Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets were on the CBS Saturday Morning TV show today, playing three songs from Nick’s classic holiday album Quality Street (here’s their performance of ‘Christmas at the Airport’). Quality Street is now 10 years old, and it will forever remind me of the Nick Lowe show I saw at Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre on December 19, 2015.

This was a memorable show for many reasons, not least of which was the excellent and exuberant music. It was also memorable because of the audience. This was my first time seeing Nick as a solo act – I had seen him in Vancouver in 1980, as part of Rockpile – but everyone I knew who had seen him on his own assured me that he was terrific. When my husband and I got to the venue and found our seats, it turned out that many of those same people were also at this show, and were sitting near us. It seemed like everyone in the crowd either knew each other, or knew someone who knew someone who was there.

The Vogue is a former movie theatre, and although the seats are probably the most uncomfortable of any venue in the city, it has terrific sightlines and great sound. This night,  the audience was buzzing before the show even started. I don’t think I’ve ever attended a concert that close to Christmas, and people were definitely feeling festive and ready to party.

Nick began the show by himself, and played a couple of acoustic numbers. Then just when he was stepping up to greet the crowd, a woman about ten rows in front of us stood up and yelled “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!” The entire place whooped and hollered, the Straitjackets came on stage and started playing, and things got even more party-happy after that. I usually don’t dance in front of the stage because I don’t want to block anyone’s view – especially if they paid a lot to sit in the front – but since the entire front rows were on their feet, I figured, what the heck, and ran down to join the crowd. I ended up clapping along and dancing to  ‘Children Go Where I Send Thee’ next to an equally enthusiastic guy, who, after the song ended, looked at me and laughed; I laughed too, and we shook hands and introduced ourselves. It was that kind of a night.

The entire show was absolutely delightful. But I also remember it because, similar to the night I didn’t meet David Bowie, this was the night I didn’t see Elvis Costello – even though, apparently, everyone else in the theatre did. Elvis and his wife Diana Krall have a house in West Vancouver, and since Elvis and Nick are old friends, Elvis and Diana came to see the show and brought their two little boys. They were all seated in the middle row of the main floor (this is Vancouver, we’re low-key about our celebrities, no one bothered them), and every time one of our friends went to the lobby or to the bar, they would come rushing back and say “I saw Elvis!!!”

But I, of course, couldn’t spot him – even when people around us were poking each other’s arms and pointing and going, “Look, he’s right over there!” I was beginning to think that some kind of giant prank was being played on me, but enough people said they had seen him that I figured Elvis really was there – somewhere. A friend who was sitting near him said that Elvis was smiling throughout the entire show, and that he and Diana stood up and applauded along with everyone else when Nick did a beautiful solo version of Elvis’ song ‘Alison’ as an encore.

Even without getting a look at Elvis, this was definitely one of the best times I’ve ever had at a concert. Two years later, I interviewed Pete Curry of Los Straitjackets for Shindig! magazine, when the band released an album of covers of Nick’s songs. I mentioned to Pete that I was at that show and how much fun it had been, and he said they remembered it well because it was the end of the tour, the audience was fantastic, and they had a great time. So it’s nice to know that the show was a memorable experience for everyone.

Every December 19th I think about that woman who yelled “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!”, and hope that she’s having a happy celebration.

This is my last blog post for 2023; thank you for reading, and for supporting Writing About Music. I wish you a restful holiday season, and a healthy and prosperous 2024. See you next year!