A few months ago, Ian Ball, one of the singers from my favorite band Gomez, launched a pledge to release his second solo album. I immediately knew I would pledge and discussed with my husband how much I could spend. (This was back in September, when he was working two jobs and we had a lot of extra cash.) After some pleading, he let me pledge for a private gig in San Francisco with Ian. It was steep ($100+ the cost to travel) but I really wanted to support Ian (and go to the private show). And, so, I pledged. And after months of waiting, the night finally came this past Saturday night.
I traveled to San Francisco and stayed with my good friend and college roommate, Corie, and her husband, in Palo Alto. She accompanied me to the gig. It was so much fun! There were only about 20 of us there; another fan agreed to host the show in his backyard. Ian played a fairly long set of 14 songs consisting mainly of well-loved Gomez songs; plus one of his solo songs, plus a cover of "Band on the Run". Afterwards, he stayed around for a good hour or so, chatting with everyone and taking pictures. I told him how much my daughter Alayna adores him, and how she used some of her own money to pledge for a signed CD of his upcoming album. He agreed to make a little video greeting to thank her and also wished her a belated Happy Birthday. Alayna was ecstatic! She watched it at least 4 or 5 times today already. It was very sweet of him to do that for her.
I am so grateful I got the chance to do this. I am thankful my husband was willing to have the kids for weekend, and spend money to travel, and for my friends opening up their home, and for Ian being so gracious to his fans. I got to chat with him for quite some time about music, parenthood, and LA (he lives there; I grew up there). I got to meet some other loyal Mezheads and share the experience with them. It was awesome!
Here are some photos from the night. I didn't take all of them--I've marked the ones I didn't take with *. Enjoy!
A man and his little guitar.
It was pretty dark; I had to lighten these on the computer and they turned out grainy.
Revolutionary Kind!
The Man of the Night*
Creepy eyes in this one.
Silliness
The last photo before he left for the night.
Not quite the whole group, but almost. We had so much fun!*
The setlist--I was surprised by how many "non-Ian" Gomez songs he sang.
(There are 3 singers in Gomez; 5 of the ones here are usually sung by the others.)
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