You know that malls are ruining your country, right?

So the thing I love about the concerts of Irish bands is the stories and the talking in amazing accents. Not to mention the amazingness of the music, of which there was plenty, but Glen Hansard pretty much rocked my socks the other night with his crazy-long but always interesting stories and tangents. I wish I remembered more of them, but since I was weddinging all weekend, you'll have to make due with just a bit.
I swear that every song had a story, or at least an explanation of the metaphor behind the story. I think my favorite moment was when Glen said they went to see the big hoo-ha down the street (Temple Square) and when they asked if they could go in they were told to go to the visitor's center where they could see pictures of the inside. "But the door is open!" And then a sister missionary latched onto them and started telling them the whole history, and Marketa finally asked her if she could please stop talking. Ah, the joy. We are funny people.
I also loved when Glen said they got off the plane and ended up in some sort of mall for about a mile. "We've been here before and we were going, this isn't it, it's cool! But you can't really get food in a mall and we were hungry. Someone told us we could go to the food court and we said, 'Airport food from every country? No tanks." (I love that they say tanks instead of thanks. Love. It.) Then he said, "You realize that malls are ruining your country, right? You need to resist." (I'm editing a little there - this is an American blog, so certain words, which Glen explained are not meant to be offensive, but are merely a result of centuries of the English trying to pound their language out of them and them feeling it's their job to pervert the English language.)
And just by the way, Glen started the concert with "Say It To Me Now," which just absolutely blows me away whenever I hear it. He played many of the really fabulous songs from Once, and lots of other songs that were pretty amazing. Marketa was quiet, but she was beautiful and played and sang beautifully.
In other news, the opening guy was crazy. He started out his set with some weird chant-like things that I assume were in Gaelic or something, and then he play some normal sounding stuff and ended up with penny whistles. We figured out toward the end of the show that it was the lead singer for the Hothouse Flowers! He was a super star in Ireland and with at least Treb and Ty, but no one had any idea who he was here. Out of control. I'm not exactly sure why he thought chants and penny whistles would be a good idea, but it was pretty cool - even if the audience didn't know how to respond to him.
The encore went on for about an hour I think, and it ended with the entire band hopping on one foot through "Fitzcarraldo." It was a very serious song and it was so weird to have them teetering through the end, but the song was still so amazing that it didn't detract. I must say, The Frames band members were uber talented, especially the violinist. Holy cow.
I'm pretty sure there was more amazing wisdom, like the story about how ACDC fans only want to date other ACDC fans just like Jews want to marry Jews, so it's true love when one falls for a fan of David Bowie and the Cure, but I can't remember it all, so we'll stop there with the fact that I love them more than ever. Hurray for crazy Irish guys and their passion and humor. The Swell Season = amazing times 10.

Don't worry. You are still the bread and the knife.

OK. I'm tired of seeing Barack and Hilary every time I look at my blog, so it's time for a new post. Plus, I'm putting off the 7th grade paper that I'm about to write so that I can show my class how to write a 7th grade paper. Hurrah.
First, I haven't told you about some amazing things from last week. Thursday was the Joshua Radin/ Ingrid Michaelson concert, and it was FABULOUS. Alexa Wilkinson opened and was actually pretty good - I bought her CD and it's decent. I must say that although Josh was good, Ingrid outshone him, especially in the personality department. She had tons of funny stories and sarcastic comments about how everybody poops and it was wonderful. The highlights for me were definitely her covers though - first an amazing cover of "Creep," by Radiohead, which she played on the ukulele of all things. It was truly a fantastic performance, and I'm actually pretty sure you can find a crappy video of it on youtube. At the end of the concert she also started playing this nice little song that started, "This is a story all about how my life got turned upside down . . ." and we all gasped when we realized that she was singing "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It was hysterical. My other favorite song was "Keep Breathing," which I'd never heard before. What a beautiful little number. I am in love. It's in the same vein as "Grey Room" and I've been listening to it several times a day ever since.
For me, the highlight of Joshua's part (besides his fedora and his performances with Ingrid) was his explanation of the song "Closer," which for a long time was the only Radin song I knew. I've never understood the song, but he explained that it was about a girlfriend from about 6 years ago with whom he wanted to break up but couldn't because she was always sad and he was trying to help her through things. He said it was a song about how he always falls for sad girls. Now read the lyrics:

"Closer"
So we're alone again
I wish it were over
We seem to never end
Only get closer to the point
Where I can't take no more

The clouds in your eyes
Down your face they pour
Won't you be the new one burn to shine
I take the blue ones every time
Walk me down your broken line
All you have to do is cry
Yes all you have to do is cry

Hush my baby now
Your talking is just noise and won't lay me down
Amongst your toys in a room where I can take no more

The clouds in your eyes
Down your face they pour
Won't you be the new one burn to shine
I take the blue ones every time
Walk me down your broken line
All you have to do is cry
Yes all you have to do is cry

Photographs and brightly colored paper
Are your mask you wear in this caper
That is our life
We walk right into the strife
And a tear from your eye brings me home

Won't you be the new one burned to shine
I take the blue ones every time
Walk me down your broken line
All you have to do is cry.

It all makes sense now! It's amazing!

Next, I must tell you about Friday. I got special permission from Mr. Buck to skip two periods and go to the BYU reading series to see Billy Collins. I love him. He was every bit as wonderful as I hoped he'd be, very deadpan and funny. Some of my favorite poems were "Litany," "Tension," "Bathtub Families," and "The Lanyard," but I was in stitches the whole time. The title of this post comes from "Litany," a poem built on a couple of lines from a poem by a poet who evidently believed that what women want more than respect or communication is similes. She wants to be compared to as many things as possible. It was a great poem. Also, I learned from Billy that when Paul Simon wrote "Mother and Child Reunion," he was inspired by a dish at a Chinese restaurant by the same name. The dish was chicken and eggs. Hahaha.

Last, but certainly not least, is the good news that BEN FOLDS IS COMING TO UTAH! And also, I've talked two of my roommates into going with me to see him! I am seriously excited about this. And it's on the last day of finals! Not that I have any, but either way it's a nice thought.


Now I have to write that 7th grade research paper. Here I come, Abe Lincoln!

To forget about life for awhile...

Dear people who felt it was more important to not wait in traffic than to hear the encore pieces at the Billy Joel concert tonight,
You are ridiculous. You missed "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," "Only the Good Die Young," and "Piano Man." Of course. And they were amazing, and I didn't wait in any traffic at all. Silly, silly people.
Tonight's concert was unbelievable. I thought it was appropriate that Billy opened with "Angry Young Man," not only because it let us know right off that he still has the fingers for this stuff, but because the lyrics are somehow even more potent coming from an older artist. "I believed I'd passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage/ I'd found that just surviving was a noble fight. And I once believed in causes too - I had my pointless point of view/ Love went on no matter who was wrong or right . . . " He followed the first couple of songs with jokes about being old: "I'm Billy's dad. Billy couldn't come tonight, so I'm just here...warming up the stage..." He also made several references to his lack of hair (including a funny one later when he was singing "The Entertainer" - "Another serenader, and another long-haired band," and he ran his hand over his bald head.)
Lots of favorites, lots of surprises - for me the highlight of the night was probably "Vienna," but I also thoroughly enjoyed singing along with "We Didn't Start the Fire." I once spent a week learning all of the words to that song, and I felt funny about it until I found out that more than one of my brothers knows the whole thing as well, clear through from Harry Truman to rock and roller cola wars. Actually, I'm always a little bit amazed when I go to concerts of people I grew up with but haven't listened to lately - I still know all of the words to tons of his songs. The same thing happened at U2. Certain music just fits like an old shoe - you just slide right into it and it still fits; some of the lyrics just resonate a little differently than they used to.
I was a little sad that he didn't play "The Longest Time," (which, for the record, is one of my very favorite songs of all time) but there are so many of his songs that are favorites that I didn't expect to get them all. The light show was fun, the rotating piano surprising, the roadie's rendition of "Highway to Heaven" delightful. Billy was impressively rock and roll with a sideways baseball cap for "Big Shot" and with his microphone tricks on "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me." (He actually chucked the mic across the stage at the end of that song - it was exciting.) "Root Beer Rag" was also a special treat that I wasn't expecting. Remember when I used to be able to play that song? Well... I was a little ashamed that I ever pretended that I could after I saw him play it. Yikes.
Billy, you are still rock and roll to me. Don't take any . . . you know . . . from anyone.

