I was supposed to see Ben Folds at Mohegan Sun a couple years back but due to bad weather wasn’t able to make it. When my friend told me she could get us some free tickets to the upcoming show (and tour kick off!) I jumped at the opportunity to see Ben again. We had some decent floor seats for the show. Savannah Conley opened the show and played just her and her guitars for about 20 minutes. Violent Femmes was up next. I felt like this was sort of a weird pairing for a tour but the crowd seemed into it and it was a lot of fun to watch all the people slowly jump up and start dancing as their set progressed. They definitely had some interesting instruments on stage – a huge giant saxophone like thing (sorry I don’t know what it’s actually called) that was taller than the guy playing it and a grill that was being used as a drum. Ben’s backup band had some interesting instruments as well – a cello, no bass guitar but a bass harmonica? And the drums were a tiny version with no bass drum he said because they had no bass guitar. Three songs into the set, Ben said they decided that Mohegan Sun needed a jingle so they wrote one backstage and played it, it was basically just the band jamming out and singing “Mohegan Sun, yall!” I thought this may be something they did every night but the other setlists I looked at after this show don’t note it, if they did! Ben’s set was incredibly entertaining and he ended with the audience singing 3 part harmony. I thought it was a great way to end it, though the audience wanted more and even once the house lights went back on no one wanted to leave just yet!

For John Mayer’s Summer Tour he did things a little bit differently than usual. He had no opening act, took the stage “promptly at 7:30” (more like 10 to 8) and played 2 sets. He also had said that he’d be doing no repeats for shows where he was doing back-to-back nights but that turned out to not be completely true. But with 2 sets you’d be hearing more songs than usual and hopefully some songs that you haven’t heard in a while either. I ended up going to his show in Providence, RI which ended up being the day after my birthday! I picked out great seats in the last row of the lower level which was awesome because I had no stairs to deal with. While the two sets things seemed like a great idea, the intermission allowed people to wander around which resulted in my getting beer dumped on me by a moron who doesn’t know how to hold a can of beer AND take a photo with her friends. When the guy next to me called her out to apologize to me, she said it wasn’t her. Oh, ok! She also offered to give me the beer. No thanks, I’m not a beer fan and then had to smell like it for the rest of the evening and the 2 hour ride home. Yuck. I thought the setlist had a great mix of songs from all his albums and I was glad he included No Such Thing and Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, among others. I can do without his cover of “Free Fallin’” though. The crowd seemed to love it, but I’m pretty sure he has done it at nearly every show I have gone to and would have loved to hear something else instead. The crowd also seemed to love when he included a Grateful Dead song in the set – Fire on the Mountain. I loved him ending the set with New Light and the purple confetti. (One of the reasons I was bummed to sell my MSG tickets is that I think my seat for the Friday show would have been pelted with confetti – and I love me some confetti.)

In mid-July I headed to Minnesota to cross a new state off my list and also to check out the Basilica Block Party.  Friday was the first night and we considered that our dress rehearsal for Saturday night when Hanson and Jason Mraz would be performing.  My friend that I went with was volunteering Friday so I was on my own for the show – and turns out I really was on my own because even though I made my way to the ADA section (via police escort. Long story.) no one ended up showing up to join me until near the very end of the show!   Each night I stayed at the Great Clips stage all afternoon/evening even though there were some great bands on the other stages as well. There never was a band that I had hoped would get off stage, the level of talent was all pretty great. (Although Johnny Swim teasing they’d perform all night when I knew Hanson was going to be coming up next did make me a bit anxious lol)  On Friday the lineup was Ruston Kelly, Anderson East, Dawes and Kacey Musgraves. I actually spotted Taylor and Isaac Hanson watching during Dawes set – turns out Zac was there too but I never did get a glimpse of him. The second night the lineup was Lissie, JohnnySwim, Hanson and Jason Mraz closed out the night.

In addition to the Block Party – I also got to try my first “Jucy Lucy” at Matt’s Bar and hit up the Mall of America!

Setlists that are available from the block party: