The Importance of a Good Closer: Thoughts on Blind Pilot and Mariano Rivera

Thursday night I attended a concert at the Parish on 6th St. The band I saw is called Blind Pilot, an Indie/Folk/Pop group that specializes in incredibly crafted music, brilliant textures, introspective lyrics, and emotional expression to create their distinct sound. The core of the band is the duo of the guitarist/lead singer and the drummer, but they tour as a 6 person ensemble featuring a female vocalist, trumpet/Fender Rhodes player, upright bass player, and (my personal favorite) a vibraphone player. The trumpet and vibraphone are a brilliant touch to the shimmering textures the band makes. The band's only album 3 Rounds And A Sound provided most of the songs on the setlist, including the hauntingly beautiful "Oviedo", "3 Rounds and A Sound" and "Two Towns From Me". The best song of the evening was the pre-encore finale, an off album piece entited "We Are The Tide", which brings me to the point of this post.


Closing numbers make or break a concert. This song absolutely made this show. "We Are The Tide" is best described as a Folk Anthem. Imagine if U2 was playing "Walk On" with acoustic guitars. "We Are The Tide" begins with a drum beat that was purely tribal. The guitar enters briskly, followed by the bass, vibes, and Rhodes. The chorus simply makes you want to get up and dance. This song nearly moved me to tears. Here's a video of the song played in LA about a week before the Austin Show.



As I make my college foray into folk music, Blind Pilot is quickly becoming one of my new favorite bands.

Onto the Sports side of this coin: I hate the Yankees on principal, but I could watch Mariano Rivera pitch forever. He is amazing. I obviously missed game 2 of the series because of the show, but I did watch it on DVR and can say it never ceases to amaze me how brilliantly Rivera pitches with the game on the line. 38 postseason saves, 9 of those to clinch series, 3 to clinch World Series. And he'll be 40 at the end of November. The man is a monster. Did you see the pitch he got Matt Stairs out with to end the game? Are you kidding me? The break on that is ridiculous. I love Mariano Rivera and will enjoy him being in the HOF.

Also, the Mavs beat the Lakers tonight. Owned, Kobe and Pau.