They Make Beer Commercials Like This
I ended up heading to the City of Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday in order to see my new favorite band, Minus the Bear.
First, the venue. The Grog Shop was pretty much had a square floor. You have the stage set in the upper right corner, a la The Shelter except it's larger at GS. Along the bottom was the bar. To the right was where you entered and the merch tables were set up in the upper left. It also had a pretty large floor which was absolutely packed. I had never been to a show at this type of venue and seen this many people there before. I posit that it was due to the fact that they decided to skip Detroit on their tour even though Thunderbirds are Now! are from this area! What the fuck?!
It's also in Cleveland Heights which is a college town. Lynea and I did not find this out until we were leaving the city. Driving east on a dark, tree shrouded boulevard, we begun to doubt we had the right directions. That is until we made a slight turn and BAM, a mini downtown. It was kind of freaky but it was complete. Lots of high school kids walking around, stuff actually open past 9pm, a couple bars, it was quaint. And parking in their garage was only 25 cents for 40 minutes. That's cheap.
And the show? Well Tbirds went on first and they rocked out consistently. None of their songs were below 40bpm, all fast tempo. During their setup and teardown I managed to down the equivalent of one 40oz of PBR. Hooray for dirty old man beer! I skipped the second band because, well, that 40oz wouldn't be happy if I decided to get moshed around a bit.
The last band on, of course, is Minus the Bear. Ahhhhhhhhh, sweet. My only gripe is that they played about half their set with songs from their new album, which I can forgive; I understand that they are touring in support of it. I managed to take a lot of pictures of them and even a couple of movies so that you can feel as if you were there with me.
So was it a better show than the first time I saw them? Even though I didn't get to buy a replacement Minus the Bear shot glass I say yes. I loved being in a new venue, seeing a band I've been meaning to check out live, and enjoying a solid (as always) set from MtB. From a personal angle, it's also interesting to note how my being has changed since the last time I saw them back in November of 2004 but I'd rather not get into that now.
Enjoy the media.
First, the venue. The Grog Shop was pretty much had a square floor. You have the stage set in the upper right corner, a la The Shelter except it's larger at GS. Along the bottom was the bar. To the right was where you entered and the merch tables were set up in the upper left. It also had a pretty large floor which was absolutely packed. I had never been to a show at this type of venue and seen this many people there before. I posit that it was due to the fact that they decided to skip Detroit on their tour even though Thunderbirds are Now! are from this area! What the fuck?!
It's also in Cleveland Heights which is a college town. Lynea and I did not find this out until we were leaving the city. Driving east on a dark, tree shrouded boulevard, we begun to doubt we had the right directions. That is until we made a slight turn and BAM, a mini downtown. It was kind of freaky but it was complete. Lots of high school kids walking around, stuff actually open past 9pm, a couple bars, it was quaint. And parking in their garage was only 25 cents for 40 minutes. That's cheap.
And the show? Well Tbirds went on first and they rocked out consistently. None of their songs were below 40bpm, all fast tempo. During their setup and teardown I managed to down the equivalent of one 40oz of PBR. Hooray for dirty old man beer! I skipped the second band because, well, that 40oz wouldn't be happy if I decided to get moshed around a bit.
The last band on, of course, is Minus the Bear. Ahhhhhhhhh, sweet. My only gripe is that they played about half their set with songs from their new album, which I can forgive; I understand that they are touring in support of it. I managed to take a lot of pictures of them and even a couple of movies so that you can feel as if you were there with me.
So was it a better show than the first time I saw them? Even though I didn't get to buy a replacement Minus the Bear shot glass I say yes. I loved being in a new venue, seeing a band I've been meaning to check out live, and enjoying a solid (as always) set from MtB. From a personal angle, it's also interesting to note how my being has changed since the last time I saw them back in November of 2004 but I'd rather not get into that now.
Enjoy the media.