edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros

Last week we went to the 9:30 Club on a school night to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

We were introduced to the group at Coachella and loved the vibe (cheesy word, I know, but there’s no other way of putting it) so we’ve been fans ever since.

We weren’t wild about the concert being on a Tuesday but we’ve been denied several shows recently because we thought about them for too long and then they sold out. 

I mean, we’re 30, people. 

Late nights after early mornings followed by more early mornings are not in our bag of tricks any longer.

But we were sure glad we went.  Because it was an amazing show.

It started out a little odd because they managed to “lose” one of their lead singers, Jade.  She sings lead on a whole bunch of their songs so they were more than a little thrown off.  And they don’t even have an opening act to cover for them so they began with a couple of songs from their piano player, Tay Strathairn.

Then the rest of the band trickled out and they played a few things but they would have to pause and consider what to play next whenever they finished a song because they, obviously, couldn’t follow their prepared set list.  At one point, they even had us calling for Jade but she still hadn’t been found – she was in a cab in DC somewhere without a phone. 

There’s Nora Kirkpatrick, aka Katherine from Greek, again.  An oasis of calm amidst all the hippy dippy crazy.

When she finally did arrive, she burst through the backstage door and leapt up on the stage – absolutely ecstatic to finally be there.  Then they took a break, presumably to regroup.

They came back out with a rousing rendition of "Janglin'"  You might recognize the tune from the 2011 Ford Fiesta commercial.

I recorded most of the song but not all of it – they went kind of nuts after they finally found their groove. It was AWESOME! Jade is the girl with the short dark hair on the right by the piano.  She’s nutty and she only sings and plays random bits of percussion out of a basket of “toys” that sits on the stage.

They also had a few extra players in the wings. The first was an older guy playing a lap guitar – at least I think that’s what they were calling it.  It looked like a steel guitar to me. 

Later a sitar player joined them for "Desert Song."  They must have had a 5 minute intro to the song wherein half the band sat down on the stage to join the sitar player on the floor.  Just totally chill…

It's not the greatest video but I had to include it because I’m so proud of myself for figuring out how to flip a video.

The lead singer – Alex Ebert – jumped into the crowd about 3 times at various parts of the show.  It was pretty funny.  Once he got a girl in the audience to sing with him.  Another time, he literally got into some guy’s shirt – with the guy still in it.

I really don’t think I’ve laughed and smiled so much through a concert.  It was so much fun!  Ok, I could have done without the exceedingly enthusiastic girl next to me.  But we had a great time.  Really.

One thing that we noticed on our way out that we couldn’t see from where we were sitting/standing during the concert was that the backdrop was the Emerald City.