Two Concerts, One Weekend

Last Night, I went to see my favorite band, Okkervil River. I managed to start off the night with a major derp. I ended up walking many, many blocks out of my way. I thought I had parked at a different garage than I actually had, so I ended up crossing the street and going left, which was the wrong way. In fact the venue was only half a block from where I parked had I gone right.

There were a lot of hipsters at the show. I mean the concentration of them was just sort of ridiculous. When I got into the hall I found myself standing behind the most frightful hipster of them all. He met every criteria I can come up with for a hipster prototype. He was telling the guy next to him, who I don't think he actually knew, how awful religion is. It was just so pretentious. Fortunately I was shuffled to the left and out of earshot.

I try my best not to hold it against the opening acts that they aren't who I'm there to see. It was particularly hard given that I had waited almost three years to see Okkervil River. The first opening act was "Future Islands." I didn't really enjoy their set. Their lead singer was over the top ridiculous in his intensity. The 2nd opening act was "Titus Andronicus." I liked their tunes much better. Their fans wanted to most though, which I didn't particularly enjoy. I had to try my best to not smash into the girl standing next to me. Their songs did have the tendency to drag on or maybe their songs were just indistinguishable from each other. The biggest problem they had is that they weren't Okkervil River.

I was very excited once Titus Andronicus' set was finished. I knew I was minutes away from seeing my favorite band for just the 2nd time and the first time where I actually knew who they were beforehand. They came out at almost exactly 10pm.

The opening song was "White Shadow Waltz." After that I'm having a hard time remembering the exact order. Here's a rough set list. I'm pretty sure these are all the songs played, but I'm equally sure the order is wrong

White Shadow Waltz

A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene

The Latest Toughs

The Rider

Piratess

Starry Stairs

Wake and Be Fine

John Allyn Smith Sails

The Valley

No Key, No Plan*

So Come Back I Am Waiting

Your Past Life As A Blast

For Real

Our Life Is Not A Movie or Maybe

Lost Coastlines

Encore

The Rise

Westfall

Unless It’s Kicks

*Acoustic with only Will and Patrick

I really loved the set. Okkervil River is such an awesome band live. They used loads of bone rattling, eardrum bursting feedback in their set. Will Sheff played with an Electric Guitar a lot more than I've known him to do. He switched his acoustic for an electric during "So Come Back I Am Waiting" and "Lost Coastlines." Hooray for rambling swoons.

The highlight of the set for me was the Acoustic performance of "No Key, No Plan." It was just Will and Patrick.

I wasn't out of the concert hall until about a quarter till midnight. I was basically deaf, very sore and tired, but I couldn't have been happier. I had sung and danced and I didn't care about the horrified hipsters. My pics weren't brilliant, but here they are:

Okkervil River 6/11/11

Enough with that Muggle stuff though.

Today, I went to a Wizard Rock show with my Mom. Armoured Bearcub, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Lauren Fairweather and The Whomping Willows played. It was really fun. The two times I've seen these guys before it was at a house shows. Today it was definitely a different dynamic, but it was just as awesome. I'm excited to see them again in July!



The rest of the pics.

I'm really excited about Lauren Fairweather's upcoming Album, "The Prince's Tale." Everytime I hear a new track from the album, I'm amazed. I think that it may become the standard for Wizard Rock. You'd better believe I've got that sucker pre-ordered.

The Akron-Summit County Public Library is definitely the coolest Library I've every been to. I wish it wasn't such a long trip away. I didn't even get to explore it that much, but I could tell it would totally awesome to have as a local library.


That's about all about my weekend. My ears are still ringing from Saturday night. I'm pretty exhausted and kind of sore all over. I don't really care though, because it was the best weekend I've had in a very long time.

Thanks for reading

-Michael