He's right. That's just not cricket.
That's my favourite geek. :)
I was meant to go to Melbourne for the U2 concert this weekend. I was
brokenhearted when the concert got postponed but I am being honest when
I say that I feel for the band and what they're dealing with. But I
digress.
Not going to Melbourne presented a silver lining
that's left me pinching myself and wondering if it really happened.
Within a week of the postponement of U2's Vertigo tour, I found out
that Jason Mraz will be touring Australia as well. It got me really
excited! I think Mraz is a fantastic guy! I love his music and based on
what I've read on his blog, he seems to have a great personality to
boot. I immediately contacted the venues of his shows and found out
that tickets sold out within four minutes. And because he's only here
for a promo tour, the venues where he's playing are all pretty small.
On the upside, it'll definitely be a nice intimate show. And the
downside... well, I think I already said that I didn't manage to get
tickets. Eeeep! Yet another setup for disappointment. After several
inquiries, I decided for myself that that's it. I'm not seeing him
live. Deal with it. He's coming back later this year anyway.
On
Friday, I got a call from Len at work. And guess what? Thank God for LJ
communities, she found an ad from someone who had extra Mraz tickets! I
can't believe it! Len then contacted the person who posted the ad and
expressed her interest in the pair of tickets. I didn't hear anything
from her after that call. At least not until the next day. Come
Saturday lunchtime, Len rang again and said that the tickets are still
available and that if I still want to go, she can get them from us.
Suffice to say, the decision was too easy for me. Hehe. I booked my bus
tickets and a few hours later, I was already on my way to Sydney.
That's Just Not Cricket!
The concert was fantastic! I've always liked Jason Mraz but seeing him
perform live is just a completely different experience. I almost melted
when he sang You and I Both (mainstream, I know but I can really relate to it at the moment haha). Hayayay! He also has really great company in
Toca. I enjoyed the show very much. Spontaneous and engaging. No
setlists. Heaps of jokes. Adlibs, adlibs, adlibs. Creative. Witty.
AMAZING. There was a part when he asked the audience for phrases and he
used them to make up a song right then and there. "That's just not
cricket!" "Go the good thing!" "We're happy little vegemites!" "Where
the bloody hell are you?" "Hoochie Mama" It was soooo hilarious! The
two hours flew by really quickly. And before I knew it, Jason was
already mingling with audience, signing cd's as promised. Len and I
decided to wait a bit before we approach him. This guy next to me told
me to go up to Jason if I want to get something signed. I told him I
won't be of any help to Jason if I joined the people who were prodding
him. The guy and I chatted a bit and he said he knows Jason and he'll
let him know that I'm waiting. To make the long story short, I thought
he was just making things up about knowing Jason so Len and I ended up
approaching Jason not long after. By the time we got to ask him to sign
our cd's, he was already being whisked away by the promoters of the
show. In fact, I think my cd was the last that he signed that evening.
I felt bad, actually. He looked tired and it seemed like he's gotten
more than enough share of unwelcomed attention. As Len and I headed for
the door, we saw Jason making his way to the guy that I was chatting
with. What the...? Jason gave him a big hug and they started talking.
Damn, they really are friends after all! If I believed the guy siguro
nga he would've introduced us, had a chat and possibly, got him to take a photo
with us (I later found out that he doesn't really do photos). Len and I were both
in a bit of a shock but I guess we didn't really have anything else to
do but to go get the car and drive home. It was a great show, we were
happy and it was time to go home. By the time we drove past The
Vanguard, we saw Jason Mraz chatting with a few fans outside. OMG. Why
didn't we stay? Len and I continued driving for a while. We kept on
saying "Shit nandon pa sha!" again and again. We were mucking around
and telling each other that we should go back. Pero bakit diba? I told
Len to make a U-ie. I insisted that we had to. Otherwise, we'll be
asking all sorts of "What if" questions for the next few weeks or so.
Where the Bloody Hell Are You?
