The Boulder Show: Featuring Luci
I had the pleasure of attending the Moby concert in Boulder, Colorado, during the period of time where Luci was covering for Laura who had gotten sick and had to leave the tour for a few shows to recover. I wanted to post my account of her performance so her friends and family could experience the excitement that I felt seeing Luci take the spotlight!
So, it was Saturday night and the show was on in just under an hour. Picture the scene: a snowy Boulder Colorado night, (yeah, it WAS the last day of April), we had just finished an organic dinner, and awaited the van that was to pick us up to take us to the show. Luci admitted to me that she was getting a little hoarse and feared her voice would not be up to the task that night. Her great fear, of course, was that she would not live up to her own expectations of excellence. Her doubts were mostly curbed by an overall optimism. All the tea she drank over the last two days hopefully soothed her throat. I knew, as does anyone who knows Luci, that she was going to do just fine and deliver.
As the skies of snowy Boulder began to darken, the band (and I) hopped into the trusty van and headed over to the Fox. Luci did not seem nervous at all by this point. Clearly, she had grown accustomed to these shows and to top shelf performances in front of writhing masses of music fandom. For me, I got the inside peek.
Luci wore a stylish black dress and wore her hair back in a pony tail. I never saw her new stage persona and thought she looked incredibly hot. I brought a camcorder and she asked me to record her performance so she could learn from it. No problem, I thought, the battery was charged and ready to go.
So we left.
The van pulled around to the back of the Fox and the back door popped open. A large bouncer waved us in as we all exited the van. As I walked into the back stage area, another bouncer was motioning toward the stage. Behind him, I could see some of the thousand eager faces staring and pointing as ‘the band arrived’. As Moby, Luci, Daron and Scott slipped back stage I veered down and into the crowd. I got some weird looks for sure. It dawned on me only THEN that I was not just visiting Luci this time, but I was now in the front ranks of a full blown Moby concert. The MC came out and addressed the mob.
“How is everybody doing tonight?”
(College-town madness and cheering ensued)
“Well, you are all in for something special tonight. As most of you all know,” he continued, “This particular artist does not typically play at venues this intimate. But he’s here and he’s doing it for you all!”
(Again the wild cheering)
A few moments later, the lights went out and ambient music set tone. It was electric and moody and promised to escalate soon. The excitement in the crowd buzzed. I, following my instructions from Luci, fired up my camcorder and aimed it in the dark at the corner of the stage where I knew the keyboards were waiting. To my absolute dismay, one of the bouncers restricted me from filming. Apparently, I needed a ‘Video Pass’. Everyone with the band was busy and I could not secure permission to film. Sorry everybody!
I was ushered back to the V.I.P. area, a cozy space on the upper level equipped with a beer tub girl and full liquor bar. Now I could see the stage. Below me, thousands of bodies crammed the building in anticipation.
Finally, the laser lights and spotlights swept across the stage and the crowds cheered. Music, loud Moby music, filled the Fox from all speakers. Luci was on the right side (my right) of the stage behind Moby. She was jamming behind her keyboards! On some songs Moby would race up to her in the heat of the music and he would pound out music on the bottom keyboard while she continued to play the top one.
For the third song, the Fox went dark. Three laser spotlights focused on Luci alone. She began to sing the opening lyrics to ‘Natural Blues’. The song is one of Moby’s most popular so the place went up for grabs. Now I have listened to this particular song a THOUSAND times long before Luci ever met Moby, it is a VERY familiar song to me and most of America. So there I was, listening to one of my favorite songs, being performed by Luci herself, with Moby singing backup vocals, the crowds reacting in a frenzy and all of it was ‘on tour’. It was like a fantasy. I mean it was MY friend Luci up there, the Luci I knew! She was singing all by herself for a few moments and as I watched I felt like I was seeing a tiny glimpse of the future for her. She looked so good and sang so well, in fact, she sounded better than I have ever heard her sing before. It was like someone dropped a grand piano on top of me. I do not remember being as proud of anyone as I was of Luci that night.
Through the rest of the concert, she sang back up vocal in about 85 % of the songs and lead vocals in about 7 or 8 songs. And the show was GREAT! Moby projected a lot of energy and the crowds never tired. Some bands do not do well when they play live, but I thought THIS band actually sounded better.
Just before the last song of the show, I heard somebody from the crowd yell, “I love you Luci!” How about that? Moby commented to the audience that she must have quite a few fans by this point. Luci is no longer a stranger anymore.
After some commotion, Luci finally found me after the show. She was all smiles. For me it was like an affirmation, a ‘now I know” type of moment. I was really blown away. For anyone who has not yet been able to get out and see Luci perform I recommend getting a move on! You will not be disappointed. I must stop typing!
