Post by kellbells on Aug 11, 2010 20:28:07 GMT -5
Random thoughts about the Raleigh show this past Monday night.
Raleigh was a totally sweet and new venue in the heart of downtown. Our seats were 7th row dead center which I got in the IM presale, not VIP ones. They were phenomenal.
The crowd skewed pretty young though all ages were there. The venue did not wrist band people for over/under 21. The place looked nearly full by the time the GGD came on stage, maybe half or so for Switchfoot. I am now a Switchfoot convert. Loved their energy. Loved loved loved Mess of Me and the Tom Petty cover especially.
The audience a$$hole quotient was very low. I don't know if Raleigh just has a nicer caliber of concert goers but other than a few of your regulation drunks it was a great and friendly crowd. No fighting, no boob flashing, no pukers. Just people totally into and very appreciative of the music. We made fast friends with all the people around us.
Same set list as other recent shows. I am bad photographer and a gawd awful singer so I have no pictures or videos with my voice jacking up the pretty music. The GGD just brought song after song, played so tightly, and sounded so good. John played the guitar a lot. That made me really happy. His voice sounded great. I knew I wasn't going to hear Flat Top as an encore
but I was completely unprepared for how much the performance of Not Broken blew me away. 
Robby gave Mike a hard time about his buzzcut. I like it. John commented that Mike does everything he can to make himself look like he is not in a band. A kid turned 16 and John wished him happy birthday by the wrong name. And apologized. The kid was beside himself with the shout out.
One sorta weird moment. John went to use a mic that went dead somewhere during the Broadway encore. When he realized it wasn't working, he heaved it across the stage and looked scary pissed off for most of the remainder of the song. Perfectionist I guess?
He pulled it back together though at the very end and also when they all came to the front of the stage to say thank you and goodnight. 
Not that it mattered but I could take or leave the set & lights. I will say it was a big improvement over that trio of Rorschach ink blots they had later in the LLI tour. I thought those things looks ants crawling around a vagina which probably tells you more than you need to know about me. The band's bus was directly behind the stage which you could plainly see when the groups were switching out. It looked like it might be pretty easy to go back to meet the band which is where many of our new friends headed after the show. I hope they got their wish.
I almost didn't go to this concert. I saw the band early on the spring tour and they were fucking amazing. When I left that show I thought if I never get to see this band again, I've gone out on a high note. I saw them at the end of the LLI tour when John's voice was shot to shit and the GGD were slightly less than their wonderful awesomeness.
Not sure why I was being so fatalistic but I'm really glad I didn't go with that plan.
Raleigh was a totally sweet and new venue in the heart of downtown. Our seats were 7th row dead center which I got in the IM presale, not VIP ones. They were phenomenal.
The crowd skewed pretty young though all ages were there. The venue did not wrist band people for over/under 21. The place looked nearly full by the time the GGD came on stage, maybe half or so for Switchfoot. I am now a Switchfoot convert. Loved their energy. Loved loved loved Mess of Me and the Tom Petty cover especially.
The audience a$$hole quotient was very low. I don't know if Raleigh just has a nicer caliber of concert goers but other than a few of your regulation drunks it was a great and friendly crowd. No fighting, no boob flashing, no pukers. Just people totally into and very appreciative of the music. We made fast friends with all the people around us.
Same set list as other recent shows. I am bad photographer and a gawd awful singer so I have no pictures or videos with my voice jacking up the pretty music. The GGD just brought song after song, played so tightly, and sounded so good. John played the guitar a lot. That made me really happy. His voice sounded great. I knew I wasn't going to hear Flat Top as an encore
but I was completely unprepared for how much the performance of Not Broken blew me away. 
Robby gave Mike a hard time about his buzzcut. I like it. John commented that Mike does everything he can to make himself look like he is not in a band. A kid turned 16 and John wished him happy birthday by the wrong name. And apologized. The kid was beside himself with the shout out.
One sorta weird moment. John went to use a mic that went dead somewhere during the Broadway encore. When he realized it wasn't working, he heaved it across the stage and looked scary pissed off for most of the remainder of the song. Perfectionist I guess?
He pulled it back together though at the very end and also when they all came to the front of the stage to say thank you and goodnight. 
Not that it mattered but I could take or leave the set & lights. I will say it was a big improvement over that trio of Rorschach ink blots they had later in the LLI tour. I thought those things looks ants crawling around a vagina which probably tells you more than you need to know about me. The band's bus was directly behind the stage which you could plainly see when the groups were switching out. It looked like it might be pretty easy to go back to meet the band which is where many of our new friends headed after the show. I hope they got their wish.
I almost didn't go to this concert. I saw the band early on the spring tour and they were fucking amazing. When I left that show I thought if I never get to see this band again, I've gone out on a high note. I saw them at the end of the LLI tour when John's voice was shot to shit and the GGD were slightly less than their wonderful awesomeness.
Not sure why I was being so fatalistic but I'm really glad I didn't go with that plan.
