Saturday, August 25, 2012

Michael Franks at The Canyon

I had the good fortune to see on of my most favorite musical artists, Michael Franks, play at The Canyon in Agoura Hills last night.
The Canyon - Where Music Meets the Soul.
It took us about an hour to drive from home to the venue, but then
we had a fun, relaxing three hours of drinks and dinner.
We met some interesting and entertaining people sitting at our table.
We compared our Michael Franks concert history.
One man saw him play Moscow in the early 90's!
One lady saw him play in the 70's on his "Sleeping Gypsy" tour!
 Well, I was playing with dolls during the 70's.
Wait, I still play with dolls...
...that's besides the point.
This was only my second time seeing Michael Franks play live.
I saw him play Anthology in San Diego in 2009.
This show was awesome!!!
I wouldn't have expected anything less.
Besides the songwriter and man himself, the instrumentation and musicianship make Michael Franks shows delightful.  There's the upright bass, drums, saxophone, flute, clarinet, piano/keyboards, and various gourd percussion instruments.
However, this show featured Veronica Nunn (she's on the left in a blur)!
I've been wanting to see her perform with Michael Franks.
She has a beautiful voice and makes it possible for him to perform such a wider variety of his songs (which are duets).
My favorite song of the evening was "Tell Me All About It" (Passionfruit).
You may know it from Natalie Cole covering it.
It was really beautiful.
Other songs played were (in no particular order):
Baseball (One Bad Habit)
Eggplant (The Art of Tea)
In The Eye of The Storm (Sleeping Gypsy)
Jive (The Art of Tea)
The Lady Wants To Know (Sleeping Gypsy)
Long Slow Distance (Blue Pacific)
Monk's New Tune (Dragonfly Summer)
Monkey See-Monkey Do (The Art of Tea)
Now Love Has No End (Barefoot On the Beach)
Now That the Summer's Here (Time Together)
Popsicle Toes (The Art of Tea)
Rainy Night in Tokyo (Passionfruit)
Sunday Morning Here With You (Passionfruit)
When Sly Calls (Passionfruit)
I'm sure there were more but I can't think of them right now.
Thank you, Michael Franks and band!!!
You were spectacular!
 p.s.  What makes smooth jazz smooth?

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review! It's a special group of people that love Michael. Was one of the other songs Mice form his latest

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    1. It wasn't "Mice." I want to say it was about birds... I know I'm missing a song... Have you seen him live?

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  2. Thanks for the photos and notes. Here is the full setlist and a link to the video recording of The Lady Wants to Know. Audio links should be dead but can be requested for upload again. http://onlymichaelfranksmusic.blogspot.com/2012/12/canyon-club-agoura-ca-2012-08-24.html

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