Jon McLaughlin

Last night, we went to see Jon McLaughlin's Christmas concert in Indy! We have seen Jon together before but this time I was excited because he was bring some special guests.  I was lucky enough to snag some VIP tickets to this event.  He brought along Matt Wertz and Dave Barnes too and I have been dying to see one of their holiday concerts for a few years.  Side note: if you get the chance to buy VIP tickets for a show in the Egyptian Room, do it!

They played all of their fun holiday songs and I was so happy.  Jon played a few songs and then he'd had one of his guests come out to play a couple of their songs.  He alternated like this until it was time for him once again and on the last rotation, he brought everyone out to play a final number together.  It was so fun and what I have always hoped for in a Christmas concert!

We even got to cross off an advent activity! Bonus: Matt Wertz played Santa and generously brought copies of Snow Globe to give out for free! Snow Globe is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, Christmas album so I was thrilled to get this!  Here are a few of the fun songs we saw!

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Last night was so fun! Thanks @jonmclaughlin for bringing this show to Indy. 🎄❤️

A post shared by Amanda Cash (@amandascash) on Dec 7, 2019 at 6:07am PST

Tomorrow we are hitting the road for a good old fashioned Condra family road trip with my parents and sister!

Jeff Tweedy

Last night we went to see Jeff Tweedy with Allison at the Egyptian Room in Indy.  It was the first time we had been to a seated show in the Egyptian Room and we hope to never do that again.  The music itself was great as we expected but there was not enough room with the temporary seating in that room.  We were definitely glad to sitting next each other because you were definitely up in the next person's personal space.

The show though, it was great! Jeff played solo with just his guitar and he had so much banter with the crowd.  It was a quiet setting so he could actually hold conversations with audience members.  The set was great and makes me crave a full band Wilco show soon!

Setlist
Via Chicago (Wilco)
Bombs Above
Some Birds
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (Wilco)
I Know What It's Like
Never Madrid (Uncle Tupelo)
Family Ghost
Impossible Germany (Wilco)
Hummingbird (Wilco)
Guaranteed
White Wooden Cross (Wilco)
Radio King (Golden Smog)
Cars Can't Escape (wilco)
Having Been is No Way to Be
Laminated Cat (Loose Fur)
Jesus, Etc. (Wilco)
Evergreen
Heavy Metal Drummer (Wilco)
Let's Go Rain
Gun (Uncle Tupelo)
I'm the Man Who Loves You (Wilco)

Encore:
Don't Forget
Love Like a Wire (Diane Izzo)
Misunderstood (Wilco)
Acuff-Rose (Uncle Tupelo)

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

When I saw Andrew McMahon was playing a show in Indy on his current tour, I knew we had to go!  He's been my favorite artist since junior high. He is going to be at Hangout Festival in May but I didn't want to risk not being able to see him then.  His new album, Zombies On Broadway, is so good.  I just want to sing and dance when I listen to it.  It puts me in such a good mood.   We spent the day in Indy with my family.  After dinner we made our way over to the Egyptian Room at the Old National Centre.  We missed the first opener and caught about half of the second opener.  I was able to run into an old friend that I hadn't seen in about 5 years just before Andrew's set.   His set was one of the most fun I've seen.  I was signing and dancing and having an all around great time.  I am normally not one to sing and dance quite so much at shows but I just can't help it with Andrew!

As seen in the pictures above, Andrew has a giant inflatable duck that he gets in and rides around the crowd.  He went over me twice.  I much prefer the inflatable objects to just people crowd surfing! He also sent his giant rainbow parachute out in the crowd and it was so fun to dance to Synesthesia under it!

Setlist
Fire Escape
High Dive
Walking in My Sleep
All Our Lives
Dead Man's Dollar
Island Radio
Holiday From Real (Jack's Mannequin Cover)
Don't Speak for Me (True)
Canyon Moon
Maps for the Getaway
Shot Out of a Cannon
Dark Blue (Jack's Mannequin Cover)
Walking on a Dream (Empire of the Sun Cover)
Swim (Jack's Mannequin Cover)
So Close
I Woke Up in a Car (Something Corporate Cover)
Synestesia

Encore
Love and Great Buildings
La La Lie (Jack's Mannequin Cover)
Cecilia and the Satellite

Be still my heart. Old school Something Corporate makes me so happy. #oldnationalcentre #egyptianroom #indy #concert #andrewmcmahon #amitw #somethingcorporate #iwokeupinacar

A post shared by Amanda Condra (@ascondra) on Mar 25, 2017 at 9:47pm PDT

This song has been my jam lately. #andrewmcmahon #somethingcorproateisstillmyfavorite #amitw #jacksmannequin #fireescape #concert #indy #egyptianroom #oldnationalcentre

A post shared by Amanda Condra (@ascondra) on Mar 25, 2017 at 9:43pm PDT

#tbt to last weekend and dancing under the parachute at @amnthewilderness show. So.Much.Fun.

A post shared by Amanda Condra (@ascondra) on Mar 30, 2017 at 12:45pm PDT

Father John Misty

Wyatt and I saw Father John Misty last Friday at the Egyptian Room in Indianapolis.  We drove down early enough to try a new place in the Mass Ave. neighborhood, St. Joseph Brewery, for dinner.  It's in an old church.  Our food was delicious, although Wyatt definitely ordered us too much food. My beer was pretty good as well.  We will definitely return.

We walked over to the venue after dinner for the show.  We had been wanting to see Father John Misty all summer.  After passing on a show in which they were the opener this summer, we kicked ourselves but luckily they came through Indianapolis again as the headliner.  They were great live.

And that show....was the last concert I have planned for this year.  It's been a great run.  There might be a show that pops up but for now it's looking like that was it.

The Surfjohn Stevens Christmas Sing-a-long Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Pageant on Ice

I had Friday off from work thanks to some handy vacation time.  I began my day by stopping in Bloomington on the way to Indianapolis.  I got to stop by campus just long enough for a photo opp. and made a quick stop at TIS before traveling up 37 to Indy.

Allison and I did some Christmas shopping during the day.  She took me to Irvington, my first time, and we shopped at a cute little store before eating pizza at Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza.  I highly recommend the Slaughter House Five pizza. It was delicious.  After Irvington, we headed to the north side to do some more shopping.  We grabbed a quick dinner after shopping and then headed over to the Murat for the concert.

It was an excellent show.  He played several of his own Christmas songs along with a few traditional hymns sprinkled here and there. Then it was the audience's turn to sing-a-long to whatever song the "Wheel of Christmas" landed on.  After a couple of songs, he played some more of his Christmas stuff, a couple of hymns, and one of his regular songs.  They ended the regular set with a twelve or so minute song, Christmas Unicorn, complete with costume, confetti, and balloons in the crowd.  For the encore, he performed four acoustic songs off his album, "Illinoise," and ended with the song "Chicago".  I had so much fun!

After the concert Allison and I went to the Circle to see the lights since I'd not ever been there during the Holidays.  It's even prettier in person.

Happy Holidays,