Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you know that since their show on the acoustic stage at Larry Joe Taylor's Music Festival in April, Josh Weather's and the True Endeavors have taken Texas music by storm. I wrote about it here and I know several other websites have posted the video and gone on and on about how good Josh is. He took me by surprise at LJT so last Thursday night was my first time to see him that I was actually mentally prepared for what was about to take place.
I didn't know what type of crowd to expect. Blue Light is tough in the summer because a lot of the biggest music fans are out of town. Plus, unless these people invest as much time in finding new music as I do or were at LJT, they may not even know who Josh Weathers is because he isn't even played on the radio in Lubbock yet. The crowd was small, but I could tell right off the bat that there was a few handfuls of people who knew what was coming. I tweeted that I was almost as excited to watch the reactions from people who came unknowingly as I was to watch the band.
Charlie Stout opened the show and there was a short break before Josh came on. I was so giddy and excited I could barely stand the wait. I couldn't help but laugh at the people attempting to two-step... they were clearly the ones who didn't have a clue what was about to happen. Finally Josh and the Endeavors took the stage and kicked off with a bluesy "Fishin' in the Dark," and went into "Better Days." I don't think he was expecting to get such an awesome response from the crowd. A small group instantly clung to the front of the stage and sang along with their hands in the air and hooped and hollered in between songs. Then Josh brought out the harmonica for his new song "Keep On," which was all pretty and happy and uplifting.
The stage-crowd started to crow a little more and I found myself on the front row before too long. I've said before how amazing Josh Weathers is at engaging the crowd and keeping them focused on him and entertained. I mean, the man got a standing ovation at the acoustic stage at Larry Joe Taylor. This guy just has that quailty about him. He could control an entire arena, but he has found his place in little bars in Texas. He called us all out when he tried to get us to clap along, and said "all you white people - this is called soul clappin'!" and got us all clapping along as he took us all into a great cover. I'm feeling pretty lame now because I texted my friend saying he covered Alan Jackson, then I was fact-checking and realized "Summertime Blues" is NOT a country song. Sorry, I'm a child of the '90s, what do you expect? But for the majority of the crowd who did grow up in the '90s, this was so much fun.
After a few more songs, the rest of the band left Josh on stage to do a few songs acoustic which included lots of covers - and oh yes.... Josh Weathers totally Rick Rolled everyone at Blue Light. He loves him some '80s jams. I know this because he told us. I didn't know any of these songs. Sorry.
And of course he belted out the long-awaited "I Will Always Love You" that gave me goosebumps even in my drunkenness in the 90-something degree weather back in April that led to a standing ovation and hundreds of new super-fans like me. And let me tell you, I have watched every iPhone video of this on YouTube since then, and what I saw the other night was the best one yet. Maybe because it was live and he was an arm's-length away or maybe because I was in my favorite place in the world, but I swear, it was the best one yet.
I swear I wasn't trying to stick my phone up Josh Weathers' nose. I couldn't figure out how to zoom out! By the way, I wanted to tell the crowd to shut up. But if I hadn't had my mouth a few inches away from my phone I would have been woowooooing the entire time.
After that, the rest of the band came back up and this was when shit got real. I have never been so captivated or seen the crowd as into the band before in my life. Josh has a true gift. He can work a crowd. He covered "Big Night in the City" and climbed up on top of the amp and got the entire crowd - not just the stage-crowders, even the people in the back of the bar - to sing along and repeat verses. We even whispered a few verses of "Hey! Baby" back to him. It was so cool to see the entire crowd interacting like that. |
| Josh Weathers - rapping. |
Josh finished up by playing some more of his own songs and at some point was laying on the ground singing - he is just balls to the wall non-stop. On the last song everyone started slinging beer and the crowd demanded an encore and he obliged. The front of the stage was packed with all kinds of people. Blue Light regulars, Josh Weathers fans, and people who had never heard of him before. We were like one big happy family. I have been to the Blue Light so many times and have never experienced anything close to this. I promise I am not exaggerating. I have seen several posts on Facebook and Twitter from people who were there who said the same thing.
Since that night, when people have asked me how it was, I answer, "I can't even describe it. It was just an experience you'll have to see for yourself." Which is so true. Everyone was dancing and singing and slinging beer. It was something you only see in movies and wish you could be a part of; these things don't happen in real life. But I'm still not convinced Josh Weathers is real life. I'm pretty sure he is a God. If you don't believe me, check out him out at your earliest convenience and get hypnotized yourself.
I ADORE Josh and find him to be absolutely talented, sexy, captivating, inspiring. I just wish more people would get how fabulous he really is. Not just his music but who he is as a human being.
ReplyDelete