You live and you burn
Alkaline Trio
Rufio
Thieves Like Us
06-16-05
The Quest
Minneapolis, MN
Since this was the most action-packed concert trip ever, and Tyler took pictures with his cell phone along the way, I decided to make this entry much more in depth.
In the morning, I had to go to a Financial Aid meeting at St. Thomas with my dad, then my dad had a meeting in Owatonna. Thus, I was stuck in Owatonna until Tyler picked me up. I chilled at Cabela's and played a fishing game. I wasn't very good. I only caught a small Crappie. And I definitely broke thier rule of 5-minute time limit.
I had to use my Cabela's gift card. I decided I wanted a stuffed buffalo. I had two options. One with crazy legs, and a normal one that was a lot bigger.
I chose the normal one. Tyler met me at Cabela's, and I bought it there. Jan checked us out. She was kind of slow, we were getting agitated. She kept asking her coworkers if everyone had been on their break. Oh, and when she wasn't looking... I checked her out. Anyway, then we were off to Minneapolis!
I named my buffalo Skiba, since we were going to the Trio concert. He liked to look out the window.
We stopped at A&W in Faribault.
We were kind of confused as to how to get our food, if we were supposed to go up and order it, or seat ourselves. We chose to sit down. I had a root beer float. It was pretty tasty.
Skiba noticed a truck that he liked a lot.
Um.. Here's a picture of a random hardcore biker we saw. He stayed in the fast lane while going ultra-slow because he's all cool and hardcore like that.
When we left Faribault, the dreaded battery light came on. Oh, snap! It would go off and on, so we didn't think too much of it. (Tyler's a speed demon.)
Upon arriving to Minneapolis, all hell broke loose. First, the stereo shut itself off. Then, the air conditioning turned warm, so I tried to roll down the window, only to find out that the button did nothing. Next, all of the lights on the dashboard came on. Finally, Tyler lost power steering. He pulled into the first parking lot we saw (the City Center parking lot, near the Target Center) and somehow managed to get his car up the ramp and into the first stall we found.
Luckily, we were there plenty early. When he tried to turn his car back on after shutting it off, it didn't work. He called his dad, who gave him the number to Uptown Auto. The lady there said it sounded like an alternator problem. So, we called a tow truck.
The tow truck, however, would take an hour to get there. We noticed a bird chilling on the roof of a car. He didn't move for a long time.
I walked around the corner after an hour was up, and saw the tow truck. I then saw the tow truck turn around and leave the parking ramp. Apparently, the top scraped the roof on the way up. Amazingly, Tyler's car started, and he got it out to the street so it could be towed.
This is what I thought of having to ride to an Auto place in a tow truck.
The tow truck drivers were funny. They kept insulting the drivers around them. Anyway, we finally reached Uptown Auto.
Tyler's car was put in the garage.
We then got the news that it wouldn't be fixed until the next day. We spent the next few hours trying to think of what the heck to do. Meanwhile, we took a taxi to the Quest. Our driver was from Zimbabwe. Simply put, he was crazy. The topics we discussed on the way to the Quest were mainly all pertaining to sex in some way: how he thought all men should have five wives, his "f--- buddy" from South Dakota, how there were rich girls at St. Thomas, and more. He talked a little bit about drugs, and he did point out the best night clubs where you could easily get some action, if you were willing to pay for it.
We got there about an hour before doors opened. There was quite a long line, although we ended up being about at the midpoint. Some idiot lit off a huge firecracker about 10 feet away from us, and we were lucky not to get hit. One guy had 3rd degree burns on his neck. It burned right through his shirt. The security guys were flipping out trying to look for the guy who lit it off, but he was never found.
After turning down other options (hanging out in numerous hotel lobbies until we got kicked out, etc.) we decided to call his uncle, who lives about 15 miles away, and see if we could stay with him. He said that it'd work out.
Thieves Like Us was first. It was their first show, apparently. They were alright, but I wasn't blown away.
Rufio was next. I think they're decent, but I was too excited to see the Trio to really enjoy them. During their set, I managed to get up to the rail.
Finally, the Alkaline Trio came on stage. After a few technical difficulties in their first couple songs, they put on a wonderful show. I'd have to say my personal favorite part was yelling "I'D LOVE TO RUB YOUR BACK!" You Trio fans know what I'm talking about.
The kid I stood by in the front (whose head is below) was the same kid that was at the Lawrence Arms concert yelling, "Show us your tots!" Not quite sure what that was about.
After getting bitten by some stupid girl, (who I jabbed in the ribs in retaliation) almost getting my wallet stolen by a guy behind me who had his hand on it, getting kicked/hit in the head by crowdsurfers, getting rammed up against the rail by the people behind me, I decided it was time to move back.
I found the back equally as relentless, though. A guy got pushed into the bottom of my chin, and I bit down on my tongue. It hurts to talk now. About five minutes later, a different guy got pushed back at me, and the back of his head went right into the front of my mouth. Didn't feel too pleasant.
Afterward, I met up with Tyler and we waited on the curb for his uncle.
His aunt had already made our beds. It was not fun sleeping in sweat-soaked clothing (I changed my shirt, but still).
We got up the next day, ate breakfast, and then it was off to Uptown Auto once again. We kind of got lost, but regained ourselves. We saw an interesting biker on the way.
The lady at Uptown was quite helpful, and very nice. Not to mention HOT.
It was, after all, a bad alternator. Blasted cars these days. Behold this cursed piece of junk. Took a big chunk out of Tyler's wallet, also.
Since I had left Skiba in the backseat to guard the car while we were gone, I was reunited with him when we got back in the car. He did a good job guarding everything.
After a stop at Burger King on the way back, our adventure was over. And so concludes the saga of the Alkaline Trio concert.