Case and I went to see the Australian folk/ country/ rock band, The Waifs on Thursday night at the Paradise. We caught them at the same venue in November and I think they put on an even better show this time.

I am an obnoxious kind of concert-goer in that I never care about the opening act. If we end up being late for a show, all the better! No wasting time shifting your weight from one foot to the other, waiting for that special moment in time when those bozos get the heck off the stage and the real show starts.

(Although, I have a quiet impatience. Nothing pisses me off more than an audience that does not pay attention to someone on stage. Maybe it is my experience doing public speaking in front of perpetually bored college students, but it just pains me to see someone working hard and the audience can’t be bothered to shut the hell up and listen.)

Where was I? Oh! The opening act. I was pleasantly surprised and greatly enjoyed Ben Weaver’s performance. When he first came on, Casey and I perked up and grinned at each other because he immediately brought Tom Waits to mind. Not because of rambling or idiosyncratic songs, but his voice: Raspy and deep. Very nice.

The comparison ended fairly quickly though when I noticed that he has a country/ southern twang in most of his songs. (Casey still thought he was Australian… silly boy.)

But he is married to an Australian… Donna of the Waifs. He told a cute story about looking for a girl who could play a mailbox, because that is who he knew he was going to marry… Who knew a mailbox would so sound so good?

You can download a few mp3s from his website here. (Although I listened to them and he sounded way better live, in my humble opinion…)

Here are some rather blurry shots of The Waifs in action… check out the bellies on those girls! Apparently, both Donna and Vicki are due on the same day…. too cute!

You can get some sample songs, including my favorite Lighthouse, on the band’s website.

I had such a good time, bouncing away in the front row and holding hands with my hubby. Great music, great performance…

Not much can beat it, no siree.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 23rd, 2005 at 11:55 pm and is filed under Notes, Shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.