Mason Jennings' Journal (original) (raw)

Well...I guess it's not really a surprise that this community (like most of the rest of LJ) is just about dead. But I don't care, I wanna share my experience at the Mason Jennings performance last Saturday in SLC.

I started listening to Mason around 2006/2007 and loved his stuff every since. My favorite album is definitely Simple Life (anyone been able to find a hard copy of this album?). Anyway, my gf and I FINALLY got to see him live last weekend and it was GREAT!

First off, it was a 21 and up show which made it TONS better than most of the shows we've been to in Utah. Secondly, the venue was just perfect (The State Room). Full service bar, clean bathrooms and comfortable (non-assigned) seating for everyone in the house. Mason came on (no crappy openning acts) and played an AWESOME show. Among the songs played were some of my all time favorites: Crown, Jackson Square, Butterfly. Also a bunch of songs from the new album "Minnesota". He even played a new song he's just written...don't believe it had a name yet, but the lyrics used the words "Dreamin'" alot and it was Hawaiian-style guitar playing.

His last song (before the encore) was a fairly new one called "The Field" which he explained was his musical take on the War in the Middle East. This song is so amazingly powerful, and very little to do with politics. You'd have to be pretty heartless not to feel something when you listen to this song. My gf was in the Air Force and served a deployment in Iraq and several other places in the Middle East. This song had her in tears. If you'd like to hear a pretty good recording of it, it's available on the live recording from "Fingerprings Sept 20th, 2009". Just a very powerful, deep and meaningful piece all around.

For the encore, Mason asked for requests so me and my girl were rooting for "Figher Girl" and we got our wish! Never had that happen before!

After the show, Mason came out to greet everyone. I found this really endearing as most artists could care less to do such a thing. But Mason was out there, signing autographs and taking pictures long after we left. We did get to say Hi to him and my girl got a chance to tell him how meaningful "The Field" was for her. He seemed really appreciative to know that his music has such an effect on people.

All in all, this show was by far the best live music experience I've had in years. I definitely hope to see Mason play live again soon.

P.S. My GF bought me "The Flood" at the show and it has some GREAT tunes on it (half of them are currently stuck in my head right now). Definitely worth picking up.