columbia: quietdrive

i was having a really shitty night on tuesday. the amount of homework was piling up and the reality of finals week quickly approaching was really stressing me out. not to mention i drove to campus and waited at the library for an hour for my debate partner who never showed... so i said "fuck it" and texted my friend tabitha who i knew was in town for the quietdrive show. fortunately, there was plenty of time for me to still make it in time. so i ran home, dropped off my stuff and drove on over to mojo's.

the crowd was sparse, which surprised me. you would think that i'd be used to the fact that no one goes to shows anymore, and no one really cares about bands anymore (i'm not bitter). but whatever. the small group of us that were there enjoyed ourselves, and i got the chance to talk to kevin, the lead singer, afterwards and we traded stories about our many mutual fan friends and band friends alike. the two other times i've seen quietdrive have been at large venues and festivals so it was nice being able to chat for a bit. i bought their newest ep and left a happy camper. it was a super last minute decision, but it was a good one.

setlist:

call me up
jessica
believe
motivation
take a drink
maybe misery
birthday
just my heart
let me go
it's a shame
time after time (cover)
rise from the ashes

it was neat seeing a band i've been a fan of since my early high school years, and even cooler to finally have a chance to talk with them. if you're into pretty basic pop rock, definitely check these guys out. they make some really solid and catchy tunes and it's great for summer drives with the windows down.

www.myspace.com/quietdrive
www.twitter.com/quietdrivemusic

milwaukee: summerfest + lots of shenanigans

what an amazing weekend. i could go on forever, but i'll try to just hit the highlights. i left around eight on saturday and headed towards milwaukee. i have the worst luck it seems, and it rained for almost the whole drive. i made pretty good time though and decided to just meet everyone at the hotel instead of at the summerfest grounds. this was a relief because it saved some parking money and some stress of trying to actually find my way down there alone. all in all, i think it only took me about six and a half hours to get there. sweet deal.

the lovely chelsey foster was working for summerfest so michele, amanda and i got free tickets from her at the gate. we met up with the other group, said excited hellos after having not seen each other in an ENTIRE YEAR, and made our way to the us cellular stage. a cool band from norway called katzenjammer was playing, and oh boy. let me tell you. these girls were bad ass. we weren't really sure what to think at first. it definitely wasn't your average rock and roll. these girls had some crazy voices and even weirder instruments. a huge three string bass with a cat face painted on it, an accordion, a banjo, and a mandolin, not to mention their crazy outfits and hair. well we went from being pretty weirded out to floored. they were GOOD. after that was dear and the headlights. i've heard of them before and really enjoyed their set. by this time "our people" were arriving left and right. unfortunately i didn't get a chance to talk to many people due to general craziness, but mike and phil from treaty of paris were spotted, tony of state and madison and mike wearing his lovely sea foam green shirt. urbanites were up next and they played a great set as usual. really enjoyed their music and i can't wait to see them at cicero's next week. cavashawn was up next after them and they sounded fantastic as well. they all seemed to really be enjoying themselves and it was one of the best sets i've seen them play, despite the kind of stoic crowd. didn't get a chance to talk to scott or chris, but benton and jesse said they both really enjoyed themselves. jesse's facial expressions were absolutely killing me.

after that, we left our [absolutely great front row] spots and walked around for a bit. we came back and caught the end of quietdrive which was great. i'd forgotten how much i love seeing them live, and it was neat to see them with a huge crowd. details are fuzzy at this point, but i believe we finally found some dinner and headed over to see jet. i guess i suck at keeping up with foreign bands because i had no idea jet was so popular. amanda, michele and i were debating how long we wanted to stay since we wanted to see a little bit of anberlin, and right when we were trying to make up our minds they played are you gonna be my girl. well that was all any of us really needed to hear. such a surreal experience hearing that song live. so when it was over, we headed back to see the end of anberlin's set. i'm not a big anberlin fan, but holy crap did they put on one hell of a show. makes me wish i knew more of their songs. it was also pretty cool to see a bunch of our friends on the big screens since they had waited it out all day and kept their front row seats.

[me, amanda, nikki, chelsey, sam, meesh, and addy]

we finally regrouped and headed back to the hotel, where everyone went a little bit insane, i do believe. michele, amanda, chelsey and me were in one room. sam, nikki, annie, alex, and addy were in the next room adjoined to us. all of us were laughing and cracking jokes and saying ridiculous things and about to pee our pants. oh man. good times. alex finally got back maybe a half an hour after we did since mike had gotten her in to see jack's and the fray. and she informed us that anberlin was staying at our hotel. ANBERLIN at OUR hotel. well we all freaked the fuck out and had some pretty crazy fan girl moments. composure was quickly regained though and we all laughed about how ridiculous we were. everyone finally crashed at around three thirty and got up at nine thirty. zombie shuffled down to breakfast, took a shower, said goodbyes and i think i was on the road by around eleven. the first hour was really rough, but i stopped for some red bull and that helped a lot.

what a weekend. i really hope it's not another year before we're all together again. as for now, i'm in st. louis for a few days. went to six flags yesterday with a bunch of friends and had a great time riding rides. bought an acoustic guitar today in hopes of teaching myself how to play. my dad flipped a shit so now i REALLY need to learn, just to spite him. also got my hair cut today. it's short. really short, like at my shoulders. i haven't had hair like this in years. but it's summer and it's hot and i'm lazy. and it'll grow out sooner or later. i like it though, it'll just take some getting used to. friday i'm going to indianapolis to meet up with amanda and see cavashawn who is playing the vip lounge before paramore and no doubt. jesse was kind enough to get us in, so that should be a lot of fun. i love last minute decisions.