So yesterday I went to the Alice Summerthing annual concert with my friends, Mike and Jody. I got to see Kodaline, a band from Dublin, Ireland that I love. The local radio station, Alice 97.3, hosts a free summer concert each year with big names in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. They previously had Ed Sheeran and Sara Bareilles. This year’s lineup was Kodaline, Ingrid Michaelson, Magic, and a husband-wife band called Us the Duo, which had only been discovered and signed very recently.
The concert started at noon, but people had been lining up all morning. We got there at 11:00 a.m. and there were about 2,000+ people ahead of us in line. Somehow we still managed to get good seats. Basically there were big grassy areas everywhere and everyone just brought their own blankets to sit down and have a picnic on. All around us, we saw people bring cut watermelons, sandwiches, pies…basically it was one giant picnic where everyone could sit and listen to bands. Like this:
I also Photoshopped together a panorama:
It was very cold and windy and silly me was wearing only shorts and a t-shirt because I’m used to the warm weather we’ve been having in the rest of California. I had forgotten that San Francisco is almost always cold and windy, and this morning I woke up with a bad cold.
Anyway, back to the bands. During Kodaline’s set, I had to push and shove my way through rude people to get to the front so I could see my favorite new band. I was standing right beside the hedges next to the VIP/Journalists area, which was a big area to the left of the stage with a dozen big tables with only 2-3 occupants each. What a waste of space. At times like these, I wish I was still a journalist and had the the perks that come with an official press pass.
So this is Kodaline:
I also recorded their performance of “All I want,” which is a big hit that has been featured in many ads, and is now on the soundtrack of “The Fault of Our Stars.” They sounded really good live. But although I used my Canon point-and-shoot, which usually has a lot better sound quality than those camera-phone videos on youtube, the wind still interfered with the audio a bit:
And here is my recording of another big song from them called “Love Like This.” You can really hear the wind in this one. The shakiness also comes from the strong winds blowing my hands left and right:
Yes, I know this might all be overkill, but as a former journalist, it’s hard for me to just sit still and enjoy what’s in front of me. I always feel weird if I’m not documenting events.
And you might know this lady from the Old Navy commercial:
Ha, I’m not joking. Ingrid Michaelson got her start by getting one of her songs featured in an Old Navy commercial, which led to national exposure and got her signed to a record contract.
The pictures aren’t that great because I was standing way near the back and had to zoom my lens all the way:
Her set was great. She sang her biggest radio hits and some new stuff. To be honest, usually her music doesn’t grab me, I kind of have it on as background noise, but her performance at the concert was energetic and fun and made me like her a lot more as an artist.
Koryspondent 