I’m writing this on my flight home from Amsterdam, where I had joined my husband for his work trip. It was well timed to match up with part of The Lone Bellow’s European tour (I STRONGLY encouraged my very supportive husband to try to make that happen), so I was able to take a quick flight over to London to see my very favorite band perform at Islington Assembly Hall in London on Friday night.

Often, after I haven’t seen the band for a while (in this case it had been over two months!), I worry that perhaps I won’t find the next show to be as fantastic or exciting. But I am always proven wrong. Even though I’ve seen them perform each song most likely more than a dozen times, even though I know I will probably get sprinkled with more of Zach’s sweat from standing over me on stage during “Heaven Don’t Call Me Home,” or that they will probably break into some wonderfully terrible song from the 90s some time during the night, or that Kanene and Jason will be super cute together at some point, the band is able to make it feel fresh each time.  It amazes me that they are able to put so much of themselves into their performance, and share so much of their vulnerability, every single night to connect so deeply with the audience.

Friday night was no different. I’ve seen Zach channel a Southern preacher before, but here he was in full on revivalist mode, at one point staring out into the crowd in a sweaty frenzied way, chanting, “I’m feeling the spirit in here, I’m feeling the spirit in here!” There was definitely some kind of spirit in the room and the crowd was feeling it, too. As always, The Lone Bellow had us in the palm of their hands throughout the show, bringing us up with “Leave Me” and “Take My Love,” then bringing us back down to that deeply emotional place with “Marietta” and “Fake Roses.” 

After another series of upbeat songs, including Brian’s “Heaven Don’t Call Me Home,” (yes, plenty of Zach’s sweat rained down on me), Jason and Justin left the stage so Zach, Kanene, and Brian could do the acoustic set that always brings the room to (near) silence. Kanene set the tone for the beauty of the moment with “Call to War,” and then they performed Brian’s “Watch Over Us,” which held the crowd rapt. They finished up with an acoustic version of “Looking For You,” with the disco ball shimmering throughout the room. It was gorgeous, and left me feeling spent.

But leave it to Brian to lighten the mood by doing a quick guitar riff of Springsteen’s “Dancing In the Dark,” and the crowd cheered with encouragement. After a chorus of the song, followed by deep, throaty chants of “Bruce! Bruce!” we were all ready for the slightly more energetic, but still full of feeling, “You Can Be All Kinds of Emotional.”

During the second half of the set, Zach introduced the band. He told the story of how he and Brian met at a talent show as college freshman. Brian was on crutches due to a football injury, but got up to sing Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be.” During the song, his guitar broke, so he just set it down and finished the song a cappella. Zach decided then and there that he needed to meet that guy on stage. Brian chimed in to share that he and Zach made a bet that he would have to sing the song any time Zach told the story, so the disco ball started up again and we all sang along. When Brian kept going after the first chorus, Zach cringed and begged him to stop, saying he never has to sing it again. We’ll see about that…

When he introduced Kanene, he said her favorite band is Savage Garden, so we all sang along to  “Truly Madly Deeply.” Kanene got him back by telling us Zach’s favorite song is “Barbie Girl,” and Zach sheepishly sang the chorus – “I’m a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world, life in plastic, it’s fantastic …” Fortunately the audience knew much of the rest of the song to help him out.

They ended the set with “Green Eyes and a Heart of Gold,” leaving the crowd absolutely riled up before waving and leaving the stage. When they returned for their encore, the crowd spontaneously broke into the chorus of “Green Eyes.” We were definitely feeling that spirit! They brought back the emotions a bit with my personal favorite, “Tree To Grow.” I’m always appreciative when they include that song on the set list. Then they finished up the night with their title track, “Then Came the Morning.” Zach divided the room in half, asking Brian’s side to follow along with him, and Kanene’s side to follow along with her. We all “ahhh-ahhhh-ed” to create the background, while Zach provided the rousing lyrics, complete with foot stomps in all the right places, then left behind his mic to approach the audience and conduct us to sing along with Kanene and Brian, to end the song, and the night, on the perfect note. The rest of the band members joined Zach at the front of the stage to say goodnight and take a much-deserved bow. And then it was over. Until the next time.