Catch My Disease

I think I've gone too far. Last night I went to a concert, not because I particularly loved the bands, but because they were okay and Dain was going and I needed a good concert.
And it was that.
I went to see Ben Lee, with Cary Brothers and the Kahn Brothers opening. When we got there the place was pretty much empty - maybe 30 or 40 of us there for the Kahn Brothers. (To prevent confusion-which was rampant at the concert-the Kahn Brothers are actual brothers. Cary Brothers is a man whose last name is Brothers. Clear? Good.) I've been listening to Ben Lee more extensively for the last couple of weeks in preparation, and although I don't love everything he does, a lot of it is fun and clever - good enough to give me an excuse to leave Provo. Cary Brothers is fabulous - I love his song "The Glass Parade" SO much.
The Kahn Brothers were a pleasant surprise. First, they were a fun, low key group - pleasant to listen to. They were also cute, which helped a lot, and they were from Australia (like Ben Lee) so they had fun accents. The one who sang the most had on a shirt that said "Only Love is Real," so you can imagine the kinds of songs they were singing. I bought their EP, which is fun.
Cary was pretty darn fabulous and played all of my favorite songs - "Ride," "Who You Are," "The Glass Parade," and "Blue Eyes." Also, his live version of "Honestly" was absolutely captivating for me, so it was unfortunate that In the Venue doesn't lend itself very well to intimate songs like that. The talking everywhere and especially the stupid girls behind me ("He has such a hot voice. I'd totally sleep with him for his voice. Are they really brothers? They don't look like brothers . . . BLUE EYES! YOU'RE THE blah blah blah KEEP!") really cut into the magic. Still good though.
Ben Lee was the biggest surprise. When he got on stage he was moving a lot - kind of obnoxiously. I was already a little sketchy on him, so I wasn't sure how this was going to go down. Then he jumped on the amp for his (acoustic) guitar solo and said, "Did you see how I broke out that rock star move in the second song? I've set the bar pretty high for the rest of the show!" And part of me was thinking what a moron but the other part of me completely bought into his energy and infectious smile. Not to mention the fact that he played "Into the Dark" early on and I just fell in love with "Love Me Like the World is Ending" this week. He also played "Bruised" from The Bens EP, and he followed that up with Ben Folds's "Brick," to which every person in the venue knew every word. By the time he pulled out the Silverchair song and brought on all of the other performers, we all had silly Ben Lee grins on our faces.
Meanwhile, I remain completely in love with the feeling I get at a good live show. And that's the way I like it.

Update on Lindsey's visit coming soon.

Sing us a song, you're the piano man...

I have one things to say, and it is this:


He may be getting old, but he still rocks. And I'm going to see him before he doesn't any more.
At the end of November.

O...M...G...

Brothers and Sisters . . . LET'S GO!

