Toadies @ Beaumont Club, 4/23/09

Silversun Pickups @ KC P&L 3/17/09 -- St. Patty's Day!

Day two of my week of "stay-cation" where I go see Silversun Pickups for FREE. You'd think it'd be easy to get people to go to a FREE concert, but...

Attendees: Me, "The Lip" -- Sean Lipford

Money Spent: $30 (all on Miller Light tall boys)

Adrometer rating (on a 5-point scale): 0 (I'm on vacation, and it was a daytime show. No stress on her at all!)

Overall rating (on a 5-point scale): 4.5. Beautiful day, free show, three quality bands. Would have been a five had it just gotten a little crazier, with us going down to the pit, and perhaps if the show would have lasted a little longer.

So, when I found out that I had these shows back-to-back, I emailed everyone I know who may have been interested. I got Bart and Ryno to take a chance on Dredg Monday night. The Tuesday Silversun Pickups/Von Bondies/Dead Confederate show was a FREE show on St. Patty's Day, so I figured I'd get a better turnout for that one.

Turns out, I did, early. Several people emailed me saying "In!" I'm thinking, "This is gonna be bad-ass."

Then, as the show gets nearer and nearer, my party people start dropping off like flies.
By the morning of the show? I was going by myself. I decided I'd do it, reluctantly. I was on vacation, and I really wanted to see Silversun Pickups. The weather was going to be nice. I even decided I'd take a book, and maybe sit towards the back.

Then, I decided to call Lip. He was on the original emails, but never responded.

"Hello?"
"Lip -- you're going to the Silversun Pickups show at KC P& L with me this afternoon!"
"...OK."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, man. I was thinking about taking the afternoon off anyway."
"Whooo-OOOOOOOO!"

That was a cool moment for me. Just like that, I went from being kinda bummed about the show to super-excited in just a moment.

I went and met Adro for lunch before leaving Lawrence. Then, I was on the road by noon. First band was scheduled to go on at 1:30-ish, I think. And, oh yeah, it was a TUESDAY. But it was also St. Patty's Day.

I got to KCP&L relatively quickly, and called Sean. We were both looking for a parking lot at the same time. I followed a crowd and scored a spot in a parking garage.

Walk in, buy the first round (Wheat's were $2 more each than Miller Light, but that's what I went for on round 1) and call Sean. "I'm in front of Maker's Mark." About 30 seconds later, boom, Sean was there. We had our game faces on.

We walked around a bit -- there was a nice little crowd swarming around P&L. We decided to go up high, and stake out a spot on the upper mezzanine. Once we found it, we kept it all day -- it was a pretty nice spot for concert watching, people watching and city watching. Beautiful view there.

Dead Confederate opened it up. I got their EP a while ago, and enjoy it. They were pretty good live, but they definitely have a sound more geared for a scummy dive bar. I twittered from the show that they were good, but that they also "induced suicide." Just really angst-y music.
Then the Von Bondies. Short little set from a short little band, but fun, none-the-less. Too bad they don't have a "Come on, come on" part 2 single.

Another reason our spot was perfect: right behind us was a beer cart. So whenever we were empty, we were about four paces to the beer cart. Weird thing about the beer cart: they were selling us tall boys, but pouring them in plastic cups that couldn't fit an entire tall boy. I first noticed this after the third round (I bought first, Wheat 12 oz, Sean got second, the Miller talls) when the girl poured the beers then chucked two cans that seemingly still had beer in them. I asked Sean if he saw the same thing, and he did. We would senselessly waste no more beer the rest of the day. We'd have the girl hand us the cans so we could slam those last couple ounces each time. Once, Sean went to the restroom, so I slammed both our leftovers... this added up to a quick buzz.

The weather was just PERFECT. 70 degrees, sunny. A few clouds, a light breeze. Cold beer, a good friend, good music.

Oh, before I forget -- our perch had one disadvantage -- we were right above the beer garden on the lower level. As we got drunker, we became more prone to spilling a little beer over the rail. The first time it happened (it was Sean) he jumped back so the people downstairs couldn't see who had just spilt beer on them. I felt horrible doing that, so I looked down to the people, gave a "sorry!" wave and then raised my glass in a cheers to them. They laughed it off after that. The second time (Sean again) we both jumped back (what the hell?) and the girls next to us took the high road for us and gave the "our bad!" wave. I don't think there was a third time, but if you look through the photos you'll see a photo where I demonstrate how easy it was to accidentally spill a little beer on our friends below...

SO, Silversun Pickups came out. Loved 'em from the get-go. They played a lot of their new stuff bot an appropriate amount of their old stuff. And let's be honest, it all sounds mostly the same with them anyway. But they sounded good, and it was fun having them send us off.

Sean had to take off a little early, so I closed the show down solo. Last song was played, I headed to the door. We had quit drinking a few hours earlier so I felt comfortable driving. Got to the parking garage and I didn't even have to pay! All the gates were up.

I got back to Lawrence by about 6 p.m. -- shocking Adro and Evey. Relaxed with them for the rest of the day.

Perhaps the best concert experience of the year so far. In fact, yes, it was. I'm raising the score on this one to 4.5.

Dredg @ The Riot Room

I was excited for back-to-back good concert days -- Dredg on Monday, Silversun Pickups on Tuesday! Plus, I took the whole week off for vacation, so I didn't have to worry about being sluggish for work the next day. Beautiful.

Attendees: Me, Ryno, Bart

Money spent: Approx $40

Adrometer Rating (on a 5-point-scale): 0 (She knows how much I love Dredg, plus, I was on VACATION. Bart's presence helped too.)

