Well, maybe more like misleading advertising.

If you saw this:

What would you expect?

This is a screenshot of the concert description from the Rams Head Tavern‘s “On Stage” website. The local radio station was advertising this as “Erin McKeown” concert.

This show, however, was a double bill. Erin McKeown played the first half of the show, followed by The Waybacks.

We had never heard of The Waybacks. They didn’t get a blurb on the concert listing. It did link to their MySpace page, but they could have been backing her up …

So we were a bit surprised to see Erin take the stage solo on guitar when the show began. We arrived just in time, too — I misread the listing initially and thought The Waybacks were the opener, and didn’t care if we weren’t quite on time …

(The listing would have said “Erin McKeown w. The Waybacks” if they were the opening band.)

Don’t get me wrong, she was great! Erin is one of my favorite artists, and she started off playing a number of new songs that will be on an upcoming CD. In her hour on stage, she played some of my favorites as well.

And at the break, we were able to meet with her for some autographs and a photo.

Self-portrait taken by Erin (center)

We weren’t the only people confused by the billing. The other couple at our table, also Erin fans, traveled over 30 minutes for this Wednesday-night show — and had no idea it was a shared stage.

I overheard a woman in the lobby at the break say: “Well, I guess I’ll go back in …” after learning Erin wouldn’t be back on stage. And the room appeared to have cleared out quite a bit.

We returned to our seats, willing to give The Waybacks a chance, but it just wasn’t our thing. We got the check and made it an early night.

Hopefully she’ll be back in town to support that new album … Erin, we want to see a full show!

It seems concerts always come in waves. We had a whole string of them earlier this summer, and now we’re starting another one.

We saw the Old 97’s on Friday, and Suzanne Vega tonight.

I’m surprised I haven’t written about Suzanne before. If I have, I forgot to categorize it so that I could find it again! Anyway, we’ve been fans for years, and have seen her quite a few times at our favorite local venue, the Rams Head Tavern.

This time around, she wasn’t promoting an album (her latest, Beauty & Crime, came out last year), so the setlist was a great combination of songs spanning most of her albums.

I didn’t go overboard with photos this time because of the venue. Everyone is seated at tables, and nobody was taking photos. Near the end some folks started snapping, so I pulled out my camera. I kept the flash off, and had to zoom a bit so it’s not that great …

We got to meet with Suzanne after the show — a chance to chat for a minute, get some autographs and take a photo.

(No, I haven’t grown since last year. I’m in heels, and she’s wearing flats.)

We’ve got more concerts scheduled for late August / early September, so stay tuned!

Our local radio station, WRNR, hosts “Rock N River” cruises every summer. They get bands to perform on a three-hour cruise aboard the Harbor Queen as they travel along the Severn River.

After living in this town for over seven years, they finally booked a cruise with a band we wanted to see that didn’t conflict with something else.

The Old 97’s!

We were a bit annoyed that there was an (unannounced) opening band, and around 9:30 the Old 97’s finally took the “stage.” (It was more of a platform than a stage.) Being short, the only place I could see was right by a speaker. It was worth the pain!

I just brought my point-and-shoot camera. I had the flash off because it felt rude being so close, so everything is a bit blurry.

(Oops, wrong camera setting … but I kinda like it!)

Eventually, I decided I didn’t care about the flash anymore.

The band would have continued playing, but the folks in charge cut them off as soon as we started to dock. Hubby was a bit disappointed in the setlist — a lot of deep cuts that we weren’t familiar with. (We don’t have their first few albums.)

While there were a few songs I would have liked to hear, I didn’t mind so much. But then again, I got to gaze at Rhett Miller all night. That wouldn’t be as appealing to hubby 🙂

As people were starting to leave, I noticed Rhett was chatting with some people so we wandered over. I think he knew them, but we weren’t the only fans standing around — we just got there first. He’s a really nice guy. We chatted for a couple minutes, got album covers signed, and snapped some photos!

http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1537386&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=748D58&fullscreen=1
Old 97’s – WRNR Rock N River Cruise 8/15/08 from merrymishaps on Vimeo.

I should have known that for this concert, I would have really wanted some photos, being a band I have loved for so long.

And having been to this venue twice in the past two weeks, I knew they were barely checking bags and weren’t stopping people from taking photos.

Signs at the entrance say no photography or recording, but the web site only specifically prohibits professional cameras (with removable lenses) … point and shoot would be OK.

And I could always have returned it to the car if there was a problem … but I didn’t bring it.

Anyway, I’ve been slacking as I neglected to report on several concerts. This will be an abbreviated version since I’m mainly here today to talk about the band featured in the crappy photo above.

May 28: Sheryl Crow
Opening acts: Ingrid Michaelson and Ray LaMontagne.

Ingrid is one of my favorite artists, and she was great. This was her only date on Sheryl’s tour, and must have been the biggest audience she’s seen! Despite being the first opener, there was a decent, attentive crowd, and Ingrid talked to the audience as if she were in a smaller venue. (I’ve written about Ingrid before. Go check her out!)

Ray’s music isn’t really my style. I just wasn’t into it. And, of course, Sheryl was fantastic! We had great seats, Row A in R Loge. (I’ve learned you can get much closer by sitting in the Loge section … way up front vs. something many rows back behind lots of people. At 5’3″, I’m always behind somebody taller than me!)

Next up …

June 9: Death Cab for Cutie
Opening act: Rogue Wave
Same seats, Row A, R Loge.

I don’t know Rogue Wave too well, but I enjoyed their performance and will probably spend some more time listening to their music.

Death Cab was fantastic. It was HOT on Monday. Humid and gross. Ben, wearing black jeans and a black buttondown shirt rolled to the elbows, was drenched after only a few songs, yet he kept on going strong. We’d heard everything we could have wanted to before the encore, and were actually surprised that they kept playing. The songs were slower, and less well known, and we actually left before they finished! Sometimes you’ve got to beat the crowds. And, it was hot!

OK, finally we get to the point of this post.

June 11: R.E.M.
Opening acts: The National and Modest Mouse
Same seats, Row A, R Loge. A woman who worked there recognized us from the Sheryl Crow show. And one of the beer girls remembered my husband.

I tried listening to The National’s CDs, and didn’t really care for them. But live? They were awesome. Maybe I’ll try to give the CDs another shot. Modest Mouse was also wonderful. Not too much talking, just a lot of rock!

And then R.E.M. took the stage. The crowd (must have been a sell-out) jumped to their feet and we stood for the entire two-hour set.

It was amazing. Check out the setlist.

It wasn’t nearly as hot as Monday, but still warm. Yet Michael Stipe wore a suit for the entire performance. He didn’t even unbutton the jacket for at least an hour! He came back for the encore with a bag of ice on his head to cool off!

Awesome set, and the band still rocks after all these years.

So yeah. No camera. But I insisted on trying with my crappy cell phone.

And then I realized I could zoom more on a lower resolution. Of course, then I get very small pictures!

Fortunately, a quick Flickr search led me to photographer faithdesired. I contacted her and got permission to share her amazing shots.

I wasn’t able to grab from Flickr, so this is just a screenshot that I resized. Definitely go check out her full set!