A week ago today we lost LeRoi Moore.
A week ago today I had the privilege of watching one of the most passionate concerts imaginable.
Last week I talked about the first night’s show and how difficult it was to watch the band sing and play through their emotions. I’ve had the last week to listen to the show (DMB allows the audience to record their concerts) and it’s still quite amazing to hear the pain in the voice of Dave as he sings the first half-dozen songs and tells stories of his friend.
We weren’t sure if the band would go on the next night, and I certainly would have understood if they didn’t. Not only did they head out and play the second show but they will continue the rest of the tour. Night two was the direct opposite in terms of energy and there were more stories about LeRoi as the band played some more of his favourite songs. But if you listen to the second night’s show you can hear them having fun and playing with a great sense of energy and passion. From the moment they took the stage all members of the band had smiles on their faces and interacted with one another for the two and a half hours they played.
Details have come out surrounding LeRoi’s death including how seriously injured he was in the accident and the fact he checked himself out of the hospital in Virginia to continue his rehab in LA.
The concerts have been pretty good since last week – I love the fact I can listen to any show. I’d love to take in the shows up north in Berkley but it’s not going to happen. It will be an interesting off-season to see how the band deals with the loss of a founding member and where the studio sessions go from here.
I’m not sure if we ever mentioned it but our Carter is named after Carter Beauford who is the drummer for the band.
A few things about the Staples Center from night two:
- There is a McDonald’s on the concourse where you can buy all the regular items you would at a regular franchise. What’s the difference? Instead of $0.50 or $0.75 to make your sandwich into a combo it’s $5.00 at Staples Center.
- Security is tight at the arena – they are never messing around.
- We sat in front of a couple whose kids and grand kids were elsewhere in the arena. They became fans last year when they had everyone over to their house for the holidays and they played DVDs and CDs throughout the week they were there. They became fans and caught a half-dozen shows on the back-end of last year’s tour. This year they are hitting the three night sets at Berkley and The Gorge. They had been married for 54 years, but the woman admitted to everyone how much she loves Carter Beauford.
- To the girl beside us – you can’t bring six people into the row throughout the night. One, two maybe but not six. There just isn’t enough room.
- LA fans are jaded – it’s true. There was a lack of energy from the crowd especially when the band gave them the chance to sing the first verse of Jimi Thing. Instead of a resounding voice from tens of thousands of people there was a slight murmur. Weak people, weak.
