I’ve seen Patrice live five or six times now in some form or another – mostly with Black Box Rebellion. For some reason I’ve never gotten my picture taken with her though. What am I, an idiot? I’ve been a big fan since the first time I saw her perform. She’s amazing. Her stage presence is ridiculously awesome, and her talent is excessively phenomenal. So this show was really no different.

But hey she’s got a new band now. Wayne Sutton is still with her – at least he was Saturday night – but the rest are new. She has a keyboard player now, and an amazing female bass player. That bassist is something else. Full of charisma, constantly smiling, and just wildly talented. She really plays the part well, and there’s no doubt she belongs on stage with Patrice. The drummer is the same story. There are those drummers who pretty much just sit there, all resevered, and play their shows… (Like mine.) Then there are rockstars. This guy was just into it. Watching him, you really believe what he’s saying with his sticks. Hands in the air, head moving with the music, just owning the crowd with his licks. Didn’t get much from the keys. Wayne is mostly reserved too, but his talent speaks for itself.

Beyond all that, the show itself was fantastic. Every song seems to have grown – the ones with which I’m familiar, that is – and every one of them just seemed to be right. I couldn’t find anything wrong with any of the songs. It was like a musical utopia. I can’t imagine how any band ever gets that way. Even some of the bigger bands I’ve seen, like Dave Matthews Band, Tool, Garbage, George Strait – whatever – though technically, they might not make an error througout the entire show, and though it may be technically perfect in performance, maybe their music is lacking that one something. Or maybe their stage presence is lacking that little oomph. I don’t know what it is, because I always enjoy myself when I see DMB. I come away satisfied. But this was different. This was undoubtedly the best show I’ve ever seen. I was overwhelmed.

I sort of still am. They played the Granada, to a crowd of I’d guess about three-hundred of us. Maybe a few more or less. And it felt like a scaled down, intimate version of a gigantic superdome performance. Like they played the same show, but to a smaller crowd in a smaller place. And I came away with two thoughts. Number one, it’s a little sobering to me, being in a band – seeing how much work we have to do. And number two, these guys haven’t sold a million records yet. What, why? This is something I truly don’t understand. Maybe they need more exposure. I know the Rockstar Supernova show did wonders for Patrice’s exposure, and these guys have only been playing together since September. (You can’t tell though.) But for some reason she’s not considered “a big band” yet. She’s not flooding markets with her terrific tunes. We have to do something about this. If I can help in some small way by writing her up here, then great. But do your part too. Go listen to her songs on her website, buy her album, tell your friends, go see a show – whatever. I don’t have to tell you all that. Once you hear this stuff, you’ll know what to do.

So after the show, the drummer came stumbling out looking for a drink, and I stopped him to congratulate him on a great show. He took us backstage where we met up with Patrice and had her sign some things, congratulated her on not being voted to be in that dreadfully horrid band “Rockstar Supernova”, and got pictures taken with her. All was well. They will be touring the left coast here over the next few weeks, then heading out to New Zealand, to go play for the kangaroos down undah.

Let’s all go see them when they come back!