My experiences at the show!
Okay, I've never written a review before, I don't think I wanna call this
a review, it's more like a story of what happened (to me specifically) at this
show. Okay, so here we go! I arrived downtown at about 8:30pm, after my friend
Whitney had insisted that we go through the Taco Bell drive through, and we ended
up waiting for 10 minutes in line behind some idiots who passed the food back
like 12 times. So finally I park my car, and Whitney realizes that her ticket
was in her car which was parked at my house. So I lend Whit my car to drive and
get her ticket. As we do the car switch, I recognized Jeff in the parking lot.
In the mean time, Jason and I walk around the corner from Graphix to
Palookaville, and who do I see? Achilles sporting his purple hair. So After
a brief "Hello, how's it going?" from him, Jason and I sit down on the side
walk. When Whit returns with my car, we enter Palookaville.
I had decided it was a goal of mine to get the HUGE Blindspot poster that
was in the door of Palookaville.(okay, okay, so call me an obsessed fan, maybe
I am!!!) So by the end of the night, at whatever costs I would be taking it home
with me. I believe the music started around 9:30pm, when 78 rpm's played. In my
opinion they were quite good.
After they played, I went and found Achilles again, and asked him if he could
do a favor for me. He said it depended on what it was. I asked him if he could get
that GIANT poster for me, he said he could try, but security wouldn't even let the
band itself have it. I told him I thought that was dumb. Well, at this time, I was
looking for Jeff again, because in an e-mail, he had told me not to be shy, and that
I should introduce myself(like I did to Achilles at the June 11th show)...but after
the parking lot, I hadn't seen him all night. So I asked Achilles if he's seen Jeff
around, and what do you know, as soon as I said it, he walked right over. I introduced
myself, and he shook my hand. Prior to the show (like a week ago I think) I had asked
Jeff if the band would Play "Burly Man", after all, it's one of my very favorite songs
of theirs. He had told me something along the lines of that the band doesn't like to
play it much anymore, but he'd see what he could do in convincing them to play it for
me. So I asked Jeff if they were gonna play Burly, and he said yes. Wow, that alone
was just gonna make my day/night whatever! Jeff then said he would love to sit and
chat, but he had to go help set up or something. So I said good bye.
Next up were the Readymen, who I must admit were a LOT better than the last time
I heard them play (with Undercover S.K.A. and Blindspot back in March of '98).
They put on a very decent show this time-last time I was quite disappointed with
them. As soon as they finished, my friend Jason and I went and stood where we knew
the horn section would be playing during Blindspot...It's become a tradition of mine,
each time I've seen Blindspot I've been standing in front of the horn section. So
we reserved our spots.
Before we knew it, Blindspot was coming on-stage, and boy did they look smart all
dressed up with black pants, white dress shirts, funny plaid/checkered coats and
black shoes! I love it when bands dress up. Blindspot put on the BEST show I've ever
seen them play, they played almost all of my favorite songs-the only one they were
missing was "Fenced". Here's what the set list reads...what is in ( ) did not actually
appear on the set list!!!
- 'Thieves
- Acceleration Zero
- Carp (not to be mistaken as Card!!!)
- Burly Man (Oh yeah!!!!! boy was I happy!)
- Of Course (they said it was a new song)
- Love Song (which is actually "Tell Me")
- VF
- Zaxxon
- Fly (the Fly)
- Believe (I want to believe)
- King (King Of the Mountain)
- Hux (Dr. Hux--during this song, David was letting people sing into the mic,
and I squirmed my way over to that side of the stage and sang a couple lines
into the mic)
- Surf
- Wendy
- Misfit
- Rockabilly
- So Much (S.R. Sexin'---if I'm not mistaken I think the S.R. stands for Santa Rosa???)
- Out Of Time (that's a great song!!!)
- Maude (This one has great horns!!)
For the encore, some girl next to me had asked for the numbers song
(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12), so they played that (after David took his shoes off,
and some other band members(if I'm not mistaken I think it was Kim) suggested we
take our shoes and pants off!)
During Maude David came down off the stage, and said we should start a Congo line.
So he was leading it, and I hopped in right behind him, and had my hands on his
shoulders. Before the encore, after they had left the stage, I grabbed the set list
(I also have the June 11th one) and the empty water bottle that Achilles had left right
in front of me on the stage...(see my friend Jason and I have this little water bottle
collection, it started at the SPECIALS concert in March of this year. I was in front of
Neville and he gave me a water bottle (full), and I took it back and shared it with Ethan
and Jason (who's idolizes Neville) and I gave it to Jason to cherish forever. Well the
guys in Blindspot are my gods, so I kept this empty bottle to cherish forever.) When they
came back on-stage, Achilles had a new water bottle, and after drinking some he put it
down in front of me, and I took it, then he told me to share it, so I drank some, Jason
drank some, then we passed it on...I already had my one bottle to cherish.
After the encore, I tried to bribe a security guard for the HUGE poster on the door,
but he said no. So Jason and I went out to my car briefly, and my god!! My friends Whitney,
KT and Steph had gone out and found at least 20 Blindspot posters around town and had
plastered my car with them! Including one sticking outta my little gas tank flippy lid
thingy. So we all went back and found another security guard, and bribed him for the
poster, and he ended up selling it to us. So I was totally stoked!!! I tell you now,
that poster has a happy home right above my bed! So I found Jeff again and told him
we got the poster and I told him that they did a great job tonight and thanked him
for playing Burly Man. My friends introduced themselves to him at this time as well.
He said he had to go and finish packing up their stuff, so I talked to Achilles briefly again.
I told him that I got the poster and asked when they were coming back to Santa Cruz, and
(drum roll please!!!!!)........He said probably in September they'd play here with Slow Gherkin.
I then told Achilles to have fun on their tour, and he said he'd try. Okay, the end!!!!
Well, not quite I proceeded to drive home with my windows down, blasting Blindspot
music, and having the poster sticking outta my gas tank flippy lid thingy. As we
drove I shouted at random people "Blindspot Kicks Ass!!!". I was just slightly hyped after
the show! Yes, so that's my little story. Hope you enjoyed. And whatever you do, at
whatever costs, if there's a Blindspot show in your area, you better get off you lazy
little butt and go see them, you will not be disappointed!!!