Jonathan and Joanna surprised me with tickets for the Chris Isaak concert  for my birthday last week, and the show was tonight so George and I and Jonathan and Joanna and Joanna’s sister Charity all went. It was sooooo great!

We have five of his CD’s (well, six counting the Christmas CD) and the live concert DVD, so I guess that sort of makes us fans… He’s excellent in concert! About halfway through, he took a portable mic and walked through the entire crowd while he sang “Return to Me.” The show was outdoors at a lovely venue, the weather simply perfect.

He came out in a turquoise blue wool, rhinestone studded suit with black diamonds on it. I think the entire audience felt sorry for him because it was hot out, and the poor fellow must have been roasting. About two-thirds the way through the concert he went back and changed into a suit made of what looked like about 3″ x 5″ mirrors. It sort of was like looking at a human disco ball.

On the commentary for his live concert DVD he mentions something about his concert apparel (he’s wearing a bright pink suit all the way through that one). He says that when you give a poor guy some money and put him on stage, the first thing he does is runs out and buys the flashiest looking suit he can find. Seems to be pretty much the case! He’s got such a self-deprecating, smooth sense of humor though that it works on him. How many guys can make a mirror suit look charming?

With the general admission, lawn-type seating, we wandered around and found seats (or grass, rather) pretty close to the front and way off to the left side (traffic was terrible. We left early but didn’t arrive until right before the show started. You’d think it was the day before a holiday or something!). This turned out to be good though, because we had a clear view of him from not too far away; and even better, when he came to or from the stage, he walked maybe thirty feet from us to get to and from the stage.

After the show, Joanna, Charity, and I all bought stuff and went through the line to have him sign it (apparently he signs things after every concert and stays until the last person is done). When I got up to my turn I told him he was my birthday present. He drew a birthday cake on the shirt he was signing for me and asked how old I am. I told him “thirty-two,” so he promptly wrote “thirty” on the shirt instead and admonished me that I “gotta start lying sometime.” Guess it’s time to go check Amazon and see if there are any CD’s of his out that I’ve somehow missed…

I don’t think any of the pictures we took came out (unless you’re interested in seeing Chris Isaak’s nose hair), but that’s ok. It was a lovely evening and I think I have satisfied my inner fangirl for now. Hurray! Thank you, Jonathan and Joanna!

Rachel

Written by Rachel Shubin ~ Fiendish friend for effusive fun!