THE SET UP: Dave and Licia Radford, The Gray Havens, set up their fun and eclectic mix of instruments in the front room of our Victorian home, the parlor. This was most logical as the parlor would have been the room most commonly used by performing musicians over a hundred years ago when our house was built. Dave methodically filled the performance space with a small mono sound system which included a Mackie ProFX12 mixer, and a single QSC powered speaker. They played a Yamaha moX8 keyboard, mandolin, and Dave’s newly acquired Tayler 714CE acoustic guitar. Percussion instruments included a kick drum, kick tambourine, shakers and an acoustic cymbal.
THE MUSIC: I don’t have the full set list, but The Gray Havens played beautifully arranged renditions of most of the songs off of their new album, Fire and Stone, including: Inheritance, Jack and Jill (Part II), Songs In The Night, and The Stone. Throughout the performance there was plenty of crowd participation, and playful banter between the husband and wife duo. Near the end of the set we were treated to a powerful version of The Far Kingdom, and the performance ended with Train Station from their album, Where Eyes Don’t Go.
SEATING: Those who showed up early gravitated toward the couch and love seat. Younger attendees seemed more drawn to the front rows.
BEST PART OF THE NIGHT: Before the concert started, Aiden quietly said to me, “I hope they play ‘Stole My Fame’. Not only did they play the song he hoped for, Aiden got to play the song with them. They sought out the more rhythmically gifted members of the audience for help with percussion and Aiden and Josiah were unanimously selected by the crowd. Nice.
WORST PART OF THE NIGHT: W-E-A-T-H-E-R. It didn’t affect the show, but unfortunately it kept some good folks from being a part of it.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:
- Music, music, music. It was so good!
- I made yet another effort to become a coffee drinker. I so wish I could do it, but alas, I remain unconverted.
- Jennifer’s hospitality gifts were out in full force with plenty of finger foods and home-made chocolate chip cookies!
- Isaiah Cornelius entertained the after-crowd with “The Monkey Song” and other originals on Dave’s new/used guitar.
- Ping pong. Dave beat me in a game to 21. I was scoring on my serves, but was more or less overmatched otherwise. He was kind enough to volley against Caleb for a while before putting him away for win number two. Immediately following, Dave challenged me to a rematch which was pretty much a replay of our first match. Win number three. That’s when things got really interesting. I was in the middle of declaring Mr. Radford the ping pong champion of the evening when Aiden, Connor, and Caleb quickly spoke up. “No, Josiah is better”, they said. Well, they were exactly right. Dave and Josiah battled away for two complete games with Josiah solidifying his place as the evening’s ping pong champion. Well done.
- On this Saturday following the show, our kids have been humming and singing ‘Stole My Fame’ most of the day.
Our next event is already in the works. I look forward to seeing you there.
Chad and Jennifer