Same Flame Time, Same Flame Station

As for why I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks…

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Though I Swear It Doesn't Listen

Right, Dave show. I knew I was about to write something.

This was my first Dave Matthews concert, so I had no idea what to expect. My friends who had gone to shows before were sure I'd be blown away.

We (me, the four guys I was riding with and two guys in another car) got to the Tweeter Center at 3:00 for the 7:00 show. The security guards told us the parking lot wouldn't open until 4:00. With an hour to kill, we all headed to the attraction next door--Odyssey Fun World. I'm not making that name up. It was a warehouse-like building full of arcade games, bowling lanes and a laser tag field. We all decided to play mini-putt.

< tangent > Have you ever noticed that mini-putt is never called the same thing in any two places? It goes by mini-putt, mini(ature) golf, putt-putt and more. The first guy in our group to go to the window to pay referred to it as mini-putt. The cashier looked confused until he explained that he meant miniature golf.< /tangent >

Being a group of guys with money in our pockets, we decided to bet a dollar on the game. Before we could tally up the scores we realized that the security guards were letting people into the parking lot at 3:30. After a scramble to the cars and a quick cut into traffic maneuver we got pretty decent parking spots.

Then the wait. I was told that getting into the concert was half the fun and believe me, it was. We stood in line outside the gates of the Tweeter Center for an hour and a half. They quickly frisked us on the way in and we sprinted toward the lawn (where our seats were). As we got to the steps leading to the lawn area, security formed a line and held us back. We were in front of the line and when they pulled away, I held Andy's sandals while he and I sprinted with a blanket to the front center of the lawn. Best seats possible on the grass. It was an adrenaline fueled run that people are still talking about.

OAR came on to open. The coolest part about that was that Dave came out personally to introduce them. They were OK, but they played "Crazy Game of Poker" for 25 straight minutes. Considering that their set was only an hour, that was a little long. They could easily have played 2-3 more songs.

Then Dave came on. I think the theater was situated somewhere near a leaf dump, because we were covered in a haze of smoke almost immediately. It kind of smelled like burning leaves. (Yeah, I know what it was. I'm not that naive.) It would take forever to go song by song, so here's the setlist according to AntsMarching.org.

Highlights:

  • Five new songs. We were only the second live audience to hear them. It cut into the spirit of everyone dancing and singing along, but it was still cool in a historic kind of way.
  • They opened "Grace is Gone" with Stefan playing a lap steel guitar. (Sub-highlight: They actually played "Grace is Gone." It was on my wishlist for the show.)
  • Lots of popular songs. I think the veteran concert-goers were disappointed not to hear any really rare older songs, but I enjoyed it.
  • The 4 last 6 songs were among my top-ten favorite Dave songs. "Grace is Gone," "Jimi Thing," "Grey Street," "Stay" and "Crush."

I got home at 2:30 in the morning. Good thing I didn't have to work the next day.

Long, Long Time Ago, I Can Still Remember…

…When I actually made my last post. Sorry it's been a while. I've been really busy lately. Let me explain in the following posts.