Utica, NY 10-21-11!!

[nmf]

Hey guys! I thought I'd write a Utica review!! Oh, what? It was cancelled? And we were only told an hour before doors opened? John's sick? And it's probably totally a head cold even though the man will play with pneumonia and was fine 2 days ago? And it has nothing to do with public meltdowns? And everyone will totally be okay to board a fucking plane to Europe tomorrow morning? Okay then.

But seriously, I arrived in Utica and did a venue drive by before working out parking. The buses were parked right out front. Got the message a couple minutes later that the show was cancelled.

A lady from the Stanley box office was making personal calls to people who were travelling long distances to tell them about the cancellation just minutes after the band tweeted their cancellation, which was totally awesome and beyond their responsibility. She called my house so I obviously wasn't the one to talk to her, but she told the person who did answer that 'the lead singer was sick' and gave information on refunds and the rescheduled date. Since she was an employee of the venue, she had access to more information beyond 'someone in the band is sick' so I am going to believe that she knew which member of the band it was.

The likelihood of me attending the rescheduled date is next to nil so this is probably the only review I will be giving for this show.

[HereIsGone]

To be honest, I was worried about his state after having that tweet-fest with whatsherface. Ugh.

At least the venue box office was cool. Today (well, now it's officially yesterday) sucks ass. It can go to hell.

[kellbells]

That just bites for you and everyone else to have the thing cancelled so late in the evening. The explanation sounds pretty sketch. WTF is going on? People who soak their edit functions in solvent should stay away from twitter.

Hope there is some way you can make the rescheduled concert date.

[nmf]

I think I could make the rescheduled date but I'm just not going to. I took off a vacation day yesterday, used a full tank of gas as this was the furthest show for me and I paid quite a bit in NYS Thruway tolls so I'm more bitter than it just being a show down the road. It's also been pushed into 'snow is a definite possibility' season. I know others had it worse than me (like 5 hour drives and flights) but I have already lost a lot of money on this cancelled date. I have some time to submit for refunds so we'll see...

I don't want to be angry. People get sick sometimes and I don't want or expect anyone to perform while seriously ill. But given the actions of the band and the actions of one specific member who the cancellation was blamed on, I don't think anyone had the stomach flu.. I believe one of the two following things and neither of them are good reasons for a cancellation of one show with an hour's notice.

1. The band rescheduled two shows to fly over to the UK for the NFL pre-game. They decided that a seven minute performance in front of a bunch of football fans was more important than their prior commitments and had no real regard for the people whose plans they screwed with. At the last minute yesterday, they decided they needed more travel or rest time and rescheduled Utica. If this is the case, they should have considered that when they rescheduled the other two shows and tried to minimize the number of people they fucked over.

2. The Twitter meltdown. I'm not a doctor and I do not know anyone in the band and I don't generally want to discuss something like this about someone, but anyone can see that a certain member of the band has been seeking out public fights, which is not something he has ever done before. And if something is causing shifts in his behavior to the point that he arrives at shows unable to perform, then I'm not going to be angry but I'm going to be concerned. Because that issue is not something that will be fixed by cancelling one show, hopping on a plane to the UK, and continuing to tour.

[kellbells]

I'd be inclined to go with your #2 with equal parts anger and concern being warranted and not mutually exclusive.

Still blows to have to cut your losses.

[kellbells]

Its a little on the passive aggressive side but there are some bits of funny and kernels of truth:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmJmC1wqs6Y

[nmf]

I laughed so much. Loved that, it's getting saved.

[kellbells]

Thought you might like it.