Duncan Sheik
& Suzanne Vega
Yardley Hall -
Johnson County Community College
Overland Park,
Kansas
Saturday, April
21, 2012
Oh,
what a night!
My
cousin Shannon and I arrived at
the Johnson County Community College an hour
early.
It was a nice, pleasant evening,
so we went for a little walk
around the school.
I thought the most exciting thing about our walk
would be
the cute little bunny we saw eating some grass,
but just as we came around the
last corner to head back
to the front of the school to go inside,
I
saw two men walking toward our direction, still a distance away.
One with
platinum colored hair, the other bearded and wearing shorts.
I was this close
to yelling out to them, but didn’t.
[I
didn’t want to disturb their conversation
and also because they turned to go
inside.]
Apparently though my cousin
didn’t recognize them
and I had to tell her who they were.
[That would be
Duncan and Gerry.]
We
picked up the tickets at will call and waited for the doors to open.
While
waiting, I spotted the merch table.
There were a bunch of cool t-shirts and
CDs,
including one that I did not have,
a preview of the Covers 80’s Remixes
CD.
It didn’t say what songs were on it, but it was only $10,
so
I bought it to add to my collection.
When
the doors opened, we made our way to our seats,
which were close, but not as close to the stage as I'm used to being,
and anxiously waited for the
show to begin.
I
was excited about this show for a number of reasons.
1- Duncan would be performing
a couple new songs,
which I was quite anxious to hear.
2- Could this possibly be the first time in six years
where he wouldn't perform a song from a musical?
[I adore the musicals, by the way!]
3- As I mentioned, it was my cousin's first time seeing him
and so I was feeling excited for her, as well as myself.
4- Ummm...hello?!? It's Duncan Sheik!!!
Duncan's Set List
Kyoto Song
Lay Down Your
Weapons
Memento
Stripped
Wishful Thinking
Half A Room
Such Reveries
Shout
3 songs w/Suzanne
Vega
Barely Breathing
2 songs w/Suzanne
Vega
The show started and Duncan came on first.
As he sang, I found myself forgetting where I was and
had to remind myself that I was not back in San Francisco,
where I had seen him perform numerous times.
However, I loved that feeling of "home" that his music brought me,
especially since I've been so homesick for California.
Duncan performed a few songs from his latest CD
Covers 80's,
which led to some 'goth talk' a couple times during his performance.
Which made me laugh, because I was a 'goth wannabe'
during part of my teenage years.
[Yeah, I wore black a lot and listened to Depeche Mode, The Cure, etc.]
[Shannon and I back in the day.]
I enjoyed the two new songs he performed, especially 'Half A Room'.
It was just so hauntingly beautiful, as many of his songs are.
Duncan came out to perform during part of Suzanne Vega's set,
which was a nice treat. Especially to see him play various instruments,
including the glockenspiel!
[Isn't that a fun word? I just love that word...glockenspiel!
It must be the bit of German in me.]
Speaking of instruments...
Gerry Leonard played guitar for both Duncan and Suzanne and was
fantastic, as always! And I was so happy to see Doug Yowell on the drums
for both Duncan and Suzanne! I had a feeling that he would be.
The last time I saw him was in May 2007, at an after-show party
in New York City. So it was great seeing him bang away on the drums again.
They ended the show performing their best known hits, which was
Barely Breathing for Duncan and
Luka and
Tom's Diner for Suzanne Vega.
After
the show, we waited out in the lobby for Duncan to come out.
The
line got rather long, so we got out of the comfy chairs
we were sitting in and
made our way to the end of the line.
When there were only a few people ahead of
us,
Duncan looked over and saw me.
The look on his face was priceless.
He waved
to me and I waved back, grinning like an idiot.
When
it was finally our turn, I announced,
“Yay! The Duncan drought is over! It’s
been two years since I last saw you!”
He looked a bit surprised and said, “Really,
has it been that long?”
I told him, “Yeah, the last time was at the San Francisco
Symphony shows.”
[Which were back in April 2010.]
How time flies…
I
introduced him to my cousin Shannon and informed him that
I’m living in Dallas
now and to make sure to stop there next time he tours,
since I can’t afford to
make it to all the California shows anymore.
And added how bummed I was to miss all
the Yoshi shows in the Bay Area.
“There were a lot!” he said.
Shannon
then proceeded to tell him, how she told me he was coming here
and how I made
plans to come out for it and that I flew in this morning
to be here. So then I
mentioned how she’s heard about my stories of all
the fantastic Duncan shows I’ve been
to and was excited to finally
experience one herself.
I told
Duncan it had been a while since I’d had something autographed
and handed him my silver Sharpie and my Covers 80’s CD.
I also took out the Remix CD I just bought
and told him,
“I bought this on blind faith, not even knowing what songs were on
it.”
He informed me that this CD is “the coolest thing out there!”
I noticed
that some CDs had a red design and some had a black design
on the cover and
wondered if there was any difference between the two,
but Duncan said there
wasn’t.
He asked me who I wanted them
made out to,
forgetting that he usually personalizes his autographs.
I told him
that I wanted them made out to Tammy.
He said I could have wanted them made out
to someone else,
[Which I have done once before, actually.]
and
he didn’t want to make a mistake.
This reminded me of a story, which
I shared with him.
I was at one of Duncan’s shows and had a CD to get autographed
by the opening act and when he asked me what I wanted it to say,
I turned
to my friend to ask her what it should say
and he started writing my friend’s
name.
Luckily, my name has the letter that my friend’s name starts with.
“So it
all worked out in the end.” Duncan said.
He
signed Shannon’s program and as he was handing it to her,
I said, “And that’s
my Sharpie.”
I remarked on how I’ve had Sharpies go 'missing' before.
Duncan
smiled and admitted he probably had kept them.
I told Duncan how much I loved the show,
'The Song That Changed My Life'
that he did an episode of.
[Do yourself a favor and click on the link...after finishing this post, of course.
Then you can come back and thank me!]
We were still chatting when I saw Doug heading back into the theater.
I told Duncan I was hoping to talk with him, since the last time I saw him
was five years ago in New York. He told me that he would probably be
coming back out.
Before saying goodbye, we posed for photos, because it had been
even longer than two years since we had a photo together.
First, I took a picture of Duncan with my cousin, Shannon.
And she took one with me and Duncan.
Which then led to the "It was great seeing you again",
"Great show", "See you later", "Good night" chatter.
We went outside to wait for our ride and I hung around
the stage door/loading dock, in hopes of catching Doug.
But if and when he did come out, it was after our ride showed up.
So, to sum up....
Great atmosphere + Wonderful performances
+ Good conversation
=
Absolutely
AMAZING night!
The only downsides were:
1- Not enough Duncan songs during the concert.
[Yes, I'm spoiled and used to there being more than 9 songs!]
2- I missed out on catching up with Doug.
[But that was mainly because I was too busy catching up with Duncan,
so I guess I can't complain too much about that one, huh?]
Can't wait to hear more new music from Duncan....
hopefully sooner rather than later!
