I really enjoyed the concert; in fact it was the best concert I have ever been to (Not that great of an accomplishment since I have been to three others before this one). I hope everybody is ready for yet another concert story, but if you are looking for set lists or small details like what they were wearing run away now. For the rest of you, brew up a pot of coffee or heat up some hot cocoa, sit back in your most comfortable chair and let me regale you with the story that was my Matchbox Twenty experience. Note: This is mostly for entertainment purposes and the views expressed within are not those of the webmasters or Matchbox Twenty.
My experience started while I was sitting in my room watching "The Simpsons" and suddenly I received the telephone call that I had been waiting for all day. It was my sister. "Hey, we'll be there to pick you up in a little bit." Now here's where I admit I am not a good fan. I didn't jump up and down or run screaming naked down the halls of my dorm, but I was pretty excited. So I put on my shoes and coat and made sure I had my keys so I could get back into my room upon my return from the concert. Then when I was glancing out of my window I noticed a white car pull up and I was pretty sure it was my aunt's. So I waved goodbye to my hippie roommate and headed down the stairs and to the car. Thankfully, my aunt had brought dinner for me so I got to avoid eating the school cafeteria food for one night. The car ride up was just like any other trip into the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul for you out-of-towners). We talked about stuff and watched other people and made some of the normal comments about cars being shit-boxes and other kind comments, although I have nothing against cars that look poor since that's all that I seem to drive anyways. Finally, we reach the real gauntlet of the Target Center. Trying to get into the parking ramp with out getting caught by the pitfalls such as the many various one-way streets that make driving in downtown Minneapolis so much fun. We pay six bucks for a place to park our vehicle and then strolled through the cold ramp to the nearest elevators. We enter the Target Center through a skyway and meet the crowd. After a short pit stop at the bathrooms, we head down to the floor and try to find our seats. That's when I discover that the 14th row really does kick ass! It's sort of bad too, however, because you have a great view and are really close, but are out of souvenir/yell to the band range. Souvenir range being even if Adam or Kyle tried to Frisbee a pick out there, it most likely wouldn't make it. As we entered I realized that the music wasn't the pre-recorded stuff that you hear before and between acts, but rather that it was Lifehouse rocking out! I wasn't really sad, but I would've liked to have seen their whole set. The crowd was still pretty empty at the time, but I knew it would fill in shortly. As I sat finally listening to the pre-recorded music and waited for the next act, I watched the crew pull down Lifehouse's background and put up Everclear's large sad face (Like a smiley, except frowning). Then the house lights went down and the now closer to capacity crowd began cheering. Everclear rocked, like you would expect. I had a little trouble, because I didn't want to stand up. So most of the show all I could see was the bassist and the couple in front of me groping each other. If that guy had held on to her butt any tighter, he would've ripped off a cheek. Anyways, I still enjoyed the quality rock music of Everclear and sang along. Finally, Everclear thanked us for showing up for their set and left the stage. Once again, more pre-recorded music and I sat there watching the lighting crew climb up to dangerous heights above the stage and watched them take down Everclear's background and setup. Then, the background music kicks out some funky song from the 70's and an enjoyable round of dancing broke out in different sections of the Target Center. Even one of the lighting guys was dancing as best he could from up in the rigging. After that died out, suddenly the lights go down and a deafening scream arises from the audience. Then an image is projected on the curtain and a spotlight hits the mirrored ball that was almost directly above me. On a side note, we had been talking about the fact that if it fell, it would either kill or maim me and we would probably get to meet the band out of sympathy for poor mangled me. That never happened though, but I'm not sure if never walking again would be worth meeting the guys, though it is pretty close. Then we see movement from behind the curtain and the scream becomes even louder. Then suddenly the curtain drops revealing the band and they kick into the first song. Now is where my story becomes a tad spotty do to me not remembering the order of songs or everything that Rob said, so I will just tell you about certain things that I remember, and I will try to keep them within the order in which they happened. I would like to take this stoppage to say that I am sorry to anyone behind me, because I needed to stand to see the band, and at 6'4" I was nowhere near the shortest concertgoer. During some of the songs, a beach ball would magically appear bouncing around, only to disappear just as quickly a little later. The couple in front of me during one of the slow songs apparently decided that this would be a good venue for taking a shot at having a child, or at least they got pretty close! I enjoyed getting to hear Rob tell us about the songs and hearing him sing. Also getting to see Adam make crazy faces to the crowd during the show and how Kyle appeared to be pumping every drop of music out of his guitars (especially during the solos). The light show was very cool, because they had sets of five lights per each little part of the rig and they moved up and down during different parts of the concert. Then the band finally said good night, but of course you knew that they would come racing back out onto the stage, especially when the house lights didn't come back on. They played two more songs and then were finally done. Then I saw Paul running out towards the front of the stage and I knew he was about to throw out his drumsticks. He was my only hope for a souvenir, because the picks certainly wouldn't make it out to me, but drumsticks have a little more weight behind them. So he throws them and they come in my direction, but fall about four or five rows short. Oh well, better luck next time. So we start the trek to reach the exits. It was slow going until we reached the skyway. Before we left, we stopped to retrieve some soda from a machine. I thought it was sort of foolish for me since I already was beginning to feel like I needed to use the bathroom. Before the trip back to my dorm was over, the bottle would be completely empty even though I needed the bathroom. Now back at the parking ramp, we sat for about a half hour. We finally made our way out to the highway. On the way home I suggested that we wait by the side of the highway and wait for the tour bus to go by and chase them down. Of course this was all in fantasy, because I had a test to take in the morning. So I finally get back, go up to my room. Then I contemplate telling all of the people on the GD about my experience, but I'm too tired and brush my teeth and go to bed. And as my only souvenir from the show besides the ticket and the memories, I hear a ringing in my ears, even though it is perfectly quiet in my room. And I know that I now have permanent hearing damage and will never hear quite as well as I used to, a permanent souvenir from my one of my favorite bands, Matchbox Twenty. :)
So that's my tale. I hope you all enjoyed it and aren't completely bored now. Goodnight! or day! |