This Providence, Matt Wertz, Jon McLaughlin

This week I went all out and attended two concerts in the same week. Thursday I made the Trek to Sandy to see This Providence, Brighten and The Brobecks. This Providence is quickly moving up on my favorite bands list. If you've never heard them, check them out here:
http://www.myspace.com/thisprovidence Brighten and The Brobecks weren't bad either.
I met Lauralee there quite early and we had lots of great conversation while we waited. In other words, I talked her ear off! After the show, we were both able to interact with the This Providence guys and have some great laughs, too! I can't wait for them to come back again. I love everything about them: the music, the lyrics, their stage presence and their company.

Saturday, I ended up at Kilby Court in Salt Lake City with my ticket to see Matt Wertz in hand. I had heard of Matt Wertz because he toured with Jars of Clay. Now the tour never came any where near me, mind you, but I because of it, I had heard of Matt Wertz. 24tix.com a local ticket vendor sends me regular notices of upcoming events, and I saw Matt's name on the list. It was a plus that the concert was on a Saturday, so I knew I wouldn't be working, and that it was only $10. So, I found Matt online and listened and liked it. So, Saturday, I ended up at his concert. I tried not to come quite so early, but traffic was moving well and I arrived at 4:30 p.m. I ended up waiting for a bit in the drizzly weather to ask about the camera policy for the evening. Then I headed off to find a bathroom, a snack, and some hot caffeine free tea. I waited a little longer, and got a little wetter, listened to sound check (sneak previews are nice as Matt played two songs.) The young woman in charge recognizes me from other concerts and she tried to get me to have enough sense to come in out of the rain. She was worried about me. LOL I stayed put for a while. In the meantime, the door time was moved back 1/2 an hour. I found out I could park a little closer, so I went to move my car and dried off a bit. So that's how I ended up about 10th in line instead of first. I gave her a little bit of a time over it, so next time I need to make sure she knows I wasn't serious or upset with her. That would make me feel bad. I did stand at the front. The venue is quite small, and I believe holds about 200-250 people. It ended up being rather full. Oh, and my camera was able to gain entry with me. I didn't even have to buy it an extra ticket. LOL ;)

The concert itself was amazingly good. Jon McLaughlin is an outstanding pianist and vocalist and I loved his music. At one point he sang Happy Birthday to a young woman in the audience. I managed to capture the look on her face in a photo and she just was beaming. Not everyone gets an artist plus 200 people to sing to them on their birthday. Then Jon finished up the rest of his set and it was time for Matt to sing for us. Jon was still around, though, as he played keyboards for Matt.

Matt has a wonderful voice and is very personable on and off-stage. I enjoy his recorded music, but I have to admit that the cd doesn't do him justice as he is far better live. The sound was good, the music was good, the audience was enthusiastic and it was a great night. In the end, I went away a few dollars poorer but with two new cd's in hand, an autographed Matt Wertz set list, lots of photos, and memories. I'll have to do that again sometime soon.

--Melanie

P.S. Photos to follow soon...