So there are many things to say, and I will say them now.
Thing the first - The Arcade Fire was A-MAZING. First, SO many people rocking out at the same time, and everyone played everything! They had a pipe organ on stage (which at least 3 people played, including Win on "My Body is a Cage" and Regine on "Intervention" - incidentally, two of my favorite songs of the night), at least two people who played the accordion (which they used), violins, stand up basses, French horns, megaphones, motorcycle helmets. . . it was . . . wow.
They definitely played most of the good ones. I was sad that they left out "Crown of Love" and "Ocean of Noise," but "Rebellion (Lies)" was incredible, and "Wake Up" was the perfect final encore - all of us were singing together "I GUESS WE'LL JUST HAVE TO ADJUST!" Words cannot actually express the rest of how amazing this all was, but if I liked them before, I'm pretty much addicted to them now.
Also, The Office tonight... well, there was squealing. And Marci and I were not alone - we could hear shrieks rippling down the complex. And then, Janie came home engaged (YAY!) and Miri & Mike, Jennie, Marci, and I went to Hairspray, which is an unbelievably happy movie. So, SO great, and I am in love with James Marsden.
Finally, a bit of dating advice from our newly rediscovered Nancy Drew's Guide to Life:"If a guy's hunch results in a dead-end, don't flaunt your better judgment in front of him. Smirk secretly to yourself." How true that is.
Also, this is my 99th post - look for something amazing in the next one. :)

Corn and Soy Beans

This is my much belated report on the Damien Rice concert. First, let me just say that I was incredibly sad when I missed him the first time around, because I have dearly loved Damien since I was a junior in high school and Ty made me listen to "Delicate" in the kitchen (I think it was Thanksgiving.) That experience combined with first hearing the opera singing part of "Eskimo" at three in the morning on a bus to San Diego gave me a strong foundation with Damien.
It was SUCH a fabulous show. First, if you are at all into the concert scene, you know that most concerts smell (to some extent) like pot and smelly people. This concert smelled like incense, and the stage was decorated with pretty candles. Funny.
From the first song, Sydney and I were absolutely delighted. The thing to love most about Damien Rice is his passion, and it comes through even more when you're face to face. The second song of the night was "Delicate," and we were both on the verge of swooning when it got to the last chorus ("Why'd you fill my sorrow with the words you borrowed? Why'd you sing with me at all?") So gorgeous. The first time he talked to us, he started asking about how people make money here - industry or farming? We don't know - we're all students. He told us that since we couldn't make up our minds, he'd sing us a song about not being able to make up your mind, or rather thinking you made the right decision and then finding out it wasn't at all. And then he proceeded thusly in his amazing Irish accent: "So say you were a farmer, and you decided to plant corn in your field. So you go to the seed store, and you buy . . . 200 bags of corn seed . . . for your . . . very big field. And you go and plant all of this seed, but you don't realize until a couple of weeks later that you've planted . . . I don't know, soy beans or something. Well, I had an experience like that with a girl. (laughter) I thought she was corn, but I read her label wrong."
He then proceeded to sing the amazingly bipolar "I Remember," which is really more like two songs - one a very sweet love song and the other a very bitter not love song. It was incredible, with flashing lights and a long solo at the end and rocking cello lines and wow. I didn't know where he was going to go from there, but he managed it.
My favorite discovery of the night was the song "Grey Room," which has been on my computer for awhile, unloved and unlistened to. The lyrics are in the sidebar of this blog right now - it's a gorgeously wonderful lonely song.
At the end of the concert he said, "I'm going to leave you with this one," (Sydney said "Don't leave us!") and he walked to the edge of the stage and sat down - no mic - and sang "The Blower's Daughter."
We had to work for the encore, but I must say it was the first time in a long time I'd felt good about standing up for someone at the end of a show. He came back and played some of the more rocking songs ("Coconut Skins," "Woman Like a Man," "Me, My Yoke, and I,") which I must admit I don't love, but it was pretty cool to see that they could rock. But the final encore number was "Canonball," which was just as fabulous as I could have hoped.
The only thing we were sad about was the lack of Lisa Hannigan, Damien's long-time singing partner. "9 Crimes" and "I Remember" were especially sad without her, but there was a new version of "Volcano" that kind of made up for her lack in that particular number. We did get a solo song from the cellist, Vyvianne (really) Long, which was very strange and very funny. It was called "Happy Thoughts," a "box for those days when you just need something, like say you've always fancied yourself as corn and some guy tells you you're soy beans." Let me give you an example of the lyrics: "Why do birds sing when worms can't hear a thing? Why do snakes dance why snails get fried in France?" Wow.
So yeah. Definitely amazing, and good timing, since I was about to have a nervous breakdown that day.

