Going Country in Cerritos

Home Free
Dive Bar Saints Tour
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
Cerritos, CA

I drove down to Cerritos after work to meet up with Karla to see Home Free, my first time to see them live.  I arrived with enough time to drive around to get a bite to eat, and sat in my car at the parking lot.  KP saw me and came over to sit with me to chat while I finished eating. This was my first time at the venue and it is beautiful!  I agree with KP that Rockapella needs to perform here. They would love it.

We would purchase much closer seats, though.

I didn't know that my friend Gordon was in the audience that night until later when he saw this on my Facebook page.  APPARENTLY, he can see himself in this picture.  

Our seats were in the center section of the front row of the mezzanine.  I was too afraid of heights to look down for very long, but KP was happy to see we could view the soundboard.  There wasn't really a railing next to the steps, which is my explanation for someone palming my head as folks were being seated.  They didn't push down on my head, but it was almost like someone was about to massage my scalp for me, like one of those copper tingly things you find at the county fairs, or, of course, on Amazon.  Yes, it was weird.  No, I didn't know who did it.  Yes, I think I still have all of my brains and I don't think they were sucked out of me at the time, although I may have killed some of my brain cells with the Mystery Shot at Happy Hour the other night.

I don't remember the names of all of the songs, but I did buy a CD and a drink cozy because the name of the new album is "Dive Bar Saints", and that's me!  Except not in a Dive Bar.  Most of the songs they sang were from this album.  

• My favorite band member ever since I first saw them on "The Sing-Off" is Tim, the bass.  Very bass-y.  I like that they know that he's popular and give a lot of the lead parts to him.
• They had an Instagram contest, and whomever they chose would get to have a backstage pass after the show.  Neither one of us won.  You know who did?  A lady that sketched Tim when he made fun of her for taking so long to take their picture that she might as well have drawn it.

"Listen, 'Flip Phone'..."

• The songs were Tim-heavy, and I would have liked to hear the other guys sing lead a little bit more.
• Adam is an amazing vocal percussionist.  He gets to stand on top of the set table and solo for a really long time.  Guess that's because he's also the founding member of the group, but he also deserves the recognition.  He even danced when he did some "Billie Jean".  I mean, he's not the greatest dancer, but he did dance a little bit.  

The guys joining Adam at the end of his solo

• They've got a lot of lighting cues going on, especially during Adam R's drum solo.  
• They demonstrated some live "looping", which they learned from watching Ed Sheeran.  Pretty cool, and that's why they have that table on the stage,so that Adam R. could DJ the looping.
• Tim does most of the talking, probably because he's the funniest, and probably also because people love listening to that awesome voice.
• They sang "Elvira", and it made me very happy.  I love their version of that Oak Ridge Boys song.

• Then later they sang John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads", and I fought back tears. I remembered at that moment how sad I was when JD was in the fatal plane accident.  What a great songwriter he was.  Their version is beautiful.
• I wish they would have sung "Ring of Fire", and brought fellow Sing-Off performer Avi from Pentatonix on stage to sing it with them.  Well, maybe he wasn't there, but they were in his hometown, so he maybe could have made a guest appearance, right?  I wish for many things.
• I think my favorite original from this album is "Love Me Like That", and Austin wrote it, which makes sense why it resonated so true: it came from his heart.
• We got in line for the meet and greet, and KP talked to her Target Husband.  His wife is one of the "Home Fries", the moniker for HF's loyal fans, and was in line ahead of us.

Meet and Greet

• They don't really give us much time to talk to the guys, but I did get to tell Adam R that he was incredible.  I also told Tim, "You're my favorite.  Don't tell the other guys."  To which he responded by yelling to the other guys, "I'M HER FAVORITE!!!!!"  (I did not tell Tim that part of the reason he's my favorite is that he's friends with JT of Rockapella.)
• They didn't really gather round to take pictures with the fans.  I guess not everyone can be as personable and take time with their fans as Rockapella, and Home Free has got quite the whirlwind tour.

I had fun and would definitely go see them again!  Thank you, Karla!!!