21 February 2020, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA

Brandification travels begin.

You know you’re hooked when you start spending money to travel for concerts. I’ve been doing it for the Eagles since that mad time I flew direct to London from Brisbane for three shows to launch the Long Road Out of Eden tour in early 2008. Flying from LA to Seattle to see Brandi Carlile play her hometown symphony hall wasn’t quite as far or costly, but I felt compelled to do it at this stage of my Brandification, and so glad I did it this time, as we were literally only a few weeks from the entire world shutting down. As it was, SEA-TAC Airport was already ghostly, a nursing home in the Seattle area already identified as a spreading hotspot for Covid-19, and we were all wondering what it might mean.

Winter in Seattle meant donning the huge faux fur coat, enjoying steaming hot frothy coffees, eating a good meal at Carlile’s, the restaurant named after our girl, and sharing a hotel room for the night with a fun Bramily member who had flown over from Chicago. I went to the first of a three-night run of shows that had been postponed from December. I’m glad I only did the one night, because while I was thrilled to experience this show, it wasn’t as monumental as I hoped. I found the Seattle Symphony to be perplexingly under-utilised and the lighting in the room unfavourable for photography… But hey, it was great to be there at all!! Because from then until way into 2021, it was a surreal world where we watched livestream performances and didn’t see our friends for a long time.

These were the best of the photos I took at Benaroya Hall. There was also a really good video I captured of their a cappella “Cannonball” but I might have moved it to an external drive at some point. Oh well, I remember how good it was. (Retro-posting in March 2026)