song that had me on the verge of tears, and then she was gone.
Once more the fat man with the Hawaiian shirt came on stage and began moving things around. He took even more instruments with him and the Christmas lights. And before I knew it, a beanie, tight pants and button down clad Joshua Radin came on stage. It is safe to say that he does not only have a beautiful voice, but he is also rather good looking. He immediately got the crowd going. He engaged us in his process, I would say he probably spent as much time talking to us as he did singing. He was also drinking from a red solo cup the entire time, getting, clearly, progressively drunker as the concert continued. But that didn’t change anything. Every time he opened his mouth, I melted a little. I didn’t care whether he was singing his old songs or his new ones. He was just standing there, sounding good and looking good.
But of course every show has that one moment. The moment you say, yes I am in love, and I will buy your records rather than illegally download them, the moment that makes the whole trip worth it. For me that moment was when he sang my favorite song. The song I had told my friends I wanted him to sing. I almost felt like he was singing it for me, although I know he really wasn’t, a girl can dream. He asked the lights to be dimmed, he said it was his only romantic song, he asked the crowd to embrace their concert companion, as most people were there with their significant other, and he began to sing. This was his closing song, the song that left the final mark; he ended it with “I’d rather be with you” a song for lovers, a song of hope. He made my night worth it.
I knew the concert was going to be good, but I had no idea it was going to be as great as it was. I was surprised. I was surprised at how much I disliked A Fine Frenzy but I was also surprised at how happy a minute thing can make me. It’s the final song, the charisma. It’s what everyone should learn, it’s first impressions that count, and I’m glad to say this was one of the best first impressions I have ever had.