I love Town Hall!! The time on the ticket said 8:00 and guess what time the concert started? Pretty much at 8:00. Yay! I love when things start on time. The lights blinked in the lobby and people filed into the theater for the opening acts: Jonathan Rice & David Bazan. I very much enjoyed them. They both had a similar style; very Bob Dylan folky, heavy on the imagery and simple guitar playing, but I liked it.

Another trait they shared? They were both low talkers. I would guess maybe this was because they’ve only played in smaller venues before or maybe it was simply a technical issue. I could hear them perfectly when they were singing but not at all when they were talking between songs, which was frustrating. They were both fun though. Jonathan Rice led the audience in a sing a long and David Bazan sang a funny song about reviewers. Gulp. Hope he likes me!

Ben Gibbard was flawless. Playing solo really spotlights how incredibly talented he is. He played his solo stuff, stripped down versions of Death Cab for Cutie songs and a couple of covers: Neil Young’s Harvest Moon and Nirvana’s All Apologies. He also did a cover of Iron & Wine’s cover of one of his Postal Service songs “Such Great Heights”. I was hoping to hear his cover of The Backstreet Boys classic “I Want it That Way”, which I heard recently and it’s awesome.

Oh well. He played “Lack of Color”, so I was satisfied.. And yes, I still have a crush on him. le sigh.

There was only a short break between each act, probably about 10 minutes, which was nice. It made for a quick evening of music. When I looked at the clock on the way out, it read 10:30!

In conclusion, I love Town Hall! It’s the perfect venue for singer-songwriter types. I saw Regina Spektor there and I’m going to see bright eyes there in a couple of weeks and I really hope that others like them start playing there. It’s a cozy intimate setting and you get to sit down and relax and not have to worry about some teenager stepping on your toes or blowing pot smoke in your face while you’re trying to enjoy the music. Yes indeed, I’m old. I no longer enjoy standing around for hours waiting for the band to come on because the venue wants to sell as much alcohol as possible. All in all, a fun night of music at my favorite new venue. If you like Ben Gibbard and folky singer types, you would love this show. No more NYC tour dates, but they’re playing tonight in DC at Club.