"If it Don't Matter to You, It Don't Matter to Me"

So, Charlie and I have attended many shows at Saint Rocke. It's our favorite little venue (and that's not just us being biased since he's been doing work for them). Before he started working for them, we won tickets to shows at the venue six weeks in a row. After he started working for them, he is now on every guest list with a +1. I've had the privilege of being his +1 every time, with Wednesday being no exception. We've been excited for MONTHS about Donavon Frankenreiter coming to Saint Rocke. We first saw Donavon at Doheny Days Music Festival in Dana Point last summer. He was great!

Anyway, Wednesday was FINALLY the day! Charlie actually won tickets to a very exclusive sound check (with free food & beer) from 4-6PM. Unfortunately, I couldn't get off work in time to join him. After he spent the evening with 'Donny', I was totally jealous and looking forward to the show even more.

Char & I enjoying the music

Another shot of us

We got to Saint Rocke and had a few beers while listening to the opening act, the Wheeland Brothers. Usually openers are okay, and very rarely do they catch my attention. These guys were awesome though! They had a totally chill vibe ...I feel like they were a mix between Jack Johnson, Donavon Frankenreiter, and G.Love (some of my personal favs!).

Donny doin' his thang

Donny came on and started with probably his most popular song 'Free'. With a sold out crowd, everyone was dancing and singing along. Sometimes it's hard for me to get into shows when I don't know a lot of the songs, but this was not the case at all. I only know a handful of Donny's songs, but I thoroughly enjoyed every single song he performed. I danced so much that my feet were killing me when I woke up Thursday morning. He played a handful of his mellow songs, some stuff from his new album (which I highly recommend), and even some funk. The funk was amazing, and it's not what I was expecting from him at all.

Rockin the Donovan Frankenreiter mustaches

Probably the most enjoyable part of the entire show was the encore. First he performed a rendition of Tom Petty's 'American Girl' ...with everyone in the crowd singing along. The second and final encore song, which is my favorite Donny song, was 'It Don't Matter'. Towards the end of the song, he hand picked two girls out of the crowd to come sing with him. The first girl was a bust, a typical fan who was timid with a not-so-great voice. The second girl stole the ENTIRE show. All she kept singing was 'if it don't matter to you, it don't matter to me'...but every time she would switch it up (like 'no no no, it don't matter to meeee), and the band even played along with what she was singing. Everyone in the whole place (including Donny & the band) were feeling it. It was completely unexpected, yet incredible. She had an amazing voice. After the show, I told her she should be singing professionally.

 "She was an American Girl..."

This was definitely, by far, not only my favorite show at Saint Rocke that I've been to, but it was also one of my favorite shows of all time. That's saying a lot, because I've been to A LOT of shows ...especially in the past year and a half. It was an amaaazing night. Thanks for the hospitality, Saint Rocke. Thanks for brining me as your +1, Charlie. And thanks for rocking out Donny ...keep doing what you're doing, because you sure do have talent! :)