We went to a concert yesterday at the Bluebird to celebrate. The band was Finger 11, and I have to admit, I only knew one song of theirs ("one thing"). So I listened a bit from their site and others before going; by that point I was up to three songs I knew and liked.
I wasn't sure we'd get in, to be honest. This lack of forethought occured to me as we were approaching the door and I was reading the sign "Valid ID required". It was a 16 and over show, so no problems for me--I could (finally) even get into the 21 and over. But R. is 16, and German, and without her passport. The chick examines my ID and turns to R. "She's German," I say, and we hand the lady R.'s German bus pass--the only thing approaching ID she has, and has been using all week for her credit card purchases--which has no birthdate. But no worries, we are in.
The best thing about concerts is the people-watching. You really get all kinds. Since it was a hardrock concert there were your usual goth-punk-types, sporting a fabulous combination of huge black pants large enough to accomodate their five closest friends, a band T-shirt or black tank, enough facial piercings to look like they encountered shrapnel on their way in, and platform black boots for the "ladies". Then there were the teenies, looking like miniature Britney Spears (before she got pregnant, crazy, and eventually bald) and running in packs. I swear, these girls can go nowhere independently. There were pairs of all persuasions; one couple looked like Britney and Dr. Dre in miniature; one biker-type in his late 30s had a girlfriend who was a unique combination of 20-years-younger, corpulent, and punk.
Watching the realtively normal-looking kid next to me rock out (his rocking-out ended up infringing on my personal space repeatedly, but what can you do? Kicking people in the balls is rather asocial) and his friend twitch to the beat like an epileptic on the Vegas Strip at night was rather entertaining. Throughout the opening acts, the only person getting into it was a kinda round fellow up at the front. As the night progressed and the place filled up, we were subjected to a band of drunks of the fratboy persuasion attempting balancing acts on the railing behind us and screaming for a drumstick. I was hoping they might have gotten clocked by one, but then they would have landed on us, and that would have somewhat reduced our enjoyment of the concert. One exquisitely socially awkward girl, sporting her newly purchased T-shirt above her black goth jeans wanted to give one of them a high five for having caught it, whose effect was somewhat spoiled by the fact that she spent about a minute and a half holding her hand up, waiting for him to notice her.
The first opening band was from Winnipeg, Canada. They were your stereotypical emo-rock band, complete with tight hipsters, cool T-shirts ("don't mind the hipsters") amd matching belts in a combination I am sure they thought was cool. They had all the rockstar moves down, too, prancing around like eight-year-olds on methamphetamine. They were hilarious and their music wasn't bad; the drummer spent the entirety of their set with his mouth open, streaming sweat. Think Questionable Content. The next two bands weren't two memorable to me, and a bit too much hard rock tending on metal to be to my taste. The mosh pit at the front ended up being completely insane, and mostly involving the left side trying to shove over the right side, who took revenge, resulting in a jumping, writhing mass of humanity bent on turning dancing into a contact sport.
Finger 11, the band we had come to see, was worth going to see. Their music is somewhat more lyrical than the other bands. During the (one and only) song I really knew, a group of girls in the pit managed to make it up on to friends' shoulders and flashed the singer, who almost whiffed his lyrics and started laughing instead of singing. I'm sure he wasn't expecting that. The place was full, the band was playing, and the floor was shaking like a small earthquake from all the people jumping to the beat. Viva le concert et bon anniversaire à moi.
Video for Paralyzer
Finger 11 - One Thing
Restless tonight
Cause I wasted the light
Between both these times
I drew a really thin line
It’s nothing I planned
And not that I can
But you should be mine
Across that line
[Chorus:]
If I traded it all
If I gave it all away for one thing
Just for one thing
If I sorted it out
If I knew all about this one thing
Wouldn’t that be something
I promise I might
Not walk on by
Maybe next time
But not this time
Even though I know
I don’t want to know
Yeah I guess I know
I just hate how it sounds
If I traded it all
If I gave it all away for one thing
Just for one thing
If I sorted it out
If I knew all about this one thing
Wouldn’t that be something
Even though I know
I don’t want to know
Yeah I guess I know
I just hate how it sounds
Even though I know
I don’t want to know
Yeah I guess I know
I just hate how it sounds
If I traded it all
If I gave it all away for one thing
Just for one thing
If I sorted it out
If I knew all about this one thing
Wouldn’t that be something
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