Tonight was a defining night in my musical journey. I'm on a road trip to Chicago right now and while staying here I was able to meet an "out of town" JELLi fan named Aida. She's been listening to my music since the very first JELLi EP and I only know her through the internet, so meeting up with her in person was a truly heartwarming experience because she had all of my music on her iPod, new and old, even lost songs of mine that I almost forgot about, like "Down Up Again" and "It's Not the End".
She made me feel like I was the king of the world when she talked, and it amazed me that someone who I never physically met before could already feel so connected to me through my art. I performed an impromptu acoustic set for her, comprised of a mixture of Smashing Pumpkins songs, JELLi and Incubus. It went something like this:
Aida- Chicago hotel set list 5/23/14
Stumbleine
Thru the eyes of ruby
Here is no why
Starla
Today
Disarm
Tonight tonight
Cherub rock
1979
Rive
Down up again
It's not the end
Drive
Dig
Mexico
It was an honor to play music for someone who was listening with such great respect and admiration, and I'm so grateful for that experience. After the performance ended we had a long convo about anything and everything and we finally got to know each other past Facebook. Before she left I gave her an original signed JELLi EP and a Jump Into the Fuzz t-shirt, and because of the live performance we shared, I now have a deeper connection to someone who's already felt connected to me for a long time.
This night added a new dimension to my headspace that I've never quite felt before this way.. I'm excited to give more intimate low key performances like this for people who want to listen, in addition to lots of people in bigger venues when the opportunities arise.
JELLi live is starting to take shape.
-Chris