Martin Sexton

After digging holes in the backyard for a couple of hours last night, I found out, around 9:00, that Martin Sexton was playing right around the corner at 9:30. Got my crap together, paid the $15 and got in during the middle of the 2nd song. Now I've only ever heard The American, so I figured I'd be kind of lost. And Martin isn't generally the kind of show I'd go too, but I like the album I have and Scott said he was good, so there I was.

Decent crowd for Charlotte. Especially on a Tuesday night. And, wow. Really. I never would have guessed so many cool sounds could have come from one dude, a guitar, and a loopback machine. It was half beatbox, half soul, half R&B, and half pop. I know that equals two. Guitar tone was amazing too... so clean and clear. And he really has an outstanding voice. It sounds great on the album, but being able to replicate that live is an amazing feat. If I could play an electric guitar solo with an electric guitar the way Martin plays an electric guitar solo with his mouth and a microphone, I'd never be nervous to play again.

First set, everything was great... If it wasn't for the, like, 40 minute set break, everything would have been MUCH better. Was able to get most of the way to the front for the 2nd set tho, so that was nice. Especially when he opened with "The Beast in Me." Good second set, but also kind of short. I think the whole show couldn't have been more than an hour and a half. Was hoping for another half hour or so. But even that would have been ok if it wasn't for the encore. I was REALLY liking everything he was doing up until then. And, for the encore, he came out and did "American the Beautiful." wtf. Not that I have a problem with the song, per se. Or people singing it. I didn't care to hear it, personally, but whatever. It still SUCKED that the very last thing we got was a short rendition of that crap. Even him playing that song would have been fine if we'd gotten another Sexton tune afterward. But, no. America the Beautiful and then done. Even CIF shows ending with "Who Are We..." have never been that disappointing. Was kind of pissed that I spent the extra money to get the CD's of the show after that. Que sera sera.

And, dammit. There was more, but I got sidetracked, so I'm done for now.