Way to go Luci! Keep it up!
-Doug
So, it was Saturday night and the show was on in just under an hour. Picture the scene: a snowy Boulder Colorado night, (yeah, it WAS the last day of April), we had just finished an organic dinner, and awaited the van that was to pick us up to take us to the show. Luci admitted to me that she was getting a little hoarse and feared her voice would not be up to the task that night. Her great fear, of course, was that she would not live up to her own expectations of excellence. Her doubts were mostly curbed by an overall optimism. All the tea she drank over the last two days hopefully soothed her throat. I knew, as does anyone who knows Luci, that she was going to do just fine and deliver.
As the skies of snowy Boulder began to darken, the band (and I) hopped into the trusty van and headed over to the Fox. Luci did not seem nervous at all by this point. Clearly, she had grown accustomed to these shows and to top shelf performances in front of writhing masses of music fandom. For me, I got the inside peek.
Luci wore a stylish black dress and wore her hair back in a pony tail. I never saw her new stage persona and thought she looked incredibly hot. I brought a camcorder and she asked me to record her performance so she could learn from it. No problem, I thought, the battery was charged and ready to go.
So we left.
The van pulled around to the back of the Fox and the back door popped open. A large bouncer waved us in as we all exited the van. As I walked into the back stage area, another bouncer was motioning toward the stage. Behind him, I could see some of the thousand eager faces staring and pointing as ‘the band arrived’. As Moby, Luci, Daron and Scott slipped back stage I veered down and into the crowd. I got some weird looks for sure. It dawned on me only THEN that I was not just visiting Luci this time, but I was now in the front ranks of a full blown Moby concert. The MC came out and addressed the mob.
“How is everybody doing tonight?”
(College-town madness and cheering ensued)
“Well, you are all in for something special tonight. As most of you all know,” he continued, “This particular artist does not typically play at venues this intimate. But he’s here and he’s doing it for you all!”
(Again the wild cheering)
A few moments later, the lights went out and ambient music set tone. It was electric and moody and promised to escalate soon. The excitement in the crowd buzzed. I, following my instructions from Luci, fired up my camcorder and aimed it in the dark at the corner of the stage where I knew the keyboards were waiting. To my absolute dismay, one of the bouncers restricted me from filming. Apparently, I needed a ‘Video Pass’. Everyone with the band was busy and I could not secure permission to film. Sorry everybody!
I was ushered back to the V.I.P. area, a cozy space on the upper level equipped with a beer tub girl and full liquor bar. Now I could see the stage. Below me, thousands of bodies crammed the building in anticipation.
Finally, the laser lights and spotlights swept across the stage and the crowds cheered. Music, loud Moby music, filled the Fox from all speakers. Luci was on the right side (my right) of the stage behind Moby. She was jamming behind her keyboards! On some songs Moby would race up to her in the heat of the music and he would pound out music on the bottom keyboard while she continued to play the top one.
For the third song, the Fox went dark. Three laser spotlights focused on Luci alone. She began to sing the opening lyrics to ‘Natural Blues’. The song is one of Moby’s most popular so the place went up for grabs. Now I have listened to this particular song a THOUSAND times long before Luci ever met Moby, it is a VERY familiar song to me and most of America. So there I was, listening to one of my favorite songs, being performed by Luci herself, with Moby singing backup vocals, the crowds reacting in a frenzy and all of it was ‘on tour’. It was like a fantasy. I mean it was MY friend Luci up there, the Luci I knew! She was singing all by herself for a few moments and as I watched I felt like I was seeing a tiny glimpse of the future for her. She looked so good and sang so well, in fact, she sounded better than I have ever heard her sing before. It was like someone dropped a grand piano on top of me. I do not remember being as proud of anyone as I was of Luci that night.
Through the rest of the concert, she sang back up vocal in about 85 % of the songs and lead vocals in about 7 or 8 songs. And the show was GREAT! Moby projected a lot of energy and the crowds never tired. Some bands do not do well when they play live, but I thought THIS band actually sounded better.
Just before the last song of the show, I heard somebody from the crowd yell, “I love you Luci!” How about that? Moby commented to the audience that she must have quite a few fans by this point. Luci is no longer a stranger anymore.
After some commotion, Luci finally found me after the show. She was all smiles. For me it was like an affirmation, a ‘now I know” type of moment. I was really blown away. For anyone who has not yet been able to get out and see Luci perform I recommend getting a move on! You will not be disappointed. I must stop typing!
Way to go Luci! Keep it up!
-Doug
posted at
3:32 PM
