Monday, February 02, 2009


I am doing a bit better since my last blog. Saturday I drove 2 hours to see a local band by the name of Mury, Between the Trees, Madina Lake and Anberlin. It was a good concert and a long day.

I've been exceedingly sore (especially my neck) for two days. Today I have a sore throat, stuffy sinuses, and am definitely sick. I was hoping it wouldn't happen.

Anyway, this is my rambling recap of Saturday's show (as posted on the Switchfoot boards):

I got to the venue (The Icon) a little before 11 a.m. At about 11:11 a.m., a group of 4 arrived from Oregon and they had driven 15 hours. One of the guys didn't have a ticket. I'm not sure what happened with him. I hope he got in. I know I called the promoter because they usually hold a few tickets at the door at the Avalon even when they are sold out, so I asked them and I was told they probably would maybe 20-40 people. Then sometime in the morning one of the guys said they might do a few cash sales. However, if someone came up who was in a group or not in line already, they just said they were sold out. Even though I was the first one there, 2 guys thought they had rights to the front of the line because the rest of us stood a few feet back to get some sunshine since we'd been there all morning. That kind of annoyed a few of us.

Anyway, Anberlin's bus arrived around noonish. When they finally started filtering out of the bus, I saw Stephen and gave him a few things I had for him, which he seemed to appreciate. I asked him if I could get my SLR in so he had me check with the road manager, and I did. He said he would look into it and get back to me. (I checked back once later, but he never did get back to me, and I didn't want to keep bugging him. I'm sure it wasn't his top priority. LOL) There was a pawn shop across the street and at one time or another, all or most of them checked it out. I thought about it, but not while they were there. One of the guys from Oregon checked it out for me a little later and said they didn't have all that much. So, people kind of came and went for a few hours. I talked to Joey once to see if he had seen a photo I had of him. He hadn't seen it yet. (Note, it was a photo of Joey and Hoopes in 2003.)

Sometime between about 2:30-3 Between the Trees bus arrived. It was a while before they all came in, but the first place Ryan, et al. went wasn't to the venue, it was the pawn shop, which made me laugh. I said "hi" to Ryan when he went in the venue, and told him a friend said "hello", and then they were loading in for a bit. Diane & Tuyen got there a little bit after BTT, I think. I have forgotten the time sequence there.

I kept asking and telling the venue people about Nicole ALL day, and was told she'd probably be able to get in by several people. Finally this big guy came out and I asked him what to expect and then I told him about Nicole. He said they weren't selling any tickets (apparently the radio station said otherwise earlier in the day, also) and I told him that I called them and what I was told and that Nicole drove 4 hours, and he took her aside, but then I didn't see her. I was a bit freaked, because I was going to let her use mine if she didn't get in, and he implied he was going to get her in, but we were separated, and I didn't know for certain.

I did end up in the front. The good thing is I could see. The bad thing is that Stephen's vocals weren't very loud at the front. I could only hear them about half the time. But when he sang The Unwinding Cable Car with Ryan, it was clear as could be and they both sounded amazing. I talked to Ryan later, and he said that they had wanted to do that for a while, but had only done it at the last two shows. Since The UCC is probably my favorite Anberlin song, it made the whole thing almost worth it just for that one song alone.


I liked the local opening band (Mury), but I've seen them a few times before. The language can be a bit rough on occasion with them, but the music is good.


Between the Trees was awesome, although I wish I was on the other side of the stage so Ryan's back wasn't to me when he was on the piano. LOL




Madina Lake was interesting. I didn't think their music was horrible, actually, although the vocals weren't real easy to discern at times from the front. They were definitely high energy and got the crowd acting rather crazy. They had people getting up on stage, and security put a stop to that because there was no surfing, and I think people were surfing up there. (Really, there was a short stage, no barricade, so surfing didn't seem very feasible.) I couldn't figure out why Madina Lake was the main opener rather than BTT, but I'm guessing it was their energy onstage.



After the show, I was able to get the set list - yea for set lists!!! The encore isn't on it. I'm not 100% sure they totally followed it, though. I'll have to try and remember.

I did get some pics, not outstanding (lots of hot spots on some of them) and it was hard to get anything with the crowd. The guy next to me kept leaning way forward, so I had a time getting pics around him. The downside of me being so short. LOL





At least the crowd wasn't quite as bad as at Salt Air and though I'm really very sore (I probably shouldn't have been at the front 3 weeks after surgery), at least I wasn't really hurt. It was pretty stinking hot in there, though!!!

Anyway, rather rambly, but it was a good show. I mosly wish a few things would have been handled more fairly and that I could have heard the vocals a bit better. Just curious if they were heard better in the back.

This is a pic of some of us from the Switchfoot boards:


Photo of me and Ryan (of Between the Trees):

1 comment:

AE said...

haha I love your hat! great shots! I love anberlin! Also, I need to see/ check out between the trees, Alexis keeps telling me how awesome they are. I'm sad I missed them on warped!