I’m going to start by saying that there was one thing that saved last Friday’s Foo Fighters acoustic set for me. Dave burst out with Best of You towards the end of the night and violated us with one of the best screams in rock n roll today. He then followed that with Everlong, one of Judakris’ favorite songs ever. He ended the show with a bang while still maintaining the acoustic element. Because of this, I give this show an Unbelievable.
Now here’s how I felt about everything else.
On the way to the show we got turned around in the city. I am normally a pretty calm driver, but I was a nervous wreck as I tried to maneuver the little bug among the urban jungle. We practically reenacted a scene from 24 as J was on the phone with our friend M who had a map in front of her and offered directions. J would explain that we were now crossing this street, that street, this bldg, etc. When J would point out certain landmarks, I would just offer a courtesy smile and breathlessly respond “oh, cool” whilst never taking my eyes off the road and the pesky pedestrians.
We found our location and pulled into a parking garage, which unfortunately was valet. As we were getting out of the car I set my damn car alarm off. Nice.
I didn’t think our seats were too bad, although the angle of the balcony could give anyone vertigo. We sat in the center and had a pretty unobstructed view of the stage for most of the show. Our seats were on the third level and in the back row. The houselights were on the entire time where we sat, which meant that there were no visual cues for the morons sitting around us to know that there was indeed a performance happening.
People were generally restless around us. Apparently, no one told them that this was meant to be an acoustic performance and that you didn’t have to yell when speaking to your neighbor. With the women trying to not roll down and off the balcony onto the audience below us, there was added awkwardness to their return trips after getting their drinks. At some point in the evening, the Auditorium Theatre staff were mimicking the band behind us and being louder than they probably think they were. J and I both shot them a look knowing full well this wouldn’t help. It didn’t.
At some point, I had returned from getting my second beer and found some guy sitting next to J. When I sat down, he looked at us both and said “Hi there. I’m Phil” while thrusting out his hand for us to shake one at a time. What the fuck? Who was this guy? Go sell distraction somewhere else, bud. We’re all stocked up here. His survival instincts obviously kicked in because he left after a few short minutes.
Dave told a great story about meeting Nirvana for the first time and his experiences while living with them for a time. He then played a song called Friend of a Friend, a song he wrote during that time. The acoustics were perfect, but I could have done without hearing the violinist sing her version of Floaty. At some point, J and I looked at each other and wondered what was going there (wink, wink). I remember noting that there was a keyboardist. Inside I had an "AH HAH!" moment, but J was consistent in her dislike of keyboards as part of the set even with these guys. A little ambience never hurt anybody. [SCENE: hospital bed. Judakris girls are in the winter of their lives. J lies on bed, hardly coherent, beckoning K over to her. K leans in carefully and gently grabs her hand. She gazes into the eyes of her partner in crime and smiles through her oxygen mask waiting for her sister to form her last words. J whispers "Keyboards suck" then flatlines. Darkness. Curtain.]
The federalist emblem on the screen didn’t translate well from where we were sitting. It looked a little like a nutsack. They didn’t need it. They had beautiful lighting. Aesthetically that was all that was needed.
After the show, we headed towards the back of the venue and saw Nate Mendel. After waiting for some time, he ended up being the only band member that came out that night as the others had caught a flight to L.A. We knew this because our favorite Foo roadie told us. We know better than to trust security guards telling us the band won’t be coming out. We have learned that this is their way of thinning out the crowd so that there is less hassle. I will paraphrase our friend S quoting Mommie Dearest: this ain’t our first time at the rodeo. -K
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