Del Amitri – The Birchmere, 4/19/2022

Coming into this year, Del Amitri was one of only two of my all-time favorite dozen acts that I had never seen live. (I hope to knock the other one off this summer.) Given that they’re based across the pond, were never big stars in the States, and hadn’t toured here in 25 years, it was a delightful surprise when I learned earlier this year that they would be doing a U.S. tour. It was well worth the wait.

 

Appropriately enough, for both the band and most members of the audience, they started out with “When You Were Young”. A particularly strong point of the show came just a couple of songs later, with a 1-2-3 punch of “Always The Last To Know”, “Not Where It’s At”, and “Kiss This Thing Goodbye” (the first thing I had ever heard by them). Their four-song encore was one of the best I’ve ever experienced; Justin Currie held everyone spellbound with his vocals on “Empty” and “I’m So Scared Of Dying”, and they closed with the will-he-or-won’t-he “Be My Downfall”, one of my personal favorites.

 

Interestingly, a couple of the highlights of the show for me were songs with which I was less familiar; in addition to “Empty”, they did a great job about halfway through the 90-minute show with “Crashing Down”. Seven of the 13 tracks from last year’s Fatal Mistakes album (their first studio effort since 2002) made an appearance, complementing the older material nicely. In addition to “I’m So Scared Of Dying”, I particularly enjoyed keyboardist Andy Alston stepping out front with his accordion for “Mockingbird, Copy Me Now”. The musicianship was stellar throughout – I was especially impressed with Iain Harvie’s work on lead guitar, which came across much more in person than on their records.

 

My only disappointment was with the arrangement of “Driving With The Brakes On”. I at first thought that the clickety-clack percussion was a prerecorded backing track, but a glance at Ashley Soan revealed that the wood-block tapping was completely live. Either way, I found it distracting for such a great, slow, moody song.

 

Being about 10^th in line – I arrived around 4:15 – I got a forward-facing padded bench seat at table 316: dead center, parallel to the stage and just in front of the divider. The view was quite good, and the sound was excellent. Currie’s vocals could be heard clearly over the instruments, even on the louder numbers. While the show didn’t sell out, at least 80% of the seats seemed to be occupied.

 

Kris Dollimore, one of the band’s guitarists, provided a nice 30-minute acoustic opening set, with a pair of instrumentals (both of which reminded me of Tom Rush’s “Rockport Sunday”) sandwiched around more bluesy songs that also featured his singing, including a Mississippi John Hurt cover and a spirited version of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues”.

 

Setlist

 

April 10, 2022 – Nats 4, Mets 2

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/mets-vs-nationals/2022/04/10/662570#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=662570

 

Time: 3:01

Attendance: 23,158

 

We won!!!

 

Start with the pitching. Erick Fedde became the first Washington starter to complete 5 innings, holding the Mets to a pair of runs in the 4^th. The Nats’ four top relievers (Steve Cishek, Sean Doolittle, Kyle Finnegan, and Tanner Rainey) combined to blank the visitors over the final 4 frames.

 

After getting off to a relatively fast start with a Nelson Cruz homer and a Josh Bell single in the bottom of the first, the home team offense reverted to its early-season futility, failing to get a single hit in the following 6 innings off Carlos Carrasco and Chasen Shreve. Things finally changed in the 8^th, when the Nats placed runners on the corners with no outs on singles by Yadiel Hernandez and Maikel Franco. Shortstop Lucius Fox, making his major-league debut, then brought the crowd to its feet with a perfect bunt that plated the tying run. Two outs later, Cruz singled up the middle to score Fox and César Hernández.

 

The weather wasn’t the greatest – no rain, but low 50s temps and a strong wind that led me to keep my gloves on for most of the afternoon. (This may have led to some ticketholders staying away altogether, as the number of people in the park seemed well short of 20,000.) Our experiences with Nats Park concessions were actually positive, probably because we stayed away from online ordering. That was fortunate, given our lunch debacle at a well-known (and heavily patronized) sports bar across the street from the stadium. Suffice it to say we arrived around 11:30 and left shortly after 1:00, without my sandwich order making an appearance.

 

April 7, 2022 – Mets 5, Nats 1

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/mets-vs-nationals/2022/04/07/662571#game_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=662571

 

Time: 3:31 (1:16 delay)

Attendance: 35,052

 

This was not exactly an auspicious start for the Nats’ 2022 season, either baseball-wise or otherwise. Fill-in Mets starter Tylor Megill kept the home team off-balance for the first 5 innings with high-90s heat and a mix of offspeed stuff, allowing no walks and just 3 hits while fanning 6. The visitors’ top 4 relievers pitched an inning each to finish off the game, with the only damage being a massive shot by Juan Soto in the bottom of the sixth. (Three innings earlier, however, the face of the franchise fanned with runners on first and third and only one out.)

 

Washington starter Patrick Corbin, coming off two rough years following his 2019 heroics, started off well but failed to retire anyone in the top of the fifth, hitting James McCann with his final pitch to force in the first run of the game. Victor Arano did well in his Nationals debut, inducing two quick ground balls to limit the damage to one more run. The New Yorkers subsequently padded their margin by tacking on 3 more runs off Austin Voth and Andrés Machado.

 

The Nats’ defense did look solid, especially shortstop Alcides Escobar and catcher Keibert Ruiz. Ruiz was certainly the player of the game for Washington, throwing out leadoff hitter Starling Marte attempting to steal second and three innings later making a great play at the plate to tag out New York slugger Pete Alonzo trying to score from first on a two-out double. He also brought his hot bat back from Florida, doubling in the second for the home team’s first hit of the season and adding a sixth-inning single.

 

The game was originally scheduled to kick off at 4:05, but the team wisely announced Wednesday night that the start would be pushed back to 7:05, which was approximately when the day-long rain was expected to end. We left at 3:15, had a relatively uneventful drive, parked in our usual lot, enjoyed an early dinner (taco platters) at the nearby Él Bebe restaurant, and got to Nats Park around 5:45, all while staying dry. Unfortunately, the rain was not done with us; one more shower was on its way, and so the start time was again delayed, with the game finally getting underway at 8:20 after the usual Opening Day ceremonies. Of course, it was in the 50s with wind, so even without getting wet – I didn’t actually open an umbrella once all day – it was a pretty miserable experience weather-wise. And not surprisingly, given our past history, glitches abounded in ordering and paying for food, beverages, and Team Store items. (In their defense, the new clear-bag entry process went well, as did the distribution of free bags to us season plan members.) The actual crowd was well short of the paid attendance, and it dwindled steadily, pretty much in line with Washington’s chances for a win. We left at the end of the eighth and made it back in a record 27 minutes.