Eugene - August 8th....

[jazzanddianafan]

What can I say but that last night was another wonderful night of music with Diana. First off Chris Botti was very good. I very much enjoyed seeing him again. He has a wonderful and talented group and frankly if it was anyone but Diana, I would not have wanted his set to end so soon. I was a bit disappointed that DK and Chris did not do anything together – I noticed a time or two in Diana’s set when I thought it would have worked quite well.

When Diana came out she looked great ! She started as usual with ‘I Love Being Here With You’ and I remember her doing ‘Almost Blue’ and “East of the Sun’. I was struck with how much more relaxed and playful she was sitting down at the piano and playing with the group as opposed to standing up and ‘being the girl singer’ like she did in Las Vegas. Two big highlights for me were when she did ‘Ill String Along With You’ (one of my favorites) and even more surprising was when she did ‘A Case of You’ in the middle of her set. She of course used to do that song almost exclusively as an encore a few years back and it was wonderful to hear her do it again.

I did see and talk to Jeralee and her husband and we even got a picture of us together – maybe Jeralee will post it to this thread. And yes, I was again lucky enough to have after show passes, but what happened after the show proves that these things don’t always work out well. At first I don’t think the venue staff knew what to do with us. Eventually they escorted us back to a building backstage (a yurt actually). We seemed to be the only ones waiting (not a good sign). The staff kept checking on their walkie-talkies and coming up with blank looks and no Diana. After maybe 45 minutes to an hour of waiting I asked if they would check again to see if Diana’s bus was even still at the venue – it was not. So meeting Diana was not going to be happening this night. Needless to say we had no traffic issues as we left the area !

A somewhat disappointing end to a great night of music, but it was in fact a great night of music !

[harpfingers]

It was an AWESOME evening. I am with you Greg, I didn't want Chris' set to end. I didn't realize how good my seats were until we got there. About 7 rows back in the middle. I am a big fan of Chris Botti, so it was a perfect evening. He started with an arrangement of Ave Maria. His band was great! Very talented group of people and they were completely enjoying themselves you could tell. Chris also played "A Thousand Kisses Deep" Miles Davis' "Flamenco Sketches" "Cinema Paradiso" which at that point he came down into the aisle near to where we were sitting and serenaded some lady on the right side. He also did an arrangement of Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah." I think he also did "The Way You Look Tonight." He was a lot of fun and very charismatic and a perfect match for opening for Diana. I think I can safely say that I almost preferred his drummer - Billy Kilson to Diana's drummer Kariem Riggins. His guitarist Marc Whitfield was a huge ham and really fed off of the attention as well. I went out during intermission to see if I could do the meet and greet with Chris Botti, but the line was too long - and I didn't want to miss any of Diana's numbers, so I went back and chatted with J&D fan, right by the stage.

I really did miss hearing Jeff Hamilton that night. Anthony Wilson was on guitar again and Robert Hurst on bass. I enjoyed him. He played with Diana back in 2004 - the last time I saw her. Diana was very relaxed and had a whitty sense of humor. She did look great! Wore a turqouise/ sequiny very drapey tunic with jeans and some brown sandals that had a small heel. She looked well rested to me, and younger looking than the last time I saw her. Just that youthful appearance. I was so proud of Eugene. Who knew their were so many Diana Krall fans out there and who knew that they were so well versed in jazz. She called us a "hip" crowd. She would throw out names here and there and there was always a good response from the crowd. Very good lively audience and very considerate. She told an anecdote about being good at science while she was in school and her teacher saying that she could really amount to something if she quit doing so much music. Something to that effect. She also told of playing something for her 4th grade talent show and it not being very hip then. She also hoped that she didn't get a letter from the Mayor from Naniamo telling her that Nanaimo was mroe than the "Bathtub Capital of the world." She kept referring to is as the Bathtub Capital. She was quite talkative. The whole evening was very magical. I don't know that I would remember every piece that she played, but I will try and list the pieces. Which are not all in order.

I Love Being Here with you
Let's Fall in Love
Deed I Do
I'll String Along with You
Come Dance With Me
A Case of You
Exactly Like You
Devil May Care
Just Found Out About Love
East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Encore was:
S'Wonderful
How Do You Mend a Broken Heart - which was a wonderful surprise. I am a BeeGee's fan, much to my husband's dismay. I loved her rendition and hope she records it sometime.

Am I leaving anything out Greg?

I wasn't able to get a good picture of Diana, she was moving so much that they all turned out blurry. I did sneak some pictures of CHris Botti, and also of course there were a couple that my husband took of Greg and I.


http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d628b3127cceb8a3cc1d61e000000026100AcOWLNm0Zt2OA

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d628b3127cceb8a3cc1b61e600000026100AcOWLNm0Zt2OA

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d628b3127cceb8a3cc0ee0c300000026100AcOWLNm0Zt2OA

Edit: O.K. I am technically challenged. Not sure how to upload these photos, but you can copy and paste them into your browser and still look at them. if anyone is smarter than me to figure it out, by all means do!

[jazzanddianafan]

Great job, Jeralee.... you got a lot of the feel and fun of the event in there.... I agree that Jeff Hamilton was missed - Robert Hurst was very good on bass and I am not knocking Kariem Riggins, but I personally would have loved to have had Jeff there...

Loved the picture(s).... your links work just fine.....

[Bud]

Thanks for recap and pictures Jeralee and Greg! Sounds like another great concert - glad you guys were able to hook up.

[mapache61]

Thanks for the reviews. Looks like you guys had great seats.

[Coda]

Nice reviews, Greg and Jeralee. Sounds as if you both had a wonderful time.

[harpfingers]

Thanks for fixing the pics! Much better to see them in the thread than and outside link!

[keylargokid]

I got to see her in Eugene and Seattle. I loved all the shows, though it seemed she felt more at home and relaxed in Seattle. She did mention it was her first time playing at the venue in Eugene and she has played several times over the years at the winery in Seattle. Her comments and playlist were similar but being this is my home and closer to hers I do think the Seattle show came across more relaxed and sublime somehow.

[gundy516]

I'm soooo glad to see someone else going to more than one of Diana's concerts too! I have taken so much kidding about 'did you get enough of Diana Krall music?' with going to two concerts in the space of just a couple of days that now I just say 'yes I did and they were great!!!'. Anyway, glad you enjoyed both and yes I agree that Diana's shows at the Winery in Woodinville are very relaxed for her as she does feel like she's 'home'; she even commented on how nice the weather was this time around, not too hot!