Foy, how was your drink?

"It was good."

 I'm sorry this one has taken awhile. There are a couple of reasons behind the delay. For starters, summer classes began, so that takes priority. And secondly, I haven't been able to make up my mind about how I wanted to discuss Foy Vance. I went to this show knowing that it was going to be interesting, rare, and raw. His music speaks volumes about heartbreak and the anguish that follows. But I wasn't prepared for what was about to take place. I left the venue feeling a little curious, a little confused, and a little drunk, and as much as I would love to say "drunk on music," I can't. 

It was booze. Lots of booze.

Ever been to a gig and thought it was going to be a train wreck? Yea, me neither...until I went to this show. (Stay with me...it gets good.) Fun fact tangent: there's a word for the feeling of being vicariously embarrassed for someone. It only exists in German as far as I know: it's called fremdschämen. (Bart, if you're reading this, please correct me if this is all kinds of wrong.) Anyway, this is how I felt at one point very early on. We get to Gasa Gasa, which is about the size of a sauna; I immediately felt a difference between New Orleans and Lafayette. Nola, as much as I absolutely love you and your quirks, your bar patrons need to lighten up a bit. To the guy standing at the bar with your drink: I nearly punched you for blocking the way for us little folks, but you were 6'10 and scared me. At about 10:30, Foy came up for his set following this cute Irish kid, Ryan McMullan (you should check him out, too.) All seemed fine; he grabbed his guitar, sat down, started to play, and then yells in his thick Irish voice, "F*ck this! It doesn't sound right." He unplugged his guitar, came to the front of the stage and played completely unplugged and acoustic. I thought, "DAMN! YES! Best twelve bucks I've ever spent! This is going to be amazing!"

Then he fell over backwards. 

 He. Was. Hammered. Drunk. About 20 minutes before his set, I became acquainted with the woman sitting next to me on the bench. She has been following Vance's music for about eight years, so I guess you could say he was to her as Sara Bareilles is to me. So the instant he went down, she turned to me and said, "I can't believe this is happening." But something else happened...the music kept going. He stayed laying down and finished the song.

 But you can get away with anything with a 'stache like that.

Now, I could make this completely cliche about musicians and artists drowning their demons in alcohol as they battle with misery and heartbreak, but I know some things about Vance, and those details aren't in my arsenal and I'd rather not make assumptions. For all I know, he was driving all day and maybe spent the rest of it on Bourbon Street. Hell, haven't any of us done the same? The rest of the gig was actually pretty good despite his stupor. He still sounded amazing and played flawlessly without any mics or amps, standing there in the center of a room full of people Yes, he did manage to get up from his previous resting position and played the set. He even invited people on stage to sing with him towards the end.

And then he was gone. He literally sat his guitar down, and walked out. I thought he was going get more vodka, but Allie schooled me on what an Irish goodbye means. She's such a great teacher.

But I digress. I've grown up a fan of raspy vocals; in my eyes, my cousin practically trademarked this singing style. So Vance's music immediately captivated me when I first heard "Closed Hands, Full of Friends." He has teamed up with Bonnie Raitt in the past, and when Ed Sheeran was thirteen, his dad would take him to Vance's shows. To this day, they have toured together several times. 

 Turn off your Beyonce album and listen to this. Yea, I saw you.

Warning: He says a bad word twice.

Vance's lyrics are abundant in the spectacular miseries of heartache and longing. Add a folk melody with his voice, and you have a song that will tug at you every time it plays. "Midnight Starlet" lulls me to sleep, it's so soft. What I like about Foy is that he takes his time writing songs, so they feel very natural. It took years for "Joy of Nothing" to follow up his first album "Hope." In an interview he said, "When you write for a reason it doesn’t work out right. You need to write just for the sheer joy of writing it. Sometimes people in that business work at songs day in and day out tend to think about…oh you know, Taylor Swift needs a new song or whoever needs a new this, and you know that’s just the wrong way to write music as far as I’m concerned.”

So, despite the worry of whether or not he was going to end up with a concussion before the night was over, I managed to see a human, not a musician playing music. Was it perfect? No. Am I not going to try and see him live again because of this? No, because I have Bangor Abbey live and he's badass on it. We go to these shows with high expectations for artists to deliver this flawless performance and we forget that they're people, too. We get so caught up with being a fan that we don't remember the times we didn't always measure up to the expectations of others, and there's nothing wrong with that. So he fell on stage, but he kept playing on, and I have respect for him because of it and still enjoyed the show. When I watch the above video, I forget all about what happened and remember that he is a rare gem in music. Not many have the talent that he has. So thanks, Foy. Hopefully though, next time you'll only get one drink at a time (I talked to the bartender, you weren't fooling anyone).

Thanks to Gasa Gasa for sending me their upcoming shows this week. Check them out:

Monday June 22: Jonathan Freilich

Tuesday June 23: Progression Music Series with Honeyvibe, Chantil Dukart & Micah Jasper.

Wednesday June 24: Y Los Dos Pistoles

Thursday June 25:  Alexis & the Samurai (Sweet Crude) with Prom Date & The Sour Notes 

Friday June 26: Sisters in Christ; PLEASURES, Sexy Dex & the Fresh + Blood Blog

Saturday June 27: Darcy Malone & the Tangle

Follow me on Instagram for updates of this blog and my adventures in live music @ml_brew