I took one picture at last night’s Juana Molina show, and this is it.

It was such a nice experience being at an uppity joint like The Triple Door and watching someone as amazingly talented as her. Julie, who I met at the show and who arrived first, saved us what I felt could have been the best seat in the house.

I was disappointed to learn that Juana Molina was touring with a band this time, for the first time. I hadn’t seen her on any of her earlier tours. The band didn’t really hinder her in any way, but her (for lack of a better word) jam tendencies really seemed to show themselves when she was on the stage by herself. The musicians in the band she’s traveling with– a bassist and a drummer– were phenomenal. Brilliant. But they were her backing band, and she said from the stage that they’d only known each other for four days. So of course they weren’t going to be prepared to have her go off on tangents like the one she went on when she was up there alone. The shit she did while she was by herself– I described it to Beth as being a “vocal kaleidoscope.” I still haven’t found a better way to describe what I heard her do.

I don’t mean to complain, though. I couldn’t have been happier with the evening. Five or six of us, mostly meeting for the first time (via Yelp), sat down to dinner and a phenomenal show. Everyone was perfectly friendly and just the right amount of chatty. I had a lot of fun. What a great night.

Edited to add: I can’t believe I haven’t yet mentioned Laura Gibson. It was such a pleasure to watch her, up there, by herself. She played her guitar and stomped her foot and sang her haunting and lovely songs. She was funny and loveable and just… perfect. I wound up buying her stuff.