I vividly remember the first time I heard Mason Jennings music. It was thanks to Dave House in early 2003. We were hang out in his room one day after school and he told me that he had some new music he thought I would like. Little did he know how right he would be. The first song he played me was “Darkness Between the Fireflies” and by the time the song was one third of the way through, I knew that I was experiencing the closest I will probably ever come to love at first sight… or sound.
For a good solid year, I had little to no interest in listening to much of anything else, as his music seemed to not only completely satiate my musical appetite, but I experienced something I had rarely if ever experienced before - his music not only spoke to me, but it seemed to speak for me. With his unbelievable ability to express his thoughts and emotions so simply and yet so poignantly, I found that Mason Jennings’ lyrics were the words to many of my similar thoughts and feelings that were previously indescribable.
Over the last few years I have been fortunate enough to see Mason Jennings perform live many times and privileged to even meet him a couple times. I am happy to report that he is very much down to earth and personable – he even remembered me the third time around. :)
Though my Mason Mania has definitely died down over the years, his music is still among my favorites and the songs I’ve heard hundreds of times are still just as moving and stirring at times.
Last night I went to see Mason Jennings play again in the Murray theatre. This was my 9th time seeing Mason perform and he is still just as brilliant and captivating as he was the first time I saw him play. He had a whole new band who were great, the sound was very crisp and clean. He also had the opening performer Zach Gill come in and play the piano in many of the songs which provided for a richer, fuller sound to many of his songs, as it’s usually Mason who is playing either the guitar OR the piano – but never both until now.
Man, these shows definitely provide nourishment for my soul.
If you were part of the unfortunate billions who were unable to attend last nights show, this is a little video made by Kyle Clark recapping the evenings events.. enjoy!
