-
Ben Folds
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.
-
Motion City Anniversary
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. -
Soul Asylum @ RibFest
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.