Finally, I believe we have written before that meeting other fans has been one of the best parts of our “The Lone Bellow adventure,” but I feel compelled to mention it again. There is something about The Lone Bellow that inspires devotion from some truly wonderful people, and I am grateful to meet them at almost every show. Perhaps it has something to do with waiting in line for doors to open, or sticking around after the show to say hello and thanks to the band, that facilitates these encounters, as it is likely the most serious fans who are willing to do these things, especially in lousy weather (I’m having flashbacks to Portland, ME, at 3degrees F!).  So we often start chatting, and these fellow fans are always so lovely and interesting. Sometimes we keep in touch after the shows, sometimes we don’t, but I am always grateful for that sense of community we share. And I love the friends we have made on this journey, and look forward to making many more in the shows ahead.

Earlier this week Bobbie and some mutual friends of ours made a trip to Boston's Brighton Music Hall to see a Fantastic Negrito performance.  I, unfortunately, was unable to attend, but in getting some details of the show, I was reminded of how incredible it is to be able to see a show at Brighton Music Hall. It's a great little venue. 

This week we purchased tickets to two more recently announced Lone Bellow shows (Boston and South Burlington), and we already have tickets for their Seattle and one of their NYC shows. (There's nothing so great as knowing you have some Lone Bellow concerts in your near future!) After these concerts, we will both be into the twenties as far as the number of times we've seen them.  We may have to stop counting, which is not a bad problem to have!

It was over two years ago that we first entered Brighton Music Hall, having no idea what we were in for. (You can read more about that here.) I found this video from that night of "You Never Need Nobody" and was reminded of  just how much they impressed us from the get-go. We are a little sad that we most likely won't get to see them in that space again, but are grateful for every chance we do get to see them, no matter where it happens to be.

Back before our children were old enough to care about privacy, Bobbie and I both kept personal blogs. They were mostly read by close friends and family, and were really just a way for us to share and try to make sense of the crazy path of new motherhood. Eventually the pace of things slowed down; as our kids grew, things fell into a predictable normal. And as our children became more like “real people” and less like these tiny things who were so adorable in their need for us, our relationships with them became a bit more reverent. Neither of our children are big on unwanted attention, and so, with their feelings in mind, we, unbeknownst to one another, decided to stop sharing our lives online. 

While both of us enjoy writing, there was some relief in stopping our blogs. I'm sure for some people blogging comes easily. But for me, the act of posting things about myself online feels nothing short of courageous. Aside from the fear of the wrath of the grammar police, there's all the doubt and questions: How do I come across to strangers who read this? Is this even interesting to anyone? And the most dreaded question of all: WHAT AM I GOING TO POST?!?!? In short, maintaining an online presence is a bit of work.

And so it is with Tree to Grow.

Contrary to what we may have led you to believe, we do have other interests besides The Lone Bellow. Sure, it would be nice to do nothing but follow the band around to every show, but we kind of like our day-to-day lives too.  They are not exciting, but fulfilling, and sometimes we just need the mundane. So we've been a little quiet lately. Winter has finally ended, and instead of letting ourselves be bogged down with the aforementioned doubts and questions of blogging, we have been ignoring our laptops and even (gasp!!) The Lone Bellow in favor of genuine sunshine. Truthfully, for the past few weeks our site has been just a little thought in our minds. “We'll get around to posting again eventually...”

Then I woke up this morning thinking about the weekend. Tomorrow we will make the trek to North Adams to see the band perform at Mass MoCA. And just like every other time there is a Lone Bellow show on the horizon, I am crazy excited! I just can't wait for tomorrow to get here! It feels like it has been a long time since we've seen the band (it hasn't), and they are always worth the wait. Of course, there's really no putting into words what the experience of seeing them live is like, but somehow we keep trying. We don't know what will become of this blog over the long run. We've questioned whether fan sites are even relevant in this day and age. But we do know we love that band so very much, and we will continue to support them in whatever ways we can.

