Let me just say that this was probably one of my favorite and most intimate concerts I’ve been to in a while…

Friday night I went to the sold out “Hotel Cafe Tour“ at the House of Blues, featuring:

Greg Laswell
Ingrid Michaelson
Joshua Radin
Cary Brothers
Sara Bareilles

Amazing. *sigh*

I will post video clips of a few of their songs below… but over all it was a great concert. Very intimate, laid back, but with plenty of soul. These singer/songwriters really write/sing/play their hearts out. I’ve seen Sara Bareilles in concert and it was exciting to see her again. The others were new to me (in concert) but not to the ears.

There is something so much more personal and enjoyable about a live concert where the folks singing have gong through whatever kind of experiences that produce the words that eventually are put to music and then brought to us and shared with the rest of the world. It just makes a difference to me, unlike a hmm… let’s say, a Britney Spears concert or something…where you’re not even sure who wrote the song and who choreographed her dance, or if she’s even really singing at that moment! Ok, so that’s a totally different type of concert and it’s probably not fair to compare it to that, but you get my drift, I hope.

I was unaware of what the lay out would be like, but it ended up being sorta smooth- each artist would play about 2-3 songs and then the next person would come out and play, etc… until everyone had their turn. Occasionally duets would be performed. Then, some of the artists came out again and played more songs. It was a nice line up. A few of them played covers, like Greg Laswell played a slow version of “Girls just wanna have fun” and Ingrid Michaelson plaid Radiohead’s “Creep” with just a yukalaylee (spell??). Both were great.

I could write forever about this… so let me sum it up…

Greg Laswell- sad, but amazing songs…beautiful/nice voice- mostly features the piano
Ingrid Michaelson– surprisingly CLEAR/flawless unique voice, hilarious/blunt/feminist personality, songs feature the yukalaylee & piano
Joshua Radin– great guitar strumming talent- cute lyrics
Cary Brothers– some calm as well as full-band featured songs. Very well formulated songs (soundtrack worthy..ahem, Garden State.) foot-tapping music
Sara Bareilles– one of the all time greatest live performers!!! AMAZING vocal range and great songs that really pump you up &/or give you that warm feeling…you know- she’s the one you pretend you can sing along with. Mostly features piano. Great personality!!!

**Since the layout of my pages freaks out sometimes whenever I embed a YouTube video, I will just provide the link to all the blurbs I recorded at the concert.
Unexpected Graces YouTube Page** (There’s about 8 videos)