Blow Winds, and Crack Thy Cheeks!!

So The Fray concert was amazing. I'm pretty sure they did all of their songs and then some, and I'm looking forward to their next album. The highlights of the show were, for me, the cover of Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" - if you don't think that song is hilarious when sung by a group of men you have no sense of humor - and the final encore number, "Look After You." At the end of the song they broke into Oasis - "Maybe you're gonna be the one that saves me.. and after all, you're my Wonderwall..." Amazing. It went so perfectly with the song and I love "Look After You" anyway. Additionally, the band was true to the front they present on their CD. They're uplifting and clean in they're songs, and they were the same way in concert, which seems to be rare in the concert world and was very appreciated.

I spent the rest of this week in beautiful Cedar City, where I finally got to add King Lear to my list of Shakespeare plays I've seen in person. The rain stopped long enough for the production to start outside, but we got to watch most of the play through a drizzle, which was actually a lot of fun for that particular play. I was never quite sure whether the thunder I was hearing was real or coming out of the speakers. Twelfth Night was also fun, as always, and I enjoyed the other plays we saw. We avoided Coriolanus, partially because I didn't think the parentals would enjoy it, and partially because I'm afraid no one will every measure up to Jonathan Cake as dear Caius Marcius. Sigh...
One of the highlights of the festival was finding a Shakespeare bobble head in the gift shop, which I bought to put on my future teacher desk. Pictures to follow. The other was putting the hurt to the candy seller I call "Lonely Hand Man." When I graduated from high school, my friends and I went down to the festival to see all of the plays, and there was this obnoxious candy seller who guilted my friend Hollie into buying chocolate from him every night. He made such a nuisance of himself that she'd buy it just to make him go away. One night, he asked her out on a date because she had a beautiful smile. It was beyond ludicrous, but became more so when she said yes. While they were walking around the festival grounds, legend has it he told her that his hand was lonely, and she held it for him. Really. When my friend Mariann heard about it, she said, "I would have told him that's why he has two!!" So on the night we went to see Twelfth Night, my parents went to the orientation and I went out on the green to save a spot. (Two live productions and a movie later, I feel pretty confident in my grasp of that particular plot.) Lonely Hand Man sits down next to me, and in his fake Irish accent he says, "What's a beautiful lass like yourself doing sitting all alone?" Okay, first, it's a mistake to interrupt me while I'm reading when you're a complete/unwelcome stranger and you want to sell me something. Second, I had a score to settle with him. I told him I was waiting for my family and he said, "Well, would you like to buy something that might be almost as sweet as you are?" Ugh. "No, thanks. I'm fine." He put on a very unconvincing puppy dog face, "You're breaking my heart!"
"Well," I said, finally looking up from my book, "that's what I do."
"Nobody likes me," he whimpered. I ignored him and let him crawl away. He really needs to learn that not everyone goes for empty flattery delivered in a cheesy accent. I was doing him a favor.

Finally, I remembered my favorite romantic Shakespeare line when I was looking through the merchandise down there. From Much Ado About Nothing: "I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?" I think I love this line so much because I can hear Kenneth Branagh's Benedick saying it, but it's certainly a good one, cheesy as it is. If I were to put a cheesy quote on my wedding invitation, that would definitely be in the running (more so than the ones that repeatedly show up on the wedding announcements showing up on my fridge every five minutes.) I think I could do cheesy a little better if it were Shakespeare (or a lyric to a really awesome song, but we won't get ahead of ourselves here.)

What if, instead of dropping bombs on our enemies, we dropped high fives?