We made a U-turn and we
were well on our way back to Newtown. And then what? So what if he's
still there? As if we can do anything. And pathetic naman to get out of
the car just to have a chat with him. We were both wishing that he'd be
gone by the time we reach The Vanguard. We only really wanted to be
able to say to ourselves that we did our bit so we can forget about the
whole thing. As far as finding him standing outside The Vanguard is
concerned, no plan of action has been thought of. We'll most likely end
up embarrassing ourselves. By the time we drove past The Vanguard
again, we saw Toca going inside the bar. Nobody else was outside. We
concluded that they're probably all inside and having an after party of
some sort. That was it. Or so we thought. Len turned left on this small
side street to make a u-turn. We got a red light and as we were waiting
to go back on King Street, we saw the guy that I was chatting with at
the bar. He was walking towards our car. Yes, Jason Mraz' friend. And
guess what? Jason was right next to him!
Go the Good Thing!
Len accidentally rolled down her
window but she froze and stopped with the window only half open. Too
late to roll it back up. The two guys already saw us and Jason's friend
already said hi. The first words that came out of my mouth were "Need a
lift?". I wanted to put my foot in my mouth. They asked if we know any
good bars and if we could show them the way. It was my turn to get
tongue tied. Nagbibiro lang naman ako when I asked if they needed a
lift somewhere. Plus I didn't really know any places that are open late
on Sundays. And then it was Len's turn to save me. She said we don't
but we can find something. And so they got in the car...
Jason: Hey, what are you listening to
(we were listening to his CD, malamang! hehe)? Sounds cool. But how about we change it to something else?
Len and Den (rambling simultaneously): Ooops. We're sorry. Ok, let's change it.
Melan: By the way, I'm Melan.
Den: Yeah we met earlier.
Melan: Hey that's right. You girls were sitting on the other table.
Len: Yeah, I'm Elle.
Den: I'm Denisse.
Jason: And I'm Jason.
(hehe funny cos it was pretty obvious that we know who he is)
Melan: So where can we go?
Den: We don't really know. Let's check further down the road.
Len: Surely we'll find something.
Jason: Yeah just keep on driving.
Melan: I think there's one around here. Marlborough something...
Jason: Hang on... Elle, have you got your headlights on?
Len: OH MY GOOOOODDDDD! I'm sorry!
Jason: That's ok. It's all good. Just keep on driving.
Obviously
these weren't the exact words of the conversation but it's pretty much
the gist of the first few minutes of our adventure. Turned out that the
Marlborough place was already closed so we decided to go into the city.
Cuento cuento lang all through out the ride. Jason was really nice and
down to earth. He kept on asking questions and was really interested in
what we had to say. Melan was cool too. Seems he likes talking and he
was really funny as well.
We finally found a pub on George
Street and Melan got all of us drinks. Beer for Len, vodka tonic for
the two guys and good old orange juice for me. They were curious why I
don't drink and I told them about many of my friends' attempts to get
me
into drinking. Melan said maybe they're gonna try and make me drink as
well. Jason was pretty nice about it. He said it's cool that I don't
drink. I found out later on that he's also quit smoking. Oh, he also
gave me his backstage pass thing from the show (na Len and I cut in
half later on). :) We had some interesting conversations around our
table. We talked about Asian countries, how long Len and I have known
each other, the Philippines, Jason's sunburnt skin, Melan's show that
"left U2 no other choice but to cancel their tour", Paolo Santos,
smoking and quitting, annoying radio and magazine interviews, Len
living quite close to where Jason's from in California, my European
trip, Yugoslavia and Melan's first hand experience during the civil
war, etc. Ang galing lang cos parang I forgot na he's Jason Mraz. And
parang we forgot rin na we were just at The Vanguard watching his
concert. He's just really genuine and down to earth. He was super
thankful for the company cos he wasn't really keen to go back to his hotel. Sobrang
simple pero funny and smart nonetheless. It was a nice and relaxed
evening (uhm, early morning... got back to Len's at 4am and caught the
bus back to Canberra at 9... whew!). It was just like another good
night out
of chatting over drinks with friends. :) :) :)
