Meeting With The Band

I am currently on vacation, until Tuesday which really means hours, even days, of relaxing free time. And I’ve decided that I would use this time to do what I love - I’m perusing through my favourite blogs, streaming tracks from Youtube to last.fm, attending shows, and watching my favourite doctor – Gregory House. But for some reason all of these didn’t matter as soon as I learnt that blues band Soulmate was doing a private gig at this place called Bacchus last night.

Obviously that brings me to this post about the band again. I love this band, I love their music, and I love the album ‘Moving on’. In fact I love the album so much it has been the only album I’ve listened to on my laptop over the past three months. I finally took it out after I realized just how fanatical I’ve become with the album; how trapped I’ve become in this practice of listening to it over and over again (I mean c’mon, I actually have memorized, word for word, 9 of the 12 tracks on the album).

Fortunately for me my friend is an avid listener of the blues and she had stumbled upon the video I had uploaded from their last concert. So she was all up for coming with me to this swanky little watering hole during the early evening.
On this night the cover was 500 bucks, of course all our drinks were covered with the entry coupon, and the music was more than worth the long trek back and forth on the frozen evening. Soulmate lived up to their billing as they played through a set of their acoustic numbers, and quite possibly the best live version of ‘Johnny be good’ I have ever heard. And the fact that they managed to cram all of this fun onto a tiny little stage of Bacchus just added to the night.

It was a real treat to actually hear Tips’ otherworldly vocals fashioned live and only a few feet away. The two hour-something set went by fast and at 11:30 the band wrapped it up and started packing on stage. As I passed them I shouted out "great job!" and in a persona much different from the one we had just seen, Tips screamed back my name and gave me a big bear hug. Best of all, though? When Tips heard that Shillong was one of my stops on vacation to the north-east she gave me her number and asked me to call her as soon as I reached. And due to my incredible position in the crowd, I actually got to play photog for once. Check out my pictures above.

They played roughly 8 -10 songs. During their second set it was like they tapped into a different energy and I could tell many in the audience were fighting to stay seated at times. "Cup of tea" was also exceptional and I think it was this song where my friends were nearly standing on top of their tables. It was pretty cool and done with enough passion and elegance without being overdone.

The song that I’m playing here today was quite brilliant in a live setting, easily surpassing the studio recordings which appear on their album. Might I add that both Tips as well as Rudy are absolutely amazing singers and people. Their charisma presents itself very well in a live setting and I strongly encourage anyone with a chance to catch them live to get out and see a set. It’ll be an evening you’ll forever want to hold on to.

And all this rambling brings me to this track. ‘Cup of tea’ is written about a day in the life of lead vocalist Tipriti ‘Tips’. This song is quietly tranquil and content. It’s filled with honest emotions and genuine bliss. And I know every word as if I wrote it myself. It’s a beautiful song and I feel that if I don’t share it with everyone it will be stuck in my head for ages and I won’t ever listen to another album.