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Soul Asylum
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.
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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.
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Green Day
Nirvana’s album Nevermind changed my life. That one album single-handedly got me listening to tons of amazing lesser known bands. One of those bands was Green Day. Back in 1992 I picked up Kerplunk and was blown away. How could an album this good not get any radio play. That’s when I gave up on the radio. Since that Green Day album was so great I started listening to other bands on Lookout! Records. Screeching Weasel, The Queers, Squirtgun, and Mr. T Experience all suddenly became my favorite bands. Then I got into bands on Epitaph, and Fat Wreck Chords. Such great music, yet mostly unheard of.
I never got a chance to see Nirvana live, but I did see Green Day back in 2002. It was one of the best concerts I have ever seen, but it lacked anything from Kerplunk. Tonight Green Day is playing in Fargo. I can’t wait to see them, and will be hoping for some music off of Kerplunk, but I doubt they will play any of it. They have so many great songs, and most people probably don’t know much from Kerplunk.
I have checked their setlists and they do vary a little from concert to concert, but no Kerplunk songs. I am still hoping they play some “Christie Road” though. It’s one of my all time favorite Green Day songs.
I know they aren’t going to play anything older than Kerplunk, but how awesome would it be if they played “Paper Lanterns”?
Or maybe “80”?
Or even “Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?”.
I am sure the concert will be great, but I kind of wish I would have seen them back in ‘92 or ‘93 to see them play my favorite songs.
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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.