It only took five minutes to get inside the Blind Pig Venue, rather than a few hours, but as I walked through the door I saw band members from other performances of the night wandering all over the place, and I had to wonder what I would do if I ran into Lindsey. My goal if that happened would be to reestablish professionalism and demonstrate respect without overstaying my welcome. I kept an eye out for Lindsey and her crew, but if they were even in the same building they were well sheltered and hidden away from the mob of rooftop partiers. This was just as well in my mind, because as I made my way to a covered rooftop, the stench of pot increased. I estimate this rooftop to have been about the size of a football field, split into two sections. A stage was set up at the furthest point away from the street. A Vanilla Ice-type rap artist with foul language was performing, and once I figured out a side route to the front of the stage, I settled in to wait for Lindsey.
I never had to deal with technical difficulties, though. Has anyone ever had to try an make sure their instrument was in tune with a crowd chanting at you or loud music playing in the background? I think it was a good thing Lindsey, Gavi, and Drew have worked together so long and know each other so well. Had this been their first tour I don't think they would have worked through these issues with such a cool demeanor.
Two hours later her stage crew and her two band members escorted her through the middle of the crowd to the stage. They were scheduled to begin their set at one in the morning, but there were technical difficulties. Somehow, Lindsey managed to tune her instrument over an intense drone of crowd noise and other music. I got the impression she has mastered the violin enough to the point where she can feel the music she plays, more than hear it. Her Keyboardist, Jason “Gavi” Gaviati had to maneuver two huge keyboards through the crowd and up onto the stage, and after he finally had them set up they would not play like he wished. Her drummer, Drew Steen, had a set of drums from the venue that every band had been using, but he still seemed to flounder a little getting used to them. At about fifteen minutes past the hour they were ready to begin.
Below: Lindsey and Gavi discuss set up issues
A simple chant begins while these issues are being worked out.
“Lind-sey, Lind-sey, Lind-sey.”
I join them. She makes an over-dramatic show of humility, waving the crowd off from their chant with a bemused smirk. She’s like this during the whole set up, alternating between intense concentration on her pregame and spurts of impish fraternization with the audience. The stress of setting up her unique equipment in a noisy and somewhat nauseous environment could have consumed all of her attention, but she takes time to smile and wave at individual fans, lean down and shake hands, and welcome as many people as she can.
Lindsey has a natural crowd leadership ability not all entertainers have. Every time she speaks to the crowd she adds energy and usually gets the response she is hoping for. She has so much fun on stage her audience cannot help but join her.
Gavi would explain to me later that one of the issues was the keyboards were not giving him the sound he wanted. This would effect the quality of the new song, "Beyond the Veil". However, even at a lower quality this song was still amazing. They have some fun antics planned for the tour so prepare yourselves Lindsey fans.
