Seth MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane was on The Tonight Show back in June and spoke about how he was currently touring around the country performing with various orchestras.  I had no idea he was a singer!  After doing a little research, I realized that he is actually considered a very skillful singer and that this particular tour featured songs from the '40's and '50's.  Given how incredible the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is, I figured we would be in for a very entertaining performance.

Unfortunately, the evening did not get off to a great start because traffic was even more nightmarish than normal and it took much longer than we had anticipated to drive to Baltimore.   It didn't help that several of the roads right around the concert hall were blocked off for various reasons, and by the time we finally got there, we were both pretty frazzled.

After finally making it to the concert, I stopped to take a photo of the stage on the way to our seats, and an usher told me in no uncertain terms that photography was not allowed in the concert hall.  I then proceeded to observe countless people taking photos and not being reprimanded for it, so to say I was unhappy is an understatement.  I did manage to sneak one not-so-great photo of the stage before the show began, but I didn't get any photos of Seth MacFarlane.  However, I had to document these two contradictory announcements because they made us smile:

I forgot all about feeling frustrated and annoyed when the concert began – and not thinking about taking photos allowed me to focus solely on the show.  Not only was the music beautiful, but Seth MacFarlane can sing.  I mean REALLY sing.  As in, it was a delight to listen to him and I was sad two hours later when the show ended.  He was charming and funny and sweet and extremely knowledgeable about the songs he was performing.  He is SO talented.  And he did throw in a few comments here and there in his "Stewie" voice, which was hilarious.

I admit that I did not know about 90% of the songs he sang, but that made not one bit of difference.  The show was awesome.  He came out for three encores because the thunderous applause and standing ovations could not be ignored.  Before the first encore, he did announce that he was not going to sing "Bird is the Word" – and if you're a fan of Family Guy, that joke requires no further explanation.  His final song was the theme from The Love Boat and the audience ate it up.

Speaking of the audience, I wasn't particularly impressed with some of the behaviors I witnessed: people getting up and walking around in the middle of songs, people talking, people recording video of the show on their phones...I mean it's a concert hall with a world-class symphony orchestra performing.  Conduct yourselves accordingly (no pun intended!).  I suppose I have my parents to thank for instilling in me at a very young age how one should behave in such a setting, because I have little tolerance for rude behavior.

Here are some of the songs Seth MacFarlane performed – not a complete list, but it's what I could find online the day after the concert:

Old Devil Moon 

This Is All I Ask 

I Have Dreamed 

I'll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her 

No One Ever Tells You 

High Anxiety 

I Get Along Without You Very Well 

Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart 

Guys And Dolls 

French Foreign Legion 

Love Boat Theme

While I was a casual fan before this concert, I would now consider myself a fairly ardent fan of Seth MacFarlane.  Seeing him in a whole new light really helped me appreciate his talents beyond Family Guy and American Dad!

Happy Tails to you!