Yesterday was a pretty big day when it comes to my concert-going experiences and love for music.
For those who don’t know me, I’m a music addict. I have thousands of songs on iTunes and had to buy myself a 120 gig iPod just to hold everything. I’m constantly on YouTube finding new artists. My mom sends me iTunes cards and calls it my “drug money.”
Now that you know that, let me tell you about a band I’ve fallen in love with over the past year – The Civil Wars. It’s a male and female duo, and the singers’ names are John Paul White and Joy Williams. If you haven’t heard them, go on YouTube right now and listen to the song “Barton Hollow” or “Poison and Wine,” and you’ll get an idea. They’re kind of folk-y and have the BEST harmonies I have ever heard. It is just so lovely, I can’t even begin to explain it to you. Just please listen for me. Please?
Anyway, I heard they were touring in the UK and was dying to get tickets, but the concerts were already sold out. Then a friend of mine, studying abroad in Istanbul, Turkey, (awesome, right?!) sent me a link to a record store just down the road from me.
Guess what? They were hosting a FREE gig. Featuring who? The Civil Wars.
I flipped. I got a few people to agree to go with me, and we headed out yesterday to the store. It was already packed, and we had to wait in line for about two hours for wristbands to get in. But it was all worth it, because once we got the wristbands and made our way back inside to the stage, we were in the second row!
They didn’t play very long, but the songs they did play were incredible. Check out them covering “Billie Jean” on YouTube – they played that one for us, and I think I can safely say everyone in the audience absolutely loved it.
After their set, they signed autographs for every
single person in the audience (about 300 people) and then let us take pictures of them (although we were warned by security to keep our distance since John Paul was feeling ill, and Joy is pregnant. It was very very cool, though, because we were about two feet away from them. I could have touched them… but I thought that might be a little bit creepy.
This was an amazing night out in London, and one I will most certainly never forget.