Where have all the Merrymakers Gone?

I haven't updated in a while because I really haven't done a whole hell of a lot. I did watch Sweeney Todd again. I liked it just as much the second time as I did the first time. I noticed the score alot more and how they used it to enforce what was going on in the scenes. I don't mean the actual songs, but the score.

So there was much fervor created around the house this week. Jula was down visiting for a few days when the news broke that Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds would be doing a free show in support of Barack. All you had to do to get tickets was wait large ammounts of time to get your free tickets, and then wait another equally long amount of time to get into the show. Will, being a die hard fan, of course waited about 8 hours to score his two free tickets, but could not come up with anymore. Jula struck out down here, as we found out about it in time for the second day of ticket give away. By that time there were few left, and waiting in line would have been futile.

Fast forward to yesterday. I take Jula and Will to Assembly Hall around 1pm. Doors are supposed to open at 5:30 for the 7pm show. I thought this may be a tad early for them to go wait, but they wanted to get a good seat. Little did I realize that there would be around 2000 people already lined up. One of Will's friends from PU had been there since 10am, and was 7th in line. I drop them off and wish them luck. Ironically I was going to the library to change my voter district so that I could vote in the primary after I dropped them off. While I was in the library, I missed the call from jula. They had let a nice couple from Ft. Wayne cut in line with them and hang out. They had an extra two tickets that friends of theirs wouldn't be using and wondered if Will and Jula knew anyone that needed some tickets. According to Adie she about pissed her pants when jula called her with the news.

Adie and I rolled up around 5pm to a sea of people who were staggering around, attempting to look like a line, but effectively forming one giant, drunk tapeworm snaking itself all around the sports complexes of IU. Every once in a while there would be a small surge as the two lines would condense, but all in all it was just futile motions before the doors opened. I did get to witness one of the most forceful vomiting I had ever seen. A lady who had obviously imbibed a bit to much while waiting discretely tried to go hide behind some bushes to relieve her stomach of it's poison. Of course the bushes are only about shin high, so it didn't offer her much in the way of a shield. It started out as barely a trickle of what appeared to be rum and cokes, mixed with a little orange juice. But soon enough a geyser erupted from her went on for a full three heaves. Best of all, all the janitors had gathered on the second level from inside and were laughing their asses off watching her chuck in the grass. Not their problem obviously.

We ended up making it into Assembly Hall pretty quickly and ended up with pretty good seats. About 20 rows off the floor, right where midcourt would be. Had a nice angle on the stage. The show was pretty awesome. Dave was high as shit and was spouting off all kinds of hilarious shit. He talked about his son having a penis, exploding puppies, and fucking with his defenseless baby. And Tim Reynolds may only be about 5 feet tall, but he can wail on an acoustic guitar like no one I have ever seen live.

While at the show, it got me to thinking about other awesome concerts that I had seen. So here is my top 10 shows that I have seen in no particular order. If I can remember a funny anecdote about each, they will also follow.

1. Cake (murat egyptian room sometime 2004ish. I'm so good with dates)
Rob and I scored tickets to go see Cake. We got there pretty early to get a good spot in line so we could be close to the stage. This would kick start a streak where we would get really close to the stage for almost every general admission show we went to. Opening for Cake was a band called Beulah. We imediatly thought their name was dumb, and when they came out to play, we didn't think much higher of them. They had a weird sound, used two keyboardists, and their lead guitar player would also play the trumpet from time to time. We laughed about how they sucked, but of course as soon as we got home that night we started downloading some of their stuff. Pretty quickly they became one of our favorite bands and they still get heavy airplay through my speakers. And Cake was awesome. Seen them at least 3 times too.

2. Beulah (somewhere in Ohio 2005ish.)
Beulah was touring solo this time and it was rumored that it would be their last tour before breaking up. Of course Rob and I had to go to catch them one more time. We of course got there super early again, partly due to the time change that we hadn't factored in. We ended up being first in line. We heard most of the sound check from outside, and ended up front and center for an awesome show capped off by Rob and I getting taken up on stage to accompany the band on "Score from Augusta" Beulah was taking requests, and we won out with our suggestion. We even got pics from on stage during the song. The keyboard player grabbed our camera mid song and took a few shots of us with the crowd behind us. Probably the coolest thing that has ever happened to me at a show.

3. Foo Fighters/That Dogg (Murat Egyption Room 1996.)
My first concert that I wanted to go to. This was in support of the Foo's first concert and it was awesome. This would be the first of 3 times I have seen the Foo's.

4. Smashing Pumpkins/Muse (Assembly Hall 1997)
Smashing Pumpkins are in my top five bands of all time, and were definatly my favorite band at the time of this tour. This was the Mellon Collie tour, and they tore the house down. Probably their last good album before Billy Corgan got all industrial and experimental. Heavy on the Mental.

5. Red Hot Chilli Peppers/Foo Fighters (Assembly Hall/Deer Creek 1998)
This was two shows on the same tour. Though they were about three months apart. Great shows both times. Saw "Soul To Squeeze" performed live. Probably my favorite song ever, so knock that off the list.

6. TV on the Radio (The Vouge 2007)
Once again, I got to the show super early to get a good spot. This time it was with Adie, and we ran into Kelly Youck and her friend. We ended up about three rows back center once the crowd pushed forward. TVOTR are amazing, and put on a hard energetic show that didn't disapoint. Adie had never heard them before the show, but I made her go anyway. She thanked me later.

7. Old Crow Medicine Show ( Music Mill 2007)
Joe and I scored tickets for this show. While the Music Mill has awesome acoustics, the place itself is rather weird. But the show made up for it. The band played basically two whole seperate sets with a small break in the middle.

8. Nickel Creek (Axis 2006)
Front row center again. They put on an awesome show live. They played a cover of Britnay Spears "Toxic" which was awesome. And their bass player put on an awesome clogging routine.

9. Jimmy Eat World/ Tenacious D/ Weezer (Illinois State University 2005ish)
Got to fufill one of my goals and saw Weezer perform "Only in Dreams" live. Plus that lineup is killer. I would pay to see each of those acts individually, so lump them together and we are sitting pretty. Another great show Rob and I caught together. We logged a lot of miles in the Raspberry Dragon to see shows.

10. White Stripes (Murat Theatre 2006ish)
A sit down affair in the main theatre at the Murat. We had awesome seats, I believe 4th row center. It was amazing to watch up close how just two people can produce such a big sound. This was right after Hurricane Katrina and Jack did a haunting cover of "House of the Rising Sun" on the piano. We had seen them the year before in the Egyptian Room which was also an awesome show. That was the show that the speaker output cracked the plaster in the ceiling. But I liked the second show better. Mostly because there was no moshing due to the seats.

Honourable Mention: Beulah in Tennesee on their true farewell Tour, last night's Dave/Tim show, Kevin Smith, Comedians of Comedy, Lewis Black/Mitch Hedburg/Dave Attel, Cake/Cheap Trick.

This has turned into a short novel. I'm done now.