Lisa Hannigan, love love love. Front row. Love. I was pretty useless as an audience member, not loud or participatory...mostly just stood there and gazed at her in adulation from five feet away as she sang.
(Lisa Hannigan, though not from this concert)
Then...Gisbert zu Knyphausen in the same night! This was a whole line-up hosted by a record label called Pias, at the Postbahnof at Berlin, and they had a very smart set-up, with two stages so that the transition between acts happened fast and seamlessly.
Conveniently, the people I'd come to see were all playing at the same one of the two stages, so I just went and and camped out in front of that one from the start, and in doing so more or less accidentally managed to be five feet away from Lisa the whole concert. Then, again, five feet away from Gisbert. Even got his set list afterward:
It's not really that weird. He lives in Berlin, he likes music, of course he would turn up to other people's concerts. But at that moment, to me, it was like, Oh my god, it's Gisbert zu Knyphausen! And then, during that concert, I found myself standing three feet away from him the entire time. So I was a little distracted, because one of my favorite Irish singer-songwriters was onstage, and one of my favorite German ones was right there next to me.
I was there with my friend John, who eventually convinced me to go up to Gisbert; basically, I went, "I'm a big fan," and was awkward about it, and Gisbert was kind of awkward too, I think being like, Wait, am I a star being approached by random fans now?
You know how you want to play it cool and treat the person like an actual human being, rather than a dehumanized object of adoration? But then in that moment, you're so overwhelmed by meeting them that you freeze up anyway?
Anyway, for this concert, the Pias record label one, I actually didn't decide I was going until the last minute, because there had been an (admittedly small) chance that another Irish musician acquaintance would be able to get me on the guest list for Glen Hansard's concert instead. (Glen Hansard and Lisa Hannigan, WHY playing separate concerts in Berlin the same night, WHY?? Especially when for the rest of the tour, they're playing the same concerts, with her opening for him?)
Yes, more and more it seems I live just two degrees of separation from the musicians I admire most: I don't know them personally, but I personally know all these people who do.
Anyway, the Glen Hansard thing fell through, but it was hard to be sad about it when it meant I got to see Lisa Hannigan instead – and got so lucky about being right up front, in a fairly intimate concert setting.
I didn't know anyone else going to the concert, but in a moment of inspiration texted a friend of a friend who often seems to turn up at the same concerts I do, and indeed she was planning to go! So I was able to hang out with her – and a friend of hers who knows Gisbert from when they lived in the same student dorm.
Like I was saying about those two degrees of separation.
The last band of the night – I Am Kloot, from Manchester, England – was one I hadn't heard of until I started looking up the various acts ahead of this concert, but also really enjoyed. There was something so odd and yet appealing about their manner, the lead singer's especially. They just seemed like people who have been doing this music thing for a long time, and love doing it, and are completely comfortable with themselves and their performing. I recommend 'em.
Update: The moment I finished writing this yesterday, I closed up my laptop for the night and went to meet some friends at the neighborhood Christmas market.
On my way there, I passed a restaurant that was playing recorded music outside (even though none of the restaurant's patrons were outside) and the song playing as I went by was...well, I can't be absolutely certain, because I only caught the very, very end, but I'm about 95% sure it was that song I'd just posted here, Northern Skies by I Am Kloot. You know, a song I'd never even heard before this week, etc.
Can I help it if sometimes it feels like my life is full of intriguing coincidence?
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