So tonight I went to the super rad Aquabats concert with Clark and Linda and became a member of the band. I learned the secret Aquabats high sign (demonstrated by the Commander in the picture to the left) and everything. Although tragically the band is much smaller than it was when I started listening to them some 10 years ago, they are still fantastic in their cheesy wisdom, and you have to give mad props to guys who still dress up like super heroes for every concert and picture. Favorite moments from the concert:

• Discovering that the upper level of In the Venue is glorious, but also that jumping up and down in the sweaty disgusting crowd is fun.
• The really nasty haircut on the lead singer of Love You Long Time
• Talking to Mandy between sets - she got her mission call!
• The following thoughts from MC Lars: "Get your Post-Modern groove on;" (I am SO not making that up - it was accompanied by pictures of post-modernists!), "Edgar Allan Poe was the original emo kid - he wore a lot of black, he wrote about love and death, and he didn't have a lot of friends;" "Hot Topic is not punk rock." ( I almost bought a t-shirt of that last one.)
• The girl who dressed up as the Martian Girl, and the fact that I identified her as such based on my knowledge of the Aquabats' lyrics.
  
• Fighting off the first villain (whose weapon was a towel with which he planned to put out our eyes - is rock and roll worth having a glass eye? YES!) with multicolored balls that were dumped on the crowd from the 'bove.
• The number of people in the crowd dressed as Aquabats. Now that I've become a member of the band, will I have to dress up for the next concert?
• Four words: Lovers of Loving Love.
  
• The song "Hot Summer Nights," which was dedicated to the lonely hearts in the crowd. Several people identified themselves as lonely hearts, and the Commander expressed surprise. I leaned over to Clark and said, "Yeah, that is a surprise that there are so many lonely hearts in this crowd."
• The title of this post, which was the intro to the last song, "Hi-Five City!" which is the new official name of Salt Lake. I hereby promise to high five everyone. Or squid them.
  
• Reliving my adolescence through jumping up and down to "Super Rad." All systems go! Soon the world will know the fury of attack, feel the wrath of the super rad! I'm just sayin'.
  

Next up: THE FRAY!!!

Hurry Up and Wait

I'd just like to say that I'm pretty sure I'm destined to see The Fray in concert. I discovered them about three days before they came before and couldn't bring myself to go alone (I figured everyone who was willing to pay the $25 already had tickets/dates) and then it was looking like family vacation was going to interfere with their return in July, not to mention the fact that it's the end of the year and I'm basically out of money.
But never fear! Fate intervenes!
Last night I went to hang out with some of my high school friends, and Dain told me that for one day only (today, but last night it was tomorrow - figure that one out if you can) tickets to the concert are only $10!!! I had the vacation business worked out already and was planning to suck it up and just pay the $30, but yay and hooray, good things come to those who wait, and I'm pretty sure the concert will be even more awesome as I sit there knowing I paid 1/3 the normal price. In a summer that is seriously lacking in concerts I'm excited about, this one shines like a shiny beacon.

I'm not actually sure how destiny ties into that now that I'm done. Oh well. Attribute my progressive incoherence to my progressive semester burnout.

Open Your Eyes

Since I'm a little behind, here's the scoop on the Snow Patrol concert Monday night.
Wow.
The ticket would have been worth it for the Irish accents alone. My favorite moment of the night was when Gary Lightbody was responding to some adoring fan (in his beautiful accent) and said, "You love me? You don't even know me! If you knew me, you wouldn't love me. (fan yells something else.) You think you could put up with my crap? I'm officially the worst boyfriend in the world! Have you not listened to the lyrics of any of me songs?"
Later some girl was yelling something and trying to get him to promise to meet her, and Gary said, "Tell you what: this song is dedicated to you. It's another song about my being a crap boyfriend, but it's for you."
Meanwhile, the light show was pretty great, only slightly less spectacular that the one U2 put on, and Saltair is a really cool venue. Ok Go was a decent opening band, but they didn't do their dance to "A Million Ways to be Cruel, and there were no treadmills. Tragic.
Oh, yeah. Snow Patrol's music wasn't bad either.
And by wasn't bad I mean . . . was pretty much absolutely fantastic. They played all of my favorite songs ("Chocolate," "Run," "Headlights on Dark Nights," "You're All I Have," etc.) and the encore was probably the best set of the night. I couldn't believe that there were people leaving before they came back out - they missed "Finish Line," "Open Your Eyes," and "Hands Open." Absolutely fantastic. We all sang along to "Chasing Cars," and some girl from the audience got to pretend to be Martha Wainwright for "Set Fire to the Third Bar."
Oh, how I love live music. It's beginning to get to me.

