Before the pandemic, things like the girl dancing much faster than the song, the guy roaming through the crowd shouting for Kelly (why is it always someone named Kelly), and the group of women whose conversation slowly gets louder than the music with each glass of wine used to annoy me. But now I embrace the irritations because they’re all signs that live music is back.

People changed out of their COVID-19 lock down sweat pants and left the confines of their homes to see DeVotchKa for a free performance at Levitt Pavilion. Singer Nick Urata lead the indie rock band through their catalog of dark cabaret songs. Children danced and people embraced being among the masses for the first time in over a year while the quartet made the accordion, the violin, and the sousaphone sound cool.

Violin player Tom Hagerman guided the band through Psychedelic Furs’ Love My Way. Combining 80’s pop music with their vampire inspired sound.

The original number that reflected the night’s crawl back to some normal was Straight Shot:

And my life is just around the bend
And these broken hearts can mend
It just takes time, time, time
It takes time, time, time

For the closure, the SlaVic Sisters joined them on stage with pink highlighted hair and sparkly silver outfits. They twirled around to create a pink cloud that made the band briefly disappear. It was magical and healing to come back to live music.

The Denver based comedian Adam Cayton-Holland instructed the children around the stage to pull out their screens to block out his adult material. He proceeded to have a mostly family friendly set of material about performing for Republican corporate gigs and an observation that QAnon is basically redneck Dungeon and Dragons.

Nina de Freitas had the difficult task of starting the nights entertainment. With the bright blinding sun shining on her, the sunglass wearing Freitas had the crowd join her in welcoming back live music. Her songs about overcoming sorrow and embracing inner power got the audience attention.

See you at the next show. I’ll be the one just happy to be there or just be anywhere for that matter.