My Week With Rachael Yamagata

Picture from Rachael's residency last year at Johnny Brendas in Philly.


Rachael Yamagata tickets went on sale around August at this really cool venue in Hollywood called the Largo. I tried to buy them when they went on sale, but it was in the middle of my identity theft crisis so I couldn't swing it. So I when I was ready to buy them, they were completely sold out. So day of the concert comes along and I stalk Craigslist all day trying to get tickets that people were selling at the last minute. I end up getting a call from this guy who is like I have an extra ticket and I'm on the list plus one, I will give it to you if you pick me up. I asked him if he was a murderer, he said no, and I started to consider it.

I work around the corner from the venue so I figured I'd do some investigation to see if he really was on the list, he was but without a plus one. I call him he apologizes and we end our negotiations, so since I'm there I stalk for tickets. I end up getting front row tickets from some guy for $20. This random girl sees me buy them from this guy and we start talking and it turns out she is good friends with the opening act - Kevin Devine, who I have seen when the Jealous Girlfriends opened for him in Philly. She ended up being from the east coast and went to Fordham where a couple of my friends went.
She introduced me to Kevin Devine and he was sooo nice and humble and just seemed like a really cool guy. His show was really thought provoking and intimate. Though I didn't love him when I saw him in Philly, I like him a whole lot better now. He also plays for Rachael and he is the red head in the video below.

Anyways, Rachael went on and she had a little cold but the show was awesome. There were rose petals through out the entire theater and she had a whole string section. It was cool. It was the CD release concert and she dressed up for the event in a metallic gold baby doll type dress, it was pretty interesting and flashy looking. She had alot of personal supporters there and she even got a little emotional at one point when she was thanking one of them. It was a great time and I am glad that I was able to go.

So to bring this full circle back to the random Craigslist guy... He emails me on Friday saying that he had tickets for that nights show and if I wanted to go. We ended up emailing and becoming facebook friends so I found out he wasn't a crazy maniac. So I ended up picking him up and taking him to the show. It turns out he used to be a music exec who was one of the first people to discover Rachael and he tried to sign her to his major label, but his boss said no --> Idiot. Now he does community betterment projects and it was all really random, but he was very interesting and I wasn't killed. I did bring a butcher knife with me just in case though and when we parked the car the valet had held my door open and I was really scared the knife would fall out.

The Friday night show was great, I wish I would have gotten there earlier because it was a kickoff for the Hotel Cafe tour and there were a few other artists I'd love to have seen. But here is video of Rachael from that night. She was even sicker this night, but still awesome and still drinking Coronas on stage.



So anyway - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart, Rachael's double album, came out last week and it took forever. She recorded up in Woodstock before she moved down to Philly and she basically just holed up for a year in the woods writing and composing. After that she had record industry political problems and had to switch labels and it took her 2 years to finally get it out. When she did her residency in Philly last year, she played most of the songs from the new album, but she still had to wait all this time. That sucks. But either way - it is awesome and worth the wait. One disc is slow songs and the other are more rock and roll. Here are a few treasures from the double CD. But check it out, it's a great CD and Ray Lamontagne even makes a special appearance.