Sleeping Lessons

Sadly, this isn't a post about sleeping lessons (which I probably need, since I can't seem to accomplish it by myself). Rather, I thought I'd say a few words about the awesome concerts of this week, Ben Kweller on Tuesday and The Shins last night. (If you are still confused, "Sleeping Lessons" is the name of a Shins song - the opening song at the concert last night.)
They were great.
Ben Kweller was a complete spur of the moment - Sydney came over on Monday, distressed because she hadn't known about the Shins concert until it was too late - and mentioned that Ben Kweller was coming. When she found out I had a car we both dropped everything to go. The first opening band was promising . . . until the lead singer opened his mouth. I'm not sure why they elected him singer, but as dumb as their lyrics were I'm not sure if it would have mattered. Thankfully, the second band, a local group called The Brobecks, was basically fantastic. They had some rhythms that sounded almost like the 50s (sort of like Greenday sounds a little 60s at times) and they were all kinds of fun. The semi-morbid murder-mysteryesque song "Goodnight Socialite" was my favorite.
Ben Kweller looks about 15, and the girl shirt he was wearing under his plaid flannel one didn't help much, but he sounded great, and singing "HEY! I need you Baaaaaaaaack" was all kinds of fun. He played FOREVER (it probably seemed longer because I was hungry and my feet hurt after standing through The Brobecks and Automatic Body, but it was still a long show) and our ears were ringing a little after, but it was great. The highlight was when Ben couldn't find his harmonica headgear and had a guy from the audience play the harmonica part. The guy was good and we all loved it. I'm sure it was the guy's dream come true, especially since he got to keep the harmonica. Also, he played Roger Miller's "Chug-a-lug" which made my heart happy, because I'm pretty sure I was one of the few people who knew it was Roger Miller and not a milk chug commercial. My dad would have been proud.
The opening band for the Shins got stuck somewhere due to "weather," (whatever that means) so we just jumped right into the real show.
They were AMAZING.
My ears didn't hurt when they were done (yay for The Shins being just as chill in concert as they are on their CDs), but all of the lyrics I'd never quite understood before suddenly seemed very profound, and "A Comet Appears" gave me goosebumps. They played most of my favorite songs, including "Saint Simon," "Kissing the Lipless," "Turn on Me," and "So Says I" for an encore. "Kissing the Lipless" was the first Shins song I ever heard because my brother put in on a CD of "college music" that he made when I graduated from high school. I was actually almost surprised when they started playing it because I had somehow disconnected it from them in my head and it no longer seems like a Shins song to me.
Next up will probably be Snow Patrol in March, because I'm basically a concert junkie at this point. I keep talking to people who don't understand why I like going so much, but there's some kind of adrenaline rush that can't really be explained to someone who isn't a music freak, and I'm still just a little bit star struck when I hear the same sounds I've loved for so long coming out of real people.
Speaking of music freaks, I discovered this week that there is this funny connection between people who like this crazy indie music (I don't even know how to categorize what I listen to, but the kids who also listen to it know what I mean just based on the bands I talked about in this post). The other day I turned around in my English class and saw a Shins sticker on the binder of the girl who sits behind me. I don't even know her name, but when I asked if she was going to the concert we became immediate friends and started talking about all of our bands. It's a really funny phenomenon. I like it.