Concert in a Living Room

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to experience one of my favorite musicians in one of the most unique and intimate concert settings—the living room show.

About 5 years ago, I came across this track through one of my Paste samplers. The track featured a raspy yet soothing voice singing about how he remembers. I began researching and searching for more from this feller and instantly fell in love with his melodic incantations. David Bazan had quickly climbed his way to the top of my favorite musicians list.

A fellow bazan fan (a connoisseur of music whose musicality tastes I found impressive and who was equally impressed by my playlists) overheard him playing on my IPod one day and told me he was doing a living room show and that he would be in Denver. I went to purchase a ticket and there was only one left!!! I filled out all my information, billing information, and clicked purchase only to have a message pop up telling me there were no tickets left. Someone else had beaten me to it—CURSES!

I was understandably distraught that I was going to be so close yet missing the opportunity to see Bazan in action and in such an intimate setting. The connoisseur would later let me know that he had applied to host a living room show and was accepted for a concert in June and was gracious enough to offer me a ticket to the show. So, I would be missing him in Denver, but I found comfort knowing that I would get my chance in June.

A couple days before the scheduled Denver performance, I was approached by a fellow Bazan listener who had a ticket to the show, but was unable to attend due to another commitment. Rumor had it, I was a fan, and he offered his spot to me rather than letting it go to waste. The stars had aligned, and I was going to get to see him in Denver and still have another performance in June to look forward to—YUSSSSSS!

O.K., so going to see an indie musician in some stranger’s living room is a bit hipster-ish of me and faithful blog readers are fully aware of my conflictions when it comes to hipsters. But, all my conflictions were instantly wiped away as soon as David struck that first chord and let out that first gruff note; he was standing only feet away in someone’s living room who I had never even met, full of other strangers with one commonality tying us all together. This shit was sexy!

This was truly one of the best concert experiences I have ever had. One of my favorite things about living room shows is how low key they are. Bazan took time to take questions between songs, and engage with the audience; he took the time to chat with us. The lyrics in his music were very much reflected in his dialogue, which at times were inspiring and highly insightful. One of my favorite moments of the evening was when he stated:

If you’re neighbor’s hungry and you think it isn’t you’re problem, you’re wrong. It is you’re fucking problem, man. And you can say its not, but you still have three locks on your door, and you bought a gun. It’s your problem, and it won’t get fixed until you start loving people and caring about the welfare of strangers.

Needless to say, I was all but giddy from the experience and even more giddy that I get to do it all over again in June. If you haven’t heard any of his music, I highly recommend checking David Bazan out. Or better yet, see if there’s a living room show coming to a town near you and experience it for yourself. 

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