The English Beat played in Seattle Friday, and my experience was mixed. There were positives but also some negatives. I simply can’t say one way or the other as to my reaction, and that bothers me. Let me start at the beginning.
My wife found by chance a note the band would be making an in-store appearance at a guitar shop close to our house. They would play at noon and you could meet the band. It was her suggestion to go and take Xavier after picking him up from preschool.
We got there a little before noon, and nothing was ready. Xavier had been getting restless, as he is only 3 years old, so we went outside. Dave Wakeling was there talking with the person I assumed was his road manager. I had a couple of things for Dave Wakeling to sign but he was busy so I didn’t want to impose. As he walked by he did say “Hello” and shook my hand and Xavier’s. Before I could say anything to ask him to sign, he started talking again with his road manager.
Oh well. I’d get to see him after he performed. Supposedly starting at noon, they didn’t start until nearly 12:45. Dave started on Dobro and was joined partway into the song on drums. Switching to guitar he would be joined by bass and saxophone. And as soon as those drums kicked in Xavier covered his ears and buried his face into mom (who was home because public schools were on mid-winter vacation).
There was no set list. He just played whatever was on his mind, chatting between songs. After two songs he asked the crowd (of about 50) what they wanted to hear. Nobody said anything so about 3 seconds into the silence I said the first song that popped into my head – “Best Friend” and about 2 seconds later the band was playing the song.
Xavier simply wasn’t going to last as it was getting past the time he would normally go down for nap. We had to leave after the 4th song. They started way too late and it was too loud for him. The thing is, he really enjoyed the music. For his first live music experience, it could have gone better, but it could have gone a lot worse.
Friday night I saw the band at their regular gig and it was enjoyable, but not as “tight” as I had expected. It was still worth going to though. Afterwards we left and I didn’t get to hang around to see if Dave would be coming out to sign anything. Another missed opportunity.
So I didn’t get to have him sign anything, and I missed most of the in-store performance. Still, Xavier got to see a live band and he liked it.