Ivy (Slim's, 12 May 2005)

Thursday was one hell of a day for me. I reported to work early and immediatley started doing work right when my computer booted up. Then, at 4:30, I was informed that I am attending a meeting with a bunch of lawyers in Oakland. I wasn't wearing anything remotely lawyerly (jeans and a shirt), thus I ran to the Gap and spent $130 for a damn shirt, slacks, a belt and an inside shirt. Then headed over to Payless to buy some bunk black shoes to match the outfit. I made the meeting on time. And then, to make matters worse, I went back to work after the meeting and left at around 9:30pm. And I had to take BART to the city.

Thus, I was late to see Ivy, which came on at around 9:30. My friends were tired, so they decided to leave midway through their set. I was just glad to get out of the office and relax myself with Dominique's beautiful voice and Andy Chase's excellent musicianship.

The place was not packed, but it was still full. The crowd was a bit weird, because they consisted of mostly 30+ year olds and a smidgeon of youngsters. Ivy's been around for a while, since at least 1993, so I wasn't that surprised with the age of the crowd.

They played pretty much all the songs I liked from their entire discography, including "L'Anamour" from Guestroom.

The new songs from their recent release In the Clear sounded amazing - much to my surprise. I thought In the Clear is an alright album that was heavily produced to make the sound so . . . well . . . clear. However, Ivy was able to replicate that clean sound live. "Tess Don't Tell," probably my favourite track from the album, sounded downright amazing live. Dominique's voice was top notch and the band was solid. "Keep Moving" and "I've Got You Memorized" were the other songs played from In the Clear and just like "Tess Don't Tell," sounded amazing.

Of course, Ivy played some songs from their back catalogue. Including "Ba Ba Ba, " which Adam mentioend was originally titled "Ba Ba." The funny thing about "Ba Ba Ba" was that they used to never play this song live. When Apartment Life was released, this was the only song from that album that was not played. Now, since Long Distance, this track is a mainstay in their setlist. I think the song is alright, but for some reason, I liked it played this time around.

Also much to my surpise, they played "I Guess I'm A Little Too Sensitive" and "Get Enough," which they ended with. "Get Enough" was the second song Adam wrote (the first was "Happy Birthday") and it was so good live. I think this is the first time I heard the song live, and I've seen Ivy many times.

It was a great night of music with Ivy. They were great musically and Dominique looked beautiful in her outfit. Their set list was a perfect balance of their great songs from their discography. I highly regret coming in late, because I missed a bunch of songs from Long Distance and Apartment Life. Oh, well. Next time.

Beer Rating: 2 Beers