Every so often you get bumped up.

Oh my goodness, The Lumineers.

Oh my God, I needed that catharsis.

And oh, my God, there was this moment late in the show when Jeremiah Fraites took the stage alone for "Patience" that I couldn't even hear because the backdrop behind the stage that'd been playing all these abstract images suddenly materialized into real pictures, California bridges and a dandelion and geese, these lovely geese migrating in their urge for going - I can't remember the music to them or where it was in the show but I know just how stunning it was, seeing those geese, up behind that stage.

I'd been in the nosebleed section because I waited until the last minute to buy a ticket for a sold-out show. Seriously, it was my seat and then the roof. But it wasn't totally sold out, because sometime in the first third one of the ushers came up to me and said there were better, unsold seats if I wanted one. A better, unsold seat five people up from the dance floor, on the other side of the stadium, perfectly positioned to see the whole place light up when people held up their cell phones like fireflies for songs like "Charlie Boy."

The Lumineers is a great band for the "hit the lights" aesthetic.

Also a great band for getting onto your feet and dancing, even from the stadium seating.

I didn't cry at "Charlie Boy" but I did for "Cleopatra" and "Gun Song" and Andrew Bird's revised version of "Tables and Chairs" and it struck me how Andrew Bird is an artist who'll use whatever he wants and whatever he can get to create the sound he wants - effects pedals and xylophones and whatever he's got around. In contrast, the Lumineers use exactly what they need and nothing else. They've got a richness in their feelings, a precision in their sound, and utter sincerity in their efforts, and together it's all a potent combination.

(Speaking of sincerity, another usher I met kept saying "step right up" to ticket holders coming into the stadium - and yes, he loved saying it. Another was happy for the chance to talk about her job and the shows she's seen since she started working there.)

I jumped, I danced, I clapped, I laughed, I sang, I wept. I cheered hard for the Andrew Bird-aided cover of "Subterranean Homesick Blues." I feel better than I did before I went. And I'd better head off to bed.