i won’t bore you all with the sordid details, but suffice it to say that i haven’t been completely loving life lately. various stresses and frustrations – personal and professional – had begun to take their toll. so for weeks (months?), friday night’s Lifehouse/honeyhoney show at Boston’s magnificent Orpheum Theatre glistened seductively like a rare diamond on a distant shore – and seemingly just as easily reachable. but the evening finally arrived, and not a moment too soon…

I’d seen these two before, at that godawful horse stable of a venue, Hampton Beach Casino (which sounds a heck of a lot more upscale than it actually is), but there’s nothing like seeing fine live music in a fine venue like the Orpheum.

Lifehouse is an excellent band, and the audience was right there with them. I’d say singing along, but this is Boston ya understand, so it was more like shouting along to every song. Very cathartic for me, in my condition.

The “middle band” was Matt Nathanson. He/they were… ok. Not really my cup of tea, but very personable, funny, decent musicians, from what I understand local, and obviously with a large enthusiastic fan base.

honeyhoney… ahhh. Now how can I say this without gushing like a silly schoolgirl? The great shame is that they opened, when people in a venue like that are still finding their seats. I said something about it to the very cute and great guitarist/songwriter Ben (during a little signing session between sets), and he said something to the effect of “it’s ok, we’re used to it”. But I sincerely hope that very, very soon, they’ll at least be playing in a middle spot at large shows, or headlining at some nice cozy place like Johnny D’s. They played just six songs (I think), but it was a sweet, perfect thing. They’re joined now by Wendy Wang on bass and Sean Johnson on drums, and man, do they sound good! And now, last but most certainly not least, Suzanne. Oh man… Last I checked, I was still a devout heterosexual, but this girl does things to me. Seriously, if you haven’t heard her singing “Thursday Night”, buy their EP and have a listen. Now. “Bouncing Ball”, where it all started, is also a lovely, lovely tune, wistful and kinda sad, but in a really nice way. You know what I mean, right?

Ok, gushing over. Time to start hoping, dreaming, wanting… until they return.