SUPERCHUNK/ARMY OF ME/THE ROSEBUDS
When I opened the doors, it was as if I was back at a middle school dance in the gym. People were sitting at the bar (the bleachers), and the clinging to the walls (the padded gym walls). I was a rebel and cut through the middle of the room and sat on the stage. Okay, it wasn’t really rebellious because there were four or five people lingering around the stage and the stage is just another wall, sort of. Anyways, The Rosebuds came on, and I really didn’t know what to expect, but they were good. Really catchy pop rock with keyboards. One guy was shouting random comments and Kelly questioned the heckler, “Are you dancing as much as you are talking?” I for one was dancing as much as I was allowing myself; I was a dancin’ foo! Uh…yea, so their set was quite fun.
I listened to several songs of Army of Me about a week before the show. I was impressed; I tend to like bands that live a million miles away. I was really psyched to see them live, and they did not let me down one bit. They were so lively that when I was trying to take a picture, they jumped out of my frame and jammed on the other side of the stage. The new addition to AOM, Brad, was all smiles which made me smile like those big smiley faces that are on my old middle school notebooks. Dennis was smokin' with his drumming. John has an awesome bass with colorful stickers and he moves like…wo! Actually, I don’t really know how to describe it, but he can really get into a song (in a positive way). They played (can’t remember the order) “These Hands”, “Sally”, “Be By”, “Frozen” and several other songs I can’t remember, because i have pretty bad memory. They rocked nonetheless.
The Chunk de Super came on and all of the sudden I realized how many people were around me. Superchunk began, and I thought to myself they must be one of those bands that get better with age. They played with so much excitement, as if this was their first gig, and their performance was flawless. Laura began with the bass line to “Late Century Dream”, and the crowd cheered. They replaced the keyboard parts with guitar riffs, because they did not have a keyboardist. It is my favorite Superchunk song, and the guitar parts were a nice change. Mac spit on my coat. SCORE! I’m never washing my coat again (joking of course). He doesn’t spit like a camel or anything, he just accidently spit; it happens to the best of us. “Hyper enough” made everyone super hyper in the crowd, but not as hyper as they were going to be during the encore.
Everyone knew that they were going to come back for an encore; all great acts do, and Superchunk is no exception. It took them less than a minute to return, and to exhaust the rest of their energy. Government Issue’s John Stabb took over vocals for a couple of songs during the encore and the moshing began. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen I was in my first mosh pit ever. It was an interesting experience being pushed around by others; I can’t imagine what I looked like: half amused and half scared-to-death. Stabb walked off the stage while saying, “There will be more punk rock later tonight”, and handed his vocal duties back to Mac. They played a couple of more songs before they retired backstage. The show ended with people wanting more. It was already 1:30 AM and I decided to head for home, because the night was memorable enough, for me at least.
Tip #1: Bring earplugs. My hearing has been muffled for more than 48 hours, and it’s not getting better.
Tip #2: Have fun at concerts. Dance around and other people will too!
Tip #3: Never ever ever ever ever insult a band. A huge no no. (this should be number one...). Show them respect! They’re living out their dreams! Besides, their fans will jump you outside later.
Tips to be continued in the next issue…
Pictures
The Rosebuds
Army of Me
Superchunk
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