Brent Walsh at Cornerstone
Brent Walsh, frontman of I the Mighty, opened one show for I See Stars at the Cornerstone in Berkeley. Both were playing acoustic. Obviously I was there for Brent.
The ticket said the show started at 7:30, so I got there at 7:30 and there was literally NO ONE on the floor. Uhhhhh I guess it starts at 8, huh? It was a weird set-up, with like 8 chairs in a semi-circle, but there was absolutely no one in the middle.
A girl I met at an I the Mighty show like yearssss ago, Stephanie, got to the venue around the same time I did with two of her friends, Kacey (Kacie? Kacy? I’m not sure) and (…shit I forgot her other friend’s name). I stuck with the three of them the whole night.
We tried to talk to Brent at merch before he hit the stage, but apparently he hadn’t rehearsed yet (spoilers: damn he’s good without rehearsing) so he ran backstage real quick like ten minutes before showtime.
When he came onstage, he told us all to get closer. I ran up directly in front of him as a joke and instantly regretted it when I kinda got stuck there. It was a bad view. Just… too close.
Those pictures are great, I’m sure I sound sarcastic, but honestly, I felt awkward where I was standing.
Anyway.
He mostly played new music from his EP Are You Even There At All?, as well as a few older songs and covers.
He opened with a cover of Nothing But Thieves’ “Lover Please Stay.” He said the first time he ever played this song through was right before coming onstage.
Apparently when he was touring for Are You Even There At All? on the east coast, I the Mighty fans were upset he wasn’t playing any ITM songs, so he played “Slow Dancing Forever.”
Kacey wasn’t happy that was the one he went with because it’s sad.
Me before “Confession/Repentance“: “But this one’s sad too!”
Brent talked about how this was his first time this tour playing totally acoustic without a backup band (Makari backed him on the east coast) so he felt weird. Apparently this was the first time he has EVER played “Typical Blues Song” on an acoustic guitar, so he had to improv during the guitar solo. It was beautiful. We were all laughing.
Before “More Lucky Than This,” he explained that he wrote it for his ex-girlfriend Sam’s Aunt.
Sam (from the crowd): “He wrote it for her as a favor, not for her.”
Lover Please Stay (Nothing But Thieves cover)
The Way You Seem
More Lucky Than This
Typical Blues Song
Slow Dancing Forever
Confession / Repentance
We hung back by merch during I See Stars. I’m not familiar with them, but Brent told me they’ve been around for 10+ years and this was probably the smallest show they’ve ever played in the Bay.
They played a few covers which I appreciated, because I actually knew those songs. Like Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” and The Outfield’s “Your Love.”
While I didn’t know any of their original songs, I did like frontman Devin Oliver’s voice.
He told a story about how he got their backdrop made as a surprise, and then the other guy in the picture (guitarist Brent Allen) chopped his hair off, so it was never an accurate backdrop for this tour.
I ended up ubering two girls from the show home at the end of the night. They were there for I See Stars, but I still told them about the I the Mighty Variety Christmas show at Bottom of the Hill a few weeks later. New ITM fans yay!
