Jann Arden isn't depressing ...

Ed and I went to see Jann Arden in concert the other night at the Winspear, for at least the fifth time (I think). She played for 3 nights, and we went on the second - the morning of our concert, this review was in the Edmonton Journal. I was a bit perplexed by the review, because I had never really considered a Jann Arden concert to be a depressing event, as the reviewer (and her friend who didn't want to go even with a free ticket) seemed to think. The reviewer also commented that she wished Jann wouldn't talk so much and would sing more, which I also thought was odd - that's why we like going to her concerts, you get to hear and see her inspiring (to me) perspective on life. As our friend Lisa said (when we discussed the review before the concert), if we wanted to just hear the CD again we could sit at home for that.

Of course, Jann had to make her own comments about the review - she asked the audience whether they wanted her to shut up, no one did. She also joked about how while her songs may be depressing, she does that deliberately so that we can all feel better about ourselves. I realized why I've never thought of her concerts as depressing or "fragile", as the reviewer seemed to - it all balances out when she talks and jokes in between, and to me it's the overall package that's important. If all she did was sing, you'd never see her true personality.

(It's like a review once of a Blue Rodeo concert, where the reviewer complained about the improvisational sections they did and that they changed their songs around too much - to me, that's the band's personality and again if I wanted to hear things exactly like the CD I could just stay home).

Anyway, we enjoyed the concert very much, and you'd think we had bought our tickets together by the fact that we were only separated from Steve and Lisa by 2 seats... and Lisa went to school with one of the people in between ... small world.