Overall Rating (on a 5-point-scale): 4. Great band, small venue. Too bad they didn't headline, though!

So, I find out Dredg is coming to The Riot Room (where?) in Kansas City. I call out the hounds. My friends need to see this show.

I even went so far as to burn Ryno some Dredg, so he could check them out in anticipation of the show.

Turns out the Riot Room is the old Hurricane. Me and Ryno road trip it up there while Bart will meet us at the venue. I started drinking early, so I arrived at the Riot Room needing to wiz, with a slow buzz going. I talked Ryno's ear off the whole drive up -- he's a good listener, that Ryno.

Here's where I may have become uncool. It's an hour till the doors open when we drive by, and already, a LINE is forming. We don't have advance tix because... well, it's Dredg. And I hate Ticketmaster. So, let the record show, this blog is called "Seth's Got Tix," yet I DON'T HAVE TIX to one of my favorite bands...

Ryno lets me out, I get in line while he goes and parks the car. The dude in front of me is panicky. "Ticketmaster said it's sold out," the guy tells me. "And usually the venue will unload 10, maybe 20 tickets day of, but..." We both look up at the line, and we're roughly #s 30 and 31 in line. "Shit," I think to myself.

Ryno gets there, I alert him to the predicament. By the time Ryno gets there, the line is a lot longer, going down towards the corner now. I call Bart and let him know the score. The original plan was to meet up at Kelly's (or was it Harpo's) for a few pre-concert beers and FOOD, but now, I don't think we can get there.

BUT -- Bart is already there, having a beer.

I tell him to sit tight, we'll try to buy tickets at the door and then come join him. We just need them to open the doors...

It's 40 minutes to show time and now the line is wrapping around the building. These people all can't have tix already, can they? But I'm panicking, I won't lie. I've been excited to see Dredg for a few weeks now. Ryno is working his phone, calling his contacts, seeing if he can make something happen for us. The first guy he talks to says, "Dude, chill, that show isn't close to sold out... you'll get in. And if you don't, I know a guy..." So now we're feeling better. But then Ryno calls the next guy. "Dude, that show is sold out. And they changed ownership recently, so I don't have any pull there any more."

Now Ryno is stressing, too, because he tells me he trusts his second source more.

Ten minutes to doors. I REALLY gotta wiz.

Finally, doors open. We're cruisng fast. We're almost there. We're... IN! Score!

I try to buy three tickets. Turns out there aren't any -- he's just taking cover at the door. "My friend isn't here yet, but can I buy for him anyway?" I ask. The doorman freaks out. "He's gonna have to get here quick, man!" I think he implies something about this show being to capacity soon, but I may be making that up.

I call Bart, "You need to get here quick!" "I just got a beer!" "Pound it!" Then Ryan adds, "Tell him to bring us some food!" "And bring us some food!!!"

I pace, back and forth, waiting for Bart's arrival. I call again. "Jones, I'm still finishing my beer!" "Well, you gotta get here dude!" "OK!!!"

I pace some more. I've pissed now, so I do feel better, in general.

Still no Bart. Then, my phone rings. "Dude, I'm here -- where are you?" Bart asks. "I'm standing inside the door -- where are you?" "I don't see you, man..." "Bart, you're not at THE BEAUMONT CLUB, are you?" "Uh, yeah... I am." "Bart, we're at the fucking Riot Room! The old Hurricane! Do you know where that is?!?" "Jones, listen... I'm a little hammered right now from pounding those beers. But, yeah, I know the Riot Room. I'll be there in a second."

I tell the doorman to CHILL OUT!!! Bart is ALMOST HERE!!! He grunts.

Then, there's Bart. The security guy doesn't like it that Bart is trying to storm the door. Bart points at me. I look at the security guy and give him the, "Dude, it's cool, let him through." The security guard takes my word for it and lets Bart pass. Bart then walks RIGHT PAST the doorman, who doesn't even notice. How does that happen?!?

And the real shocker -- BART STILL HAD FOOD! So me and Ryno got to split some chicken fingers and a quesadilla. Well played, Mr. Littlejohn.

So now we all have our PBR tallboys. We sit back and relax.

Dredg isn't the headliner, Pelican is. Whatever. It's supposed to be a co-headliner, so they'll both play the same amount. Everyone I'd talked to at that point was there to see the awesomeness that is Dredg, but, who knows.

Dredg comes on after taking WAY TOO LONG getting set up, and they begin to rock the house.

Having written all I did about getting INTO the show, you would think I'd write a lot ABOUT the show, right? Wrong.

But the show was SOLID. Good set by the Dredgers. Old stuff, new stuff, the "hits" if you will. Me and the guys were standing about five feet off the stage, towards the right, near the bassist, I think. I was pretty damn happy to be there.

Dredg ends. Me and the crew step back. Thumb's up from Bart. Thumb's down from Ryno. "I can't stand that lead singer," he said. Ahh, it's not for everyone, that's cool.

At this point we moved to the back of the bar and sat down, people watched. A few more beers. Pelican came on, and as far as I could tell, they were entirely instrumental -- I never heard a lead singer. We weren't too excited for them.

I started snapping some pics of the guys for this here blog -- I was a little drunk. I told them to "give me angry" or something, and this entertained us for about ten minutes, culminating in the last shot, which Bart directed as, "Give me -- you've just seen some midget porn!"

I was the guitarist and bassist for D-redg at the bar, and I had Ryno snap a photo of me with them. Yes, I'm an idiot, but I have fun.

All in all, a good time. Glad those two hung out with me, that's a good crew right there.