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.
No comments:
Post a Comment