I’m finally recovering from the weekend in the Cities. Saturday we went to the Minnesota State Fair. We ate way to much junk food on a stick. Like $60 worth of junk food on a stick. It was only my second time ever going, and I will totally be going back if they bring some more good bands. Saturday night we saw probably my two favorite bands, Motion City Soundtrack, and Weezer. Both of them were amazing. Motion City even played one of our favorite songs, “Capital H”. They didn’t play that song the last three time we have seen them, so it was nice to hear it again. Weezer is always great, but this was the first time I was able to see them from the front row. Rivers came into the crowd a bit, and my Wife was able to touch him. It was pretty cool being that close. I can’t wait to catch both these bands again.

After Motion City was done their drummer, Tony Thaxton came out and took a panoramic picture of the crowd. Do you see me there in the front row? No, you can’t really see me because it’s too dark, but I was there.

On Sunday we went to Valley Fair. I’m not a big fan of amusement parks and ride, but I still had fun. I don’t find rides very much fun, but I still manage to ride them all.

On Monday we were back at the State Fair for some more junk food on a stick and to see Maroon 5 and Train. Originally I wasn’t going to go, but my Sister-in-law backed out, so I got stuck going. I had no idea who Maroon 5 even was. They just aren’t my type of music. I thought they were pretty bad, and probably responsible for half the crappy music that is on the radio these days. I’ve see Train many times, and they are usually pretty good, but I was disappointed this time. They just seemed to waste a lot of time, and didn’t play a lot of the songs I like.

We drove straight home from the concert, and got home around 4:00 AM, so today has been sleep and catch up day.

We had a great weekend in Minneapolis.  First Avenue is my most favorite place to see a concert.  We got there early because the Wife hates crowds.  She gets claustrophobic.  We have to either be right up front, or way in the back, so of course I like to get right up front.  It was another great concert. 

First Avenue is famous for the stars on the outside walls with some of the greatest bands that have played there on them.  This year they did a makeover on them, and they look better than ever.  I should have taken some pictures of the new paint jobs, but I didn’t think of it.  The line we were waiting in was on the opposite side of Motion City Soundtracks star, so I didn’t see their star.  They did move Prince’s, Soul Asylum’s and a few other Minneapolis band’s stars to easier to photograph places.  Our line was next to Motion City Soundtracks bus.  We saw Joshua Cain from Motion City heading into First Ave, and we saw Jesse Johnson go on and off the bus a few times.  Valencia had someone out side taking pictures for their website.  I may or may not be on their flickr site.

The Concert started with Valencia, who I have heard of, but never heard.  They were great, and I ran into one of them after the show and bought a CD from him.  I love supporting great bands by buy their CDs right from them.

Saves the Day was band number two.  I love them, and have most of their albums, but I am never impressed by them in concert.  This was my third time seeing them, and they always sound better on their albums.

Say Anything was the third band.  They were great, but I wish I knew more of their older stuff.  It was also great to see Kenny Vasoli playing bass for them.  I have seen Kenny’s old band, The Starting Line many times.

Motion City Soundtrack was amazing as always.  The only problem is that they have enough albums out now, that they don’t play many of our favorites off their first album, but that happens with every band.  They still rocked the place, and it was awesome to finally see them in mine, and probably their favorite venue.

So we went to the Bon Jovi concert last night. I haven’t really listened to them since the 80s, but they were one of my favorites back then. As a result I don’t know any of their newer stuff. The start of the concert was awesome. They were mixing old song with some better new songs that weren’t too bad. In the middle it got pretty lame though. They had a pretty long stretch of some crappy Christian sounding songs. For a while there it felt like were were in church. They ended much better, but not without a few of my pet peeves. They did two encores. I can’t stand encores. They are just a waste of time that they could fit in another song or two. More and more bands are not doing encores, but sadly most still do. Another thing that bugs me is when a band saves their biggest hit for last. I know you want to go out with a bang, but saving “Livin’ on a Prayer” for the last song annoyed me for some reason.

Dashboard Confessional were the opening band, and they were good as usual, but it kinda sucked because we were so far away. They didn’t have any cameras on them so it was really hard to see anything, and they didn’t even play “Screaming Infidelities”. WTF!? They need to come back to Fargo and play at The Venue.

All in all is was a pretty good concert. Not the best, but what do you expect in that large of venue. I have never been a fan of large stadium concerts. The smaller the venue the better in my book.

So last Saturday we went to Soul Asylum. It was the third time seeing them, and they are always great. Dave Pirner looks like he has more fun on stage than any band I have ever seen. Sadly they aren’t that “big” rock band that they were back in the 90s. They released an amazing album back in 2006 that got pretty much no play. Because of this they didn’t sell to many tickets.

