Tag: concert

Belle and Sebastian! At the Fox, Oakland

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Belle and Sebastian at the Fox Oakland

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see Belle and Sebastian! They were on their US tour and playing at the Fox Theater in Oakland, which itself is an amazing venue. I have sketched the Fox before, on my one trip to downtown Oakland back in 2021. Belle and Sebastian are for sure my favourite band (outside the Beatles), and they always give a brilliant show with an unpredictable setlist. Unlike most other bands they mix it up every night so you never know what songs you will get. I had a wishlist and almost all of them were played, even some I honestly didn’t expect. Here’s the setlist. I went with my wife and my son; it was my son’s first ever big concert so a big deal. Even though we were sat quite high up and far back, those were the best seats I could get, and it was a full house. The frontman Stuart Murdoch was entertaining as ever, a friendly story teller, and the band really played well, the sound carried around wonderfully. There’s nothing like a live gig to really feel the realness of a musician playing their instrument, playing songs that I’ve been listening to for so many years, and there they are right in front of me. My son’s a big Belle and Sebastian fan too, we both got t-shirts and got super excited when songs we love would suddenly come to life. My wife likes them too, the only other time we got to see them was when they played in Davis at the Mondavi Center in 2015 (how amazing that they played in Davis! Playing songs that reminded me of that first hot summer in Davis, cycling around with their new album in my head). I do listen to then a lot. They played Lazy Line Painter Jane during the encore, one of those early songs that made me love the band, and finished off with Another Sunny day, from their 2006 album The Life Pursuit, which brought me right back to that first year over here so many many years ago now. It was a fantastic concert, one that we couldn’t stop thinking about afterwards. I just want to see them again now! I wish I could see them in Scotland. I did my sketch of the venue in the little Moleskine before the gig started, so I could still see the detailed scenery, though not that well and I just wanted to draw quickly. I sketched them when they played onstage and added the paint in afterwards, mostly I just wanted to clap and sing along. Thanks for the great show!

The Pitzer Center…finally finished!

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After more than a year covering its construction, preceded by several years sketching the old Boiler Building on this spot, then documenting its demolition, the Ann E. Pitzer Center is finally open. This is the new Music Recital Hall for the UC Davis campus, a state-of-the-art performance and teaching facility. This past weekend was the opening weekend of performances, and on Saturday evening I attended the Faculty and Students of UC Davis concert, choosing a seat near the back to not only get as good a view for a long-awaited interior sketch, but also to test the acoustics of this new space. They are very good. I drew most of the room before the performance started, and just added the performers of the first piece once they took to the stage; I spent the rest of the time just sitting taking in the beautiful music. Many of the performances were amazing, and so varied, a lesson in the history of music, but for me this first piece was the best bit. Members of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra played “Crisantemi” (“Chrysanthemums”) by Puccini, and it was just beautiful, haunting, elegant. The music comes right back to me when I look at the sketch. That is the thing about sketching – you can show, and you can even demonstrate your feelings in the lines, but unless you were actually there, you weren’t there, and I wish you could hear the music I still hear when I see it. I enjoyed this event, and the shiny clean newness of the building. I must make an effort to see some more events there.

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I did get an outside sketch of the back of the building before the concert, though it was a little rushed, and the green grass a little forced.

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I did do another one on Monday in pencil, of the view with the tall Sproul Hall behind it. I wanted to get one last sketch of this view, as this was the same view from when I sketched the Boiler Building back in 2011.And for all that I like this new building, and the beautiful music that it will host from here onwards, this view made me a little sad to think about the old Boiler Building, crumbling, idle, full of cobwebs and rust. I loved sketching that old place. Looking at Sproul in the background, though, I think I’m better at perspective now…

Old Boiler Building