It was finally Monday the 13th. I had been waiting for the 13th with quite a bit of anticipation. The days and dates had become rather jumbled, so I was also a little apprehensive that I would just forget. Fortunately, I remembered. I got up earlier than usual and headed out for Red Butte Gardens even thought I was at least a full hour later than I had planned. I was also hoping I wouldn't have any trouble finding the place. I had no trouble at all finding the venue, however that was not the case when it came to parking. After driving around for 15 minutes and watching the line to see Death Cab for Cutie growing before my eyes, I went down the road and parked in a time limited visitor's spot in hopes that I could secure a place in line and come back to find a spot later. Fortunately it worked out. Things have a way of working out, I've noticed. I was meeting Lauralee there, but she was coming much later. She had been able to get an extra ticket for me to see Death Cab by getting a membership to the venue and going through the presale. The tickets sold out so quickly, the general public didn't have much of a chance. I felt blessed. Around 2:30-3 o'clock, Death Cab's played a few songs/partial songs and people (myself included) stood on the hill, watched and cheered. They played No Sunlight, a favorite of mine; and when they played a portion of "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," the small crowd errupted in applause. Finally around 4:35 p.m. Lauralee arrived with the tickets, and about an hour later we were headed inside the venue. Red Butte is a gorgeous venue, although the stage was set back from the crowd.
I found a spot in the front (barely large enough) of someone's blanket, and then security told me I could come forward and I ended up at the barricade nearly center.
After waiting for setup, the show started. First up was the band Ra Ra Riot. Lauralee said that she thought I would like them and she was certainly right. They have an electric violinist and an electric cellist, which really had an incredible sound live! Andrew Bird wowed the crowd after Ra Ra Riot's set with his whistles, violin, and violing "picking", his amazing back up band, and his looping machine. He really was outstanding.
Set up for Death Cab seemed to take a very long time indeed, but they did finally take the stage and proceeded to "knock my socks off." IT was the 4th time I'd seen them and the best of the 4. Ben was the chattiest I've seen and seemed very happy. He said that he had gotten up early and planted all of the flowers for us, and got a wicked farmer's tan. (The stage was surrounded by flowers and plants.) Death Cab played a great set, and it was over far too soon.
Afterwards, I tried and failed to get a set list, but I did get a photo of it, so I have a copy of sorts. :)
I went over to the merch tables and bought a few cds, some Death Cab buttons, and was all set to have Lauralee take a pic of me with 2 of the guys from Ra Ra Riot with my cell phone. It died just as she took it. C'est la vie.
Lauralee and I made the long walk back to our vehicles. I waited about 10 minutes for traffic to finish clearing and headed for home. It was a great day.
On July 14, I got to start over again. I was looking forward to seeing Sherwood again, although I was less excited about making a second trip to Salt Lake in as many days. At least I didn't feel I needed to be there quite as early. For some reason I was thinking it was The Avalon, and it was at In the Venue (aka Club Sound), and even though I usually go earlier, most of the time people do not arrive at The Avalon before 4 p.m. About half way to the venue, it hit me that I was thinking of the wrong place and looked at my ticket. I'm glad I figured it out before I got there. LOL I made it to the venue a few minutes after 4 p.m., which ended up being perfect timing for parking reasons. I saw Sherwood's bus (and later found out that they had arrived shortly before me.) I got out of my car, crossed the street to the venue and ended up saying a few hellos and chatting with the guys, too. Not too long after I saw Amanda, and I ended up going with her to give someone a ride to the airport. Then we just hung out at the venue for a while and eventually ended up going to dinner at a place called, The Counter, at the Gateway Mall. IT wasn't particularly cheap, but the food was good and also enormous. It's a burger place, and you build your own burger and the selection was for 1/3 lb. or 2/3 lb. I opted for the grilled chicken. Joe ordered a peanut butter milkshake, and the 2/3 lb. burger. The thing was so huge, he couldn't pick it up to eat it. There was so much left over.
By the time we got back to the venue, Larusso was playing. I got my camera out of the car, and promptly left my ticket. Amanda was on the guest list (plus 1), so I just used her extra to get in. I had no problems with my camera at all, and I think I actually got some decent shots. I don't really think we missed much of Larusso's set, which was good since I think they are quite good. Mury played next, and they are always good as well (although the language on stage can be a tad colorful.)
Then Sherwood set up and had some issues with Mikey's keyboard, but they finally got things working enough that the show went on. :) I can't say enough about Sherwood's set. Suffice it to say that they, too, "knocked my socks off" (please pardon my unoriginality there. LOL)
Sherwood:
Mury:
Larusso:
Afterwards I chatted to everyone for quite a while before heading for home.
I left tired, but happy. I'm hoping I can Sherwood again when they come back
on August 3 (depending on when my granddaughter decides to make her grand entrance into this world.)
Hope one and all are having a great week.
Peace out,
Melanie
P.S. will be adding photos... keep checking.
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