Owl City Love

Busy, busy, busy these days!

So, last week, I finally got some time to get out of the Xuchang for the weekend, to go and see my favorite band ever lately, live in Beijing!  The band's name is Owl City, and they are wonderful in (almost) every way.

Firstly, I absolutely love this band.  I accidentally came upon "their" music about a year ago (Owl City is actually almost entirely one person's work, Adam Young), shortly before they signed on to a major record label and got really popular in America really fast.   Unfortunately I left the country shortly after, and thought I would have to wait a long time before I got the opportunity to actually catch a live show.  So imagine my surprise when I discovered that he was doing a four-show tour of China while I was here.  Truly, heaven doth smile brightly upon me.

One reason I was surprised about this China tour is that because of my location here in small-town China, I forget that the country has a fairly large international population.  Which of course, led to the first way in which the concert was different from my expectations: there were a whole lot of Americans there.  In fact, as with a lot of places in Beijing, it was hard to remember sometimes that I was still in China at all.  This was really not even remotely similar to the 20-strong crowd of mostly-Chinese people that I was expecting.  It was certainly interesting, though, being American again for an evening.

The other thing that was notable about the concert, unfortunately, was that Owl City is not really a notably good live show.  You can trust me on this one, being a huge fan and all.  I guess I wasn't terribly surprised by this, as I had wondered before I saw it how a single guy with a phenomenal talent for post-production, and a tendency to synthesize his voice, was going to pull off a good live show.  Well, the truth is, he wasn't.  Ah, well, I still had a good time!

I guess in short, I would say that if you are not already a pretty big fan of Owl City, don't expect the concert to turn you on.  However, if you happen to listen to his actual recordings, expect your heart to melt into a pool of warm fuzzy happiness.

This week only! (Or maybe longer if you're lucky)

I have placed a few of my favorite songs up on the interwebs for your listening pleasure.  They will probably be taken down soon, or whenever I feel like it.  Just to warn you.  I highly suggest taking a listen if you haven't already.

(Edit: Downloads removed)

Hot Air Balloon

Fireflies

Hello Seattle

The Bird and the Worm

The Saltwater Room

And, completely hypocritically, I would like to suggest that if you really like his music, you might want to consider buying some of it!  I know if I were him, I would probably appreciate it.

(Full post on my trip to Beijing coming soon!)