Saturday, October 23, 2010

Civil Twilight! Crash Kings! Anberlin! Oh My Baby!

I am so excited to write this post I'm doing it early! Just for you  my lovely lambwhores AND goatsluts. Yes. OK, so most of you remember me rubbing it in your faces that I was going to a concert, an Anberlin one to be exact, and because I'm awesome I'm bringing you everything.

When Krysten and I go to concerts we always eat at this great restaurant in Roseville called Flame. You'll remember me raving about the bathrooms here. The only deal was that Krysten and I wanted to know if the guys' bathroom was equally nice. Or if the urinals had rocks in them. It'd be kind nice, right? Well Matt and I ate there because he's sick of hearing about me rave and tease him so I reluctantly agreed. I pretty much felt like I was cheating on Krysten. (I still love, you K!) So Krysten and I decided to make it fair, Matt would need to photograph the bathroom to satisfy the curiosity. And he did.
 But he doesn't think the fries are that great. Fucking loser, right Krysten??? Guess what he ordered with his burger? MASHED POTATOES. Who the hell does that? My husband. *sigh*

Anyways. So the concert was at First Avenue & 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, which is in the same little radius as the Target Center. Pros to the place is that it's small, it's usually not overcrowded and the tickets are cheap. The cons are that drinks are high priced and you have to stand for at least 4 hours because there are few chairs. Which is fine, but no doubt- by the end my knees hurt pretty bad. My VANS, although adorable and comfy to bum around in, are not meant to stand 4 hours in. Anyways.

So here's Matt and I waiting for Civil Twilight. Matt actually doesn't know much music and that makes me sad. It also makes me wonder how I decided he'd be a good life partner if his love of music isn't like mine. But he does know a bit of Anberlin mostly from listening to it when I drive. We take sucky pictures together.  
The opening band was Civil Twilight who I really freaking love. If you don't know them, you  need to get to know them. Or else. Go HERE to sample. I will confess that PART of my love is that the singer kind of looks like Robert Pattinson. AND he has an accent. I love boys with accents. *swoon* They hail from Cape Town, South Africa and are great. Go HERE to see one of my fav's from their set last night. But my fav song from Civil Twilight? Well that's Something She Said. This song? Kicks the girly bits in overdrive every.damn.time.

But they put on a great live show and I would definitely travel to see them again.

 Next up was the Crash Kings. And to be honest I had never actually heard of them. I heard one song, Carry On, and then part of another and I was just "meh" on them.
 But let me tell you something. This band? You MUST see them play live. That set was so energetic and even if you are new to them you cannot help yourself- you will be dancing and jamming with them. THIS song was great to see live. I really liked It's Only Wednesday and thought it was fun to watch. The singer's voice is out of control and he sounds fabulous live. The energy out of this entire band was amazing and they really got everybody ready for Anberlin. And the drummer? Sick. Out of fucking control. All of them were so good live. I not only wanted to buy the album immediately after that set but I'm already hoping they tour around here soon. Oh- and they did a Black Sabbath cover- AH - MAZING.

So after Crash Kings we had like 15 minutes before Anberlin came on. We were standing right behind the sound board and it's times like this that make me wish I bring my fucking glasses BECAUSE the set list was like right there. The guys in front of me (all but one) were totally douchebags and wouldn't let me squeeze in to see it. AND they were all 6 feet tall. Hi- I'm 5'3. Assholes. One guy, the blond one who had the punk/nerdy look going was really nice and he asked twice if I could see. And I could because he left just enough room for my head be right next to his nipple. Which was weird. My head was between nipples. Anyways.

I can't remember every song off the set or what they opened with, but I can tell you it was like 15-20 songs total. They only played a few off the new album, so if you are a fan of their older stuff you'd like this show.
 Stephen (the singer) crowd surfed and while my blog bestie, Mr. O, said I should go and touch him--- I doubt Matt would have been ok with that. But let's just say it's clear that Stephen is well endowed. *sigh* If only I could have used my god given talents. *double sigh*

I love this picture-this was during Paperthin Hymn.
 They closed with Feel Good Drag, which I love, and then the encore was Lost Causes. Which is kind of a weird encore if you ask me. I would have liked to hear Glass to the Arson or at least Blame Me, but nope. Not this time. The set was great and I loved how they put some acoustic songs from their Lost Songs album in there.  They also did a Danzig cover which was... it was good but it was weird because it was mellow and acoustic. They did Dismantle.Repair and I really, really loved that live. I called Mr. O and I really hope it went to his voicemail and he could make it out. :)
 The concert was great and I would highly recommend you to see any of these bands live. I officially popped my see-Anberlin-live-cherry and I'm glad. We got out of there at 10ish.
Then we drove the 2 1/2 hours home. I had to drive the entire way because Matt slept. And snored so loud I had to crank the volume on my music. But I had fun with my mini jam session while he slept.

The best part (Simple Dude-- prepare yourself) I not only got out of the Target Center parking ramp without getting lost (Krysten! I found the easiest place to park for Maroon 5!!) I got us home. WITHOUT the GPS.

Folks? This? Is a big fucking deal.

10 comments:

Jon Hanson said...

Haha.. glad to see you made it out safely. I skipped happy hour last night but some coworkers were right across the street from First Avenue at a bar called O'Donovans.

You also forgot to mention the most famous part of First Ave - being featured in the movie Purple Rain. If you've never seen it, check it out - you'll totally recognize the club since it hasn't changed (or been cleaned) in 25 years.

SD

Sara Strand said...

SD- I knew that 1stAve was in the movie! And yes- I'll agree that it hasn't been cleaned in a few decades considering the gum that was on the wall by the bar looks to be the same one from the last time I was there. Like 8 years ago. Slightly decaying but the same nonetheless.

Nikolett said...

You definitely do NOT take sucky pictures - and I think is the first pic I've seen of you two (which makes me a really bad lambwhore?). Either way, jealous of all these concerts you get to go to ... I love "Paperthin Hymn" :) And I am UBER proud of you for getting out of there a-okay and GPS-free!

As for where to visit if you go to Ontario (I think you asked this a whiiile ago, my bad!) - northern Ontario like the Thunder Bay area is nice but ridiculously cold and sees a lot of snow that southern Ontario doesn't seen until months later. I -adore- Sauble Beach, Niagara on the Lake, and you have to see the tourist places in Toronto and Niagara Falls :D

Krysten @ Why Girls Are Weird said...

Okay for real, Matt didn't think that the fries were that great? Is he NUTS? And who gets mashed potatoes with a burger? Hello, you get those with steak. Were they at least good mashed potatoes? I certainly hope so.

Sounds like the concert was awesome although I honestly can't take First Ave only because I honestly cannot stand for that long. It's painful!

And I am excited to see this new parking space you found us!

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

I haven't been to a concert in years!

So jealous

Shirley said...

Rocks in the urinals would have been awesome!

http://shirleysnewday.blogspot.com/

Sadako said...

Heh. I'm a big mashed potatoes w/ burger fan, too. :D

Sounds like you had a great time. Very nice!

Ang said...

You make me so proud!

Lost said...

So glad you had a good time :) These Anberlin chaps are no NIN's, but they have a decent sound... If you convince them to come to the UK they will sell at least one ticket

Oh, My Darling said...

Sounds like quite the fun show!!