Wednesday, October 29, 2008

New map, will update

It's been a while since I've updated anything here, but we've not been to a concert in a few months, so that stands to reason. However, I do have a new update here.

Follow this link and it will take you to a Google Map that I made that gives the locations and dates of the concerts that we've seen. I whipped this up early this morning, and will take some more time to update it more accurately with the actual locations and pics of the shows we've seen (if we have them). This project isn't dead by any means, so keep checking back.

Wow... I'm such a slacker

I just checked in on this blog, after not having posted for quite some time. It occurred to me when I checked the front page that I didn't update this space at all when we went to see Panic at the Disco in Columbus, OH in May.

May. May!

Wow, I really need to get back on top of this. I'll see if I can't find some pictures of the night, as well as dredging up some memories of the night so I can give an accurate (enough) account of what went on.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Eve 6 in Schaumberg, IL



It's been a few days, and we've got the time now to give our recap of the trip to Chicago (Schaumberg, if you're getting technical).

First, the trip itself was a really good time. The drive went quickly, and we had no problems on the way, other than the fact that we decided to drive straight through Ft. Wayne, IN (only reason that was a problem is because it was boring). We made it to the hotel around 3, took a nap, went to dinner and then to the show.

As is usual with shows, there were more bands on the billing than we had originally known. Four bands for the price of two! Can you beat that?

1st band - Footlight Frenzy ((rock))
Decent music, they're a pretty new band (third show). They got better as their set went on. Even though they didn't exactly impress, they put themselves out there. Tips to the singer: the 80s were 17 years ago, and swinging the mic around isn't as cool as it looks. Tips to the bassist and the guys you were hanging out with after your show: being a major asshole is out of style; give it up.

2nd band - White Light Riot ((alt--rock))
I wasn't overly impressed at first (maybe these bands need to rearrange their setlists?) I will say this: either the crowd was more into these guys or more drunk... They both sound the same. Props to the drummer; I have a soft spot for drummers who sing. As an aside, this band played well/loudly enough to knock loose some confetti from a previous show, and a few pieces rained down on them.

3rd band - The Black Mollys ((rock-punk))
The Black Mollys are coming home with us. There's something infectious about performers who are good at what they do who don't take it too seriously. Not the greatest band I've seen, but there's a big difference between the best and a fun show... These guys put on a fucking fun show. They closed with "Sweet Caroline." I don't know about you, but where I come from, that song by anyone other than Neil Diamond kicks ass.

Final Band - Eve 6 (alt-rock-punk)
We have been wanting to see Eve 6 for a long, long time. The show was excellent and we heard a lot of songs that we had wanted to hear. One of the notable things about the show was watching the lead singer (Max). He is probably the least-emotive singer we've seen. It's almost as if it hurt him to smile for the first 3/4s of the show and then, when he did smile, it sort of wandered around his mouth as if it didn't know whether it wanted to stay or go. I, being the geek that I am, kept track of the songs using my phone, so here's the setlist:
Rescue, Promise, Open Road Song, Think Twice, Little Tiny Everything (Sugi Tap), Leech, Anytime, (Some guy jumped on stage, looked like he pinched the lead singer's butt, got pushed off stage, crowd-surfed, and got ejected), Red and Black, Here's to the Night, At Least We're Dreaming, Friend of Mine, On the Roof Again, Inside Out (Mr. Bones), Amphetamines, (encorish-type thing): Pick up the Pieces (Sugi Tap), and Tongue-Tied. (Great set).

(For those of you who didn't know, Eve 6 were broken up for a few years. Max and the drummer had a side project called The Sugi Tap, and those songs now seem to have been made into Eve 6 songs. Hence, the notation by those two songs).

The only ironic thing about the whole experience was that, four days before we left, we saw that Eve 6 were going to be playing in Ohio, some 20 minutes from where we live. =) So, we drove 6-ish hours to see a band that's going to be local to us soon. Oh well, that means that we might be able to get our Ohio show out of the way sooner than we thought.

That was our first show! We're planning our next one for 3-4 months from now, so keep checking in. Suggestions are always welcome.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

How much longer...

Nothing major to report, but I did want to give an official word on a few changes to the blog.

I've added two new sections to the right side of the page: Bands to see and Venue suggestions. They're both self-explanatory, but if you see something that catches your eye, let us know via email or comment. If a band on the list will be near you (not all of our bands play big shows and we like it that way), or if a band is broken up/members changed/name changed/the lead guy with the great voice is going solo now, we would love know. Plus, if there's a kick-ass venue in your city, we want to know that too.

Just a little over a week until Eve 6!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

...and so does my foot, as it sinks on the pedal...

Here comes our first band announcement! Are you excited? We are.

Friday, January 25th @ Chicago City Limits we will be seeing (drum roll please...)

Eve 6, with The Black Mollies!

Liz and I have been fans of these guys for a long time, and when we decided to go and see a show, they were one of our first choices. The best part is that they just started touring again, so we get to be a part of their comeback.

We're looking at a 6-7 hour drive, checking into the hotel, grabbing dinner and then seeing the show. If we've got time or the inclination we might spend Saturday in Chicago and drive back that night.

Community Input
This is where we can use help from our readers (both of you). Chicago City Limits is in Schaumburg, IL and we need a place to eat before we go to the show. If you've got suggestions, we're open to them.

We leave in 15 days and will likely be listening to Eve 6 until then. Expect a few site updates between now and then, but the meat of what is to come will be here once we see the show and get some pics.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Tonight I feel ambitious...

My wife and I were talking while we were driving to work today (not an uncommon thing to have happen), when I asked her if she ever had a desire to say that she had visited all 50 states. Turns out that she didn't really want to do it just to say that she'd done it, but it could be fun to see a band play in each state. We talked about it for the rest of the trip (and more on the way home) and decided to set a goal for ourselves:

To see a band play a show in each of the 50 states by the time I turn 40.

I'm 27 now, and my birthday is November 8th. The means that we have 12 years and 10 months to make this happen.

Some people may ask: why? The simple answer is that we think it will be fun. We love to travel, but it's not always easy to find a reason to go someplace. This is a good option that we'll both enjoy. And, to cover another obvious question, yes, we've already been to shows in Ohio, but we decided to start from scratch.

Every time we go to a show, we'll upload pictures and let everyone know what went down. Our first show is coming up here pretty soon and we're excited. I'll give another post about that in a bit.

One more thing: we're going to need some help from time to time. I'm not talking about anything financial--that would be ridiculous. The help we need comes in the form of opinions and feedback. See, we know nothing about the music scenes in, for example, Montana or Wyoming. If you spot this page and you've got info on some good local bands, let us know. We're planning on seeing some groups that have major tours, but if we like the sound of what you suggest, we'll hit up that group and give you the credit.

Hopefully this project will expand as time goes on and we'll get all kinds of cool widgets to let you know who, where, and when we've seen the bands we see. Mainly, we're doing this for fun. If you read this, we hope you enjoy our ride.