I don’t understand, $15 to see one of the best bands to come out of Minneapolis, who wouldn’t want to see that?

Luckily instead of canceling the show, The Venue and a local radio station picked up the tab and offered the concert for free, so we got our money back at the door.

It was a great show. The only downside was it was 21+. Drunk adults are way more childish than kids. There were people behind us yelling stupid shit the whole time. Even during the music I heard those idiots. They were shouting for “Runaway Train” the whole time. Even after they just played it. The funny thing was after they played it they started playing it again, but then went into a different song. Frankly, I would have been happy if they never played “Runaway Train”. That song got so overplayed on the radio that I am still sick of it.

People think that kids with spiky hair and lots of piercings are troublemakers, but frankly, they are a lot more respectful at concerts. They are there to see and enjoy the music, not to get drunk and act like idiots.

I hope the lack of ticket sales doesn’t deter Soul Asylum from coming back to Fargo. I would love to see them again without the drunk idiots.

So last night we went as saw Ben Folds. It was a pretty awesome concert. Like most concerts at The Venue we got right up from. Sadly we were on the wrong side of the stage and none of our pictures turned out very good because of the lighting. I am subscribed to an RSS feed for a Fargo search on Flickr and found Flickr user erintheredmc. She we more in the center and has a nice set of pictures.

Opening for Ben Folds was Kate Miller-Heidke. She is apparently pretty big in Australia, and an amazing singer. It was just her and her guitar player. It was pretty intimate and awesome. At one point my wife’s phone rang and she actually answered it. I was elbowing her to try and let her know she was talking too loud. Kate heard her entire conversation on stage and even repeated some of it. It was pretty hilarious. Kate was selling her CDs after they were done. I so wanted to go talk to her and pick up a cd, but we didn’t want to lose our awesome spot in the crowd.

Ben Folds stared a little slow, but then got much better. He changed up his setlist to play a few song that people were yelling out. Some of them he hadn’t played in a while and actually forgot some of the lines. It was still pretty cool that he would change up his setlist like that. He even made up a song on the spot about Fargo. It was pretty funny. Kate came back on stage for “You Don’t know Me”. It was awesome, she is such an amazing singer. Then they goofed around doing a little photoshoot. It was pretty funny.

For the encore he played the cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit”, because a lot of people were shouting for it. He said he retired the song, but since he has never played it in Fargo he would. He invited a couple people up on stage to sing some of the verses, and they did a pretty damn good job.

I was kinda surprised that he didn’t play probably his biggest hit “Brick”, but it was still a great memorable concert.

So yesterday was our eighth wedding anniversary. We were married in 2000, so it’s easy to figure out. Our favorite band so happened to play in town yesterday also. It was our sixth or seventh (I kinda lost count) time seeing Motion City Soundtrack. This was the first time that they were actually headlining. We got right up front. The wife hates crowds, so the front is the best place. She doesn’t have to see all the people that way. We both had a great time. She was snapping pictures like crazy. She took around 90 or so, but most of them are the usual low light lots of blur pictures, but she did get a handful of good ones. After the concert we were picking up our t-shirts and Justin Pierre, lead singer of Motion City Soundtrack just happened to be hanging out there. The wife got his autograph and I took a picture of her with him. It was a pretty memorable anniversary, and I can’t wait to see Motion City again. I just can’t get enough of them.

Saturday night we went to RibFest. We had some amazing ribs and some roasted corn. It was all yummy, but spendy. I think we spent $40 on food, and we really didn’t eat that much.

The main reason we went on Saturday night was to catch Soul Asylum. They played RibFest a few years back and were awesome. They were one of my favorite bands from the 90s, and being from Minneapolis, always made them special. It’s kind of amazing that the band is still together with very few member changes. They formed it 1983 and have had a few different drummers, and with the death of Karl Mueller, they have a new bass player.

They played quite a few songs off of their latest album, The Silver Lining, which came out in 2006. I thought it was a great album and was surprised it didn’t get any radio play. Since most people didn’t know the new album, the crowed was kind of mellow when they played those songs.

We were right up front against the fence. At one point a fight or something started out in the crowd. We didn’t really see what happened, but the cops were on the lookout on the side of the stage. One of Soul Asylum’s roadies ran by and the cops grabbed him, and almost arrested him. It was kinda funny. Towards the end of the concert Soul Asylum had their roadies come on stage and play with them. The one that was almost arrested mentioned that. I glanced over at the cops and they were smiling about it.

Overall it was a good concert, and I wasn’t even bothered much by any drunks for a change.