Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Scars and stitches always fade and only strengthen me



So, last night, my lady friend and fellow Gusterroid, Jaime, headed down to gorges Ithaca to see my favoritest band in the whole wide world, guster! For those who don't know I am somewhat obssessed with the band guster, and there music. Not in like a crazy stalker way, I just kind of watch them form a distance. No, but seriously, I am on there website on an almost daily basis, I've emailed them several times, have all there albums, including 4 or 5 live shows I downloaded off the net. It is safe to say I'm a fan. Now for those who are not on the guster bus, hop a board I'll burn you some tracks. But I digress. On to the happenings of this fateful Tuesday night in Ithaca, it's gorges (last Ithaca is gorges joke, I promise)! It took about 50 minutes or so to get to the venue, thanks mapquest, and we were ready to rock out to guster! Upon entrance to the State Theatre we checked out the merch table and both happily picked up new guster tees! Jaime's is a light green with some yellow sunflowers growing out of the band name, mine is a cranberry long sleeve with guster simply written in the middle in a blue bubble. I was happy. But then the show happened...
Our seats were in the balcony, a pretty good view, but there was not much leg room to sit, which would of course only be a problem until guster came on and I would be standing the rest of the evening. Now here is where I take issue. Guster comes out to raucous applause, almost, that's right ALMOST, everyone stands. But then a strange thing happened in our section of the State Theatre, everyone sat DOWN! WHAT the *@#%! I was taken aback as Jaime and I were the only ones in our section standing. Now guster is not a moshing band or anything, but as I heard one tool say to his friends who were planning on sitting, "because the balcony was steep", that, "this is a standing band, you gotta stand up, this is a standing band." Now I would never utter those words, well maybe now, in a mocking way, but he had point in his own douchy way, you don't sit at shows, concerts, etc. This is not the first time this has happened. Back in the day when I went to see Beck at the Landmark, Javen and myself, in the balcony again, were asked by the people behind us to sit down. You DON'T SIT at shows, unless you're like in a wheel chair or something. This ain't the opera or the philharmonic. So after about four or five songs, and after realizing State Theatre security was purty lax, we made our way down to the floor for a closer view. We felt much more in place, standing and singing along to the guster. So what else could piss me off you ask? Well I'll tell ya.
The fans at this particular show. Now I am all for a band growing its fanbase, and all, but it was pretty clear that this was predominantly Keep It Together fans. This was Guster's last album, and these fans were of course lost when the band decided to play some favorites from back in the day. But these fans should not get mad if I'm singing along, that's what happens at shows! The people in front of us had there arms folded across there chests, not singing along, and seemed pretty upset at our singing. Which makes me want to say, why weren't they stuck with the balcony seats,and more real, diehard fans able to get seats near the band? Can't they have like a band test or something to determine where you sit? This was not a good crowd. They even were cheering and singing along while Ryan, guster's lead singer, started covering a Lindsay Lohan song, mockingly off key I might add. Oh and I forgot to mention the girls screaming at the top of their lungs during songs. Totally unnecessary. Now comes the time for the encore, where everyone claps to get the band to come back out, and those people in our section in the balcony are STILL SITTING!
But the show was not all bad, there were plenty of highlights, aside from guster, themselves, being awesome as usual. The Lohan cover was amusing, although I didn't know what it was until I was told after the show. Really. They also played three old songs that I had never seen them perform live: X-Ray Eyes (one of my favorites from their second album), Great Escape, where they changed one verse to the chorus from "Add it Up" by the Violent Femmes, and Rainy Day, the last track off their third album, which can also be heard in the movie Life as a House. They also played three new songs that will be on their next album- Captain which had a kickass folksy twang to it, The Beginning of the End which had a familiar sound to it that I couldn't quite place and Satellite, which I don't recall that well. But, I think my favorite part of the show was when Ryan began singing "Two Points for Honesty", which apparently was not next on the set list. He sang the first verse, "If that's all you will be...." to which Adam replied into his mike, with a laugh, "WRONG". Ryan then asked, "why can't we play that one?" So they play that one and Ryan messes up the verses and after they're done with the song, says, "I've had a few" Oh that Ryan, he's a silly, silly man. Never a dull moment at a guster show!

Well, keep on truckin'!

3 comments:

  1. Realistically, you can sit down at shows, but that is only at something like a Christopher Cross show, or seeing someone George Carlin. Glad to see that they played X-Ray Eyes buddy, big fan of that one myself. By the way, I really like sitting next to the groups of concert goers that get upset at people singing at shows and sit there all upset and pouty, especially if I'm with the boys and had a few ti many martoonis. Then you can really get 'em mad...this guy over here knows what I'm talkin' about. Did Guster hit you with any "I Spy" or "What You Wish For"?? Ooh Ooh, how bout some "Happier"?? Just curious, that way I can tell others I was there. HA!! Good luck with that tee.

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  2. They actually opened with I Spy and played Happier, but no What You Wish For.

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  3. OMG LET'S DANCE LIKE HIPPIES.

    (Look. I posted and revamped my blog. I'm hip, I'm with it!)

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