Steve Martin & Edie Brickell at the Rochester International Jazz Festival

the stage is so far away!!!

Tickets to the evening Steve Martin and Edie Brickell concert purportedly went on sale at 10am on February 7.  By the time I had hit the right keys on my computer at 10:02am, the “best seats available” for two seats together were in the back of the balcony!  How is it possible that most of the seats for this performance at Kodak Hall were sold this quickly?  I bought two anyway, knowing that there aren’t really and bad seats in the hall, but also that we’d need binoculars to see the stage.  There’s obviously demand in Rochester for performers of this kind, so why don’t we have a full-time performing arts center that books musicians, comedians, etc.?   I checked again at 10:15 out of curiosity – the only option was 1 ticket (no more seats together), and the “best available” was in the “loges” (i.e., balcony), and by 10:18 the event was sold out.  Later, the festival added an afternoon show, whose tickets sold less quickly.  Although if I’d gambled on a second show, I know I would have lost!

seriously?!?

small outdoor music venue

This was our first foray into the Jazz Festival (not sure what qualifies it as “international”?), so we didn’t know what to expect.  We drove into town early, in case parking was an issue (it wasn’t, but it WAS expensive – luckily we pulled into the lot that “only” charged $10!).  At 5:30pm on Saturday, downtown Rochester felt alive, with people crowding the sidewalks and barricaded streets.  You could be forgiven for mistaking Rochester for Portland (either coast…) or any other vibrant mid-sized city.  A small band played outside, and it reminded me of the Joni Mitchell lyric:  “he was playing real good for free.”  There was more diversity – in race, age, and economic background – than you usually see in any one place in Rochester. 

Gibbs aka "Jazz" Street

Given the throngs of people enjoying the glorious weather as they waited to hear the outdoor music, and the concentration it took to steer a path through them, we were surprised to run into some friends – Lucia and her husband, who were also attending the 8pm concert, and Jen and a friend who raved about the 4pm show.  We were glad we’d made a reservation at Max at Eastman, not just because of the consistently good food, but because every restaurant was packed, and even the many food carts had long lines. As an added bonus, we got to hear the Diana Panton performance in the atrium, which was also filled to capacity, without paying the $20 cover!

the atrium of Max at Eastman

Bluegrass (Steve Martin admitted his band doesn’t really play jazz…) isn’t my favorite style of music – it reminds me too much of summer vacations spent with my father’s hillbilly relatives in North Carolina, and square dancing, and missing teeth.  But the musicians were all fantastic, especially the fiddle player.  Steve Martin was hysterical in between songs, as you would hope.  And they did a wonderfully funny a cappella composition called “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs” (“the ‘he’ is always lowercase”).  It was strange hearing Edie Brickell sing bluegrass – especially when she rhymed “thang” (as in “this ole thang?”) with another “ing” word. I was worried that she wouldn’t sing any of her songs from her time with the New Bohemians, but she finally graced us with “What I Am.”  The entire performance was extremely enjoyable, and Steve even remarked on how special a live performance is, with the interaction between the audience and the musicians.  Even if his jokes were scripted, they felt spontaneous (he is a great actor and comedian, after all), and I’m guessing that most of his patter isn’t included on their CDs. 

people staking out seats at 5:30pm
for the 9pm Lou Gramm concert

At 10pm when we emerged, the streets were still bustling, the restaurants were still full, and the atmosphere was one of a proper downtown.  I don’t know how the economic impact of a festival such as this is calculated, and I wondered whether the local hotels were benefiting from out-of-town visitors, but I would bet that receipts from this 9-day span provide more than their proportional benefit to many local businesses. Reluctantly, we decided to forgo walking by the Lou Gramm stage (we probably couldn’t have gotten near it anyway).  But I definitely left feeling like I wanted to return, and be rewarded with some real jazz music that I had to earn by standing in line.  Maybe next year?