One of my oldest friends – since we were 14 – lives in Atlanta. Back in November, we had planned to take a long weekend trip together, just the two of us, but due to unfortunate circumstances, that trip did not happen. It’s been well over a year since I’ve seen her, so as I was looking over the tour schedule of The Lone Bellow, I realized I could combine seeing my dear friend with seeing the Lone Bellow, and perhaps recruit another fan for the band. My amazing partner – seriously, he is the best – was able to arrange his work schedule to hang out with our kid so I could leave town.

And so I was fortunate enough to be in the audience for the show at Terminal West Wednesday night.

The band took the stage at about 10 minutes after 10pm, and played for just over 2 hours.

The first several songs were in the same order as Then Came The Morning, and for “Fake Roses,” Zach mentioned that he doesn’t usually talk before singing that song, but that the woman who inspired the song was in the audience, and he dedicated it to her.

Then they played “You Never Need Nobody” and “The One You Should’ve Let Go” from their first album, and there was a lot of encouragement to sing along, which the crowd was more than happy to do. And the rare person who wasn’t totally into the show at that point didn’t have a choice but to become completely enraptured when they played “Heaven Don’t Call Me Home.”

Then they did a total 180 and slowed things way down with Kanene’s “Slip Sliding Away,” which is always so powerful.

Before singing “Watch Over Us,” Zach mentioned the many family members in the audience, including the parents, aunts and uncles that took him outdoors and taught him to wonder and marvel at the world, the ones who placed his hand on the neck of a horse and told him to feel the power in the animal. And Brian’s mom was also in the audience. He said the song was dedicated to all of them.  Brian, as always, “killed it,” as they like to say during that song in Boston! His emotions were strongly evident as he concluded the song.

When Zach mentioned that Uncle Dale was in the audience, it was something of a relief to see that we are not the only people obsessed with Uncle Dale, as the audience broke into applause and cheers for him. It is clear that people love Uncle Dale and the stories he inspires. Zach ended up telling three Uncle Dale stories, two of which were already familiar to us. He told about the school bus sized catfish in Lake Allatoona. “Seriously,” he said, “go swimming out there – tonight - and see if you aren’t afraid.”

He told the story someone recently left in the comments of our post about Uncle Dale. Uncle Dale’s wife does motocross, and a while back she was doing something called a “superman,” which involves going “into the ether, where no one should be without a plane.” Well, she crashed and broke her back. In the hospital, she was put into a medically induced coma, and while this was happening, Uncle Dale went to Eddie’s Trick Shop and bought a white beard and hair, and “old man skin.” When his wife came out of the coma, he told her he had been waiting 40 years for her to wake up. According to the comment on our site, she threw up at his feet, but Zach left that part out last night. 

He also told a story that he said he had forgotten about, but that Uncle Dale had just reminded him of back stage. Uncle Dale, it seems, bought Zach’s grandma a peacock named Prince for Mother’s Day. Prince didn’t like living on his grandma’s farm, and flew over to the farm next door. The story sort of takes a couple of turns from there, but fortunately Zach’s dad recorded this part of the show and shared it with us –

The rest of the set contained many of the songs on their two albums, and included a performance of “To the Woods” with opening singer Odessa on violin, then they were joined by the rest of Odessa’s band to perform her song “Hummed Out.”

For the first song of the encore, Zach dedicated “Fire Red Horse” to Uncle Dale, as he is the inspiration for that song. It seems rare that the band performs that song, so it felt very special to hear them play it while Uncle Dale was in the audience.

Then they played “Strawberry Wine,” which the audience very much enjoyed. After they finished, Brian recognized someone that seems to have been an old high school friend in the audience, and then he ended up dedicating Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be” to him. It was quite hilarious, and the audience enjoyed singing along. Then someone from the audience said something about “Bombs over Baghdad,” and Jason busted out with a few bars on the keyboard, but Zach quickly shut it down!

They finished the evening with “Teach Me To Know,” again inviting the audience to participate.

It was another typically passionate, engaging The Lone Bellow show that creates an intimate bond with the audience. It is not surprising, I am sure, that my friend thought The Lone Bellow was amazing, and plans to see them again the next time they are in town. Understandably, she was a bit skeptical at first about my obsession with the band, but she was absolutely won over. Though I honestly can not imagine anyone going to one of their shows, and, even if they don’t particularly like the music, not having a good time at the very least.

Were you there? What did I leave out?

It should come as no surprise to learn that people who start fan sites and/or music blogs might tip the scales of "appreciator of music" vs. "crazy fanatic" a little heavily in the latter category.  We have both always tended to border on the obsessive side of loving music.  We will admit to sometimes not being able to listen to a friend or loved one talking because we're too distracted by the music in the background. We will admit to sometimes being really annoyed at our partners for wanting to converse with us on road trips when we really just want to listen to the radio. We will admit that sometimes the urge to lock ourselves in our rooms, hiding away with our ipods, is just too strong to resist. It may be socially uncouth to ignore human contact in favor of musical bliss, but we trust that we are not alone in this need to have music be so centrally integrated into our day to day lives. 

One way we have always filled this need is by seeing the bands we love perform live. There is something so completely satisfying about going to concerts, watching the musicians you love on stage before you. Of course, some bands do this better than others. For those bands, we tend to go the extra mile, making sure to see them a few times year; maybe traveling a bit of a distance if they aren't playing nearby. To us, this way of seeing shows has always been a little out of the norm, but not too terribly crazy. 

Then came The Lone Bellow. Since our discovery of them, we find that we keep asking ourselves, "What has happened to us?"  Are we really going to hire a babysitter so we can go stand in line in the freezing cold for a couple of hours before the show starts? Yes, of course! Are we really going to re-arrange an entire day to drive two hours to see them perform in a casino? Absolutely! Are we really going to stick by this 4-hour-rule we've created for ourselves? Yes, and in fact, we are actually soon to be breaking that rule by traveling to Atlanta (just Bobbie) and Philadelphia to see them! Did we actually start a website for them? Again, WHAT has happened to us? We don't know the answer to that. We have stopped trying to figure it out, fairly convinced that there just may not be an answer.

When we go to see The Lone Bellow in concert, we inevitably end up talking to other fans. It's so much fun to talk about how many times you've seen the band and what some of your favorite moments were. And often the conversations turn to other non Lone Bellow shows you've seen, and it's fun to learn where your musical tastes overlap with other fans'.  Often, though not always, people are surprised to learn that we have traveled to see the band. Or they are surprised to hear the number of shows we have attended. They usually say things like, "Oh, so you are really big fans!" We agree that we are, and now we often let them know about this blog.  So far no one has run away from us in fear, although we think that might be the appropriate response. 

Recently, at the show in Portland, Maine, we were chatting with fans after the show. A very nice couple asked us if we would mind taking their picture with the band. They asked us the typical post-show questions, and when we revealed that not only had we traveled from Boston, but would be following them to Burlington the next night, the woman of the couple playfully teased, "Oh, so you're the 'g' word." The "g" word being "groupie." 

Oh. Dear.

It's not as if we haven't heard that word before, mostly used in jest by friends as we set off for another concert. We have always shrugged it off, admitting that we may be a little crazy (OK, maybe a lot crazy), but we're certainly not that! We are boring and socially awkward. We can barely stay up past midnight. No way are we really "the 'g' word!" But it did make us wonder if a stranger was making this observation, might there be some truth to it? We have vehemently denied being groupies because the, uh, "traditional" definition of the word (ahem), we most definitely ARE NOT. But we cannot deny that we do go to some extreme lengths to see The Lone Bellow live. It's not normal, we know. But there is some inexplicable thing that happens to us at each show, and we know we will never be able to get enough of it. We feel so incredibly fortunate to be able to see the band as often as we do, and we will continue to do so for as long as we are able. And maybe that does make us "the 'g' word," but we think we can live with that.