Are you kidding me?!?!
Free At Six
Lied Center for the Performing Arts Main Stage
October 26, 2006 ~ 6-7pm
Every season, the Lied Center chooses a few local groups (musicians, vocal, dance, mime, whatever) to participate in the Free At Six series. This is a grant-driven program that enables the Lied to give these local groups an evening to do their thing in a Lied facility (Main Stage, Johnny Carson Theatre, Kimball Recital Hall, outdoor stage) with the full weight of the Lied marketing staff and everything. The coolest thing is that it's free to the public so anyone in the city can come see these local groups perform in one of the premier venues in the city. Perhaps against their better judgement, Charles Bethea and the Free At Six committee opened their doors to the Learned Project. Are you KIDDING me?!?!
Needless to say, this was a huge thrill for the band. Initally our thoughts gravitated to special touches we could provide for the evening. Maybe have Vince sing the Pink Floyd tune "Money" while we showed a clip of Dorothy first arriving at the Emerald City in the background. Or, how about getting some of the UNL dance students to choreograph a dance for themselves to one of our contemporary songs. Or, how about hiring a full horn section for a portion of the gig. And so it went. Ultimately we came to our senses and decided to fill our alloted 60 minutes with the best stuff we do. No bells or whistles. Just our favorite tunes. Which is a good thing, because figuring out that short list of songs caused quite enough, um, conversation.
So the night of the gig arrives to find us in good spirits. The hall eventually 600-800 patrons spill into their seats. And we start promptly, albiet nervously, at 6pm. But once we got into the swing, it got ridiculously fun. The sound was great. The crowd was into it. And the band kept getting better and better as the night progressed. Our hand-picked songlist seemed to strike the right chords with the audience. When we got to the 45 minute mark, they really seemed hell-bent on keeping us around for longer. Well. It *just* so happened that we were prepared. So we gave them side two of The Beatles' Abbey Road. As we hit the final refrain of "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" the place was filled with an electric charge. People stood up. We smiled and wished we were allowed to play more. As it was, we took our bows and walked off stage after one of the most golorious gigs in our short history.
Thanks Lied Center. You made some dreams come true that night.
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Other details
Lineup
Vince Learned with
Jon Appleget, Matthew Landis, Stanley Raetz, Tom Roth, Randall Snyder & Clayton Stryker
What Would You Say
Fly Away
Synchronicity II
Suite Judy Blue Eyes
Sweet Emotion
Can't Get Next To You
I Just Want to Celebrate
Lowdown
Vertigo
One Angry Dwarf
Encore:
Abbey Road Medley
