On Tuesday, November 12th, 2013, my husband, Dustin, and I hosted our very first "House Concert." It turned out to not only be one of the highlights of 2013 for me, but probably in the top 10 (maybe even top 5) experiences of my life. So let's back up a bit and I will tell the story of how this came to be and then describe how awesome it was.
In the beginning of this year, January 20th to be exact, I came upon a blog post by Brian Vander Ark, lead singer of The Verve Pipe, that described
how to host a perfect house concert and emailed it to Dustin. Brian laid it all out perfectly and really piqued our interest in doing a house concert. All we needed to do now was figure out who to book.
We looked into booking Ari Hest, Jess Klein, Walk Off the Earth, and Matt Giraud. These are artists that we love, most had seen live before, and thought our living room would accommodate their sound well. Because of touring logistics, it not fitting within our budget, or just not hearing back from their booking agent, we had to pass on these folks... at least for now.
Then on March 6th, I saw that
Seth Glier posted on his facebook page that he was doing an
IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign. He was in a really bad car accident that totaled his Prius and damaged equipment that was inside. Depending on what a person donated, there was a "perk" given for the donation. It was a no-brainer to us that we would love to help Seth out and in exchange we received a house concert in our living room for us and 30 of our friends.
Seth Glier is a Grammy nominated singer/songwriter who we had seen twice before in Spring Lake, MI at a venue called Seven Steps Up... first in January of 2012 and again in January of 2013. I have a hard time putting it into words what the experience of seeing him live is like. Not only does his music touch our souls, but without ever even speaking with him, you know the kind of man he is through his storytelling and his songs.
I think Dustin and I thought about it for maybe a week... whether or not we would donate this money to Seth to not only help him out with buying a new Prius (it IS a Prius after all... same car Dustin and my mom and many of our friends drive) but also to have the honor of having him in our home and letting our friends experience his music too.
So we pulled the trigger and sent the in the donation online. On May 3, I received an email from Seth thanking us for our donation, letting me know he was able to purchase a new Prius, and he was back touring the country again. He gave me the option of two dates that he would be in West Michigan and we decided on November 12th. Wow, planning in May a concert that was to happen in November felt like an eternity away. But we were excited, to say the least!
Seth and I were in contact a few more times via email and I even received a phone call from him the Sunday before the concert. Our invites went out through Facebook a month ahead of time and we were just working on finalizing all of the RSVP's to get an exact count for how many people were coming. As it so happened, we had just under 30 people that were able to attend.
Dustin and I worked diligently throughout the days leading up to the concert to prepare our house. We had a bunch of clutter and toys that needed to be picked up and then the usual scrubbing toilets, washing floors, that you like to have done before a bunch of guests arrive.
Seth was absolutely punctual and arrived at 4pm just as he said he would. He immediately began to set up his equipment meanwhile singing tunes as he went from the house to his car and back again. It seriously felt like a dream. Seth Glier was in my house singing casually as he set up his equipment. Once the keyboard and sound system were set up he began to practice on there singing bits of a number of his songs. I seriously could not stop smiling as I was finishing up the rest of the chores I needed to do. Again, I'm at a loss for words on how awesome this was to be getting my own private concert.
After he got everything set up he was able to relax for a bit before the guests began to arrive. Dustin had made some really tasty chili and the three of us sat around the kitchen eating and enjoying light conversation. Light conversation meaning religion, politics, tea party, and abortion. You know... the typical things one would talk to with a Grammy nominated artist chilling in your kitchen. It was fantastic. We got to know a little more about him and he got to know more about us. Our views on many things aligned and there were things that both Dustin and I said to him that he had the response of "I never thought of it that way before" to. That was incredible. Even though Seth is nearly ten years younger than we are, he has an old soul and maturity that is rare in men even twice his age. It was a pleasure having this one-on-one time with him. Musical artist aside, he is one cool dude.
The guests began to file in and started to mingle. They had a moment to grab some drinks, some snack and Dustin's chili and then it was time to get started. I gave a short introduction about where we had seen Seth before and how excited we were to have him in our home. I didn't end up saying everything I had intended to say, but that's what happens when you're just bubbling over with joy.
Seth started off by singing "Gotta Get Away." I got a short video of it before my camera ran out of space. I took a second video later with my cellphone of "Our Song" which also cut off near the end, and for the rest of the concert I was just so in awe that I never thought again about taking any more videos. He sang for about 40 minutes and then took a break and then sang for another 30-40 minutes. His talent on the keyboards and his vocals are just out of this world. He sang at least two songs acapella and the pitch was just dead on. He put so much soul and passion into what he is singing. His lyrics tell stories that are as descriptive as novels. You really can picture it in your mind exactly what he's singing about and what either he felt during the experience or what the person felt that he was writing about. He has a knack for words and songwriting.
Our guests seem to like him as much as we do. At least four of our guests bought tickets right then to see him in January at Seven Steps Up and several others bought CDs and other merchandise. Seth is also an ambassador for an adopt a child fund that supports children all over the world to make sure they are given the necessities. One house guest adopted a child because she said that Seth really touched her soul.
Having Seth in our home was awesome enough, but being able to share this experience with our friends and family and have them love him as much as we do was really the best gift of all. Seth is going to continue to great things in this world and we were lucky to have him right here in our living room. I will never forget this and it really felt like a fairytale. We have been blessed with such an incredible life and I feel like the luckiest woman alive. I know that we were the ones who donated money, but he was the true gift in this experience.
