So last night was pretty beyond fantastic.
And it was my very first acoustic show.
And it was fantastic.
First, we left Gainesville ~4:30 and got to Orlando a couple minutes before 6. That means great driving time. Then, we just so happened to have parked behind what I’m almost positive was Andy’s van. [Yeah, we’re on a first name basis. Ha, kidding, ya’ll probably are too, he’s an awesome guy.]
When we headed for the line several yards away, barely anyone was there. Maybe 12 people in front of us? Doors opened at 7:30 so I guess it was still kinda early, but that’s how we like it.
Come door-opening time, turns out more than half the people in front of us had their tickets at will call or hadn’t bought them yet, so I walk inside and see a beautiful, unoccupied front ‘row’. I, love, The Social. I run down the stairs and situate myself where my arms lay comfortably between a couple of the amps on stage. There were three guitars in their stands waiting to be strummed, just a couple of feet away from me.
It was going to be a great night.
Around 9, Robert [from MO] picked up his guitar and sat down on a stool, and began to play. Minutes before, one of the tech dudes taped his lyrics on an amp because of [or at least I think so] what happened at The Stuffing last week when he forgot his songs and had to refer to one as ‘That Song’, or played Nice Things over and over [and where Chris’ glorious act happened over and over hahaha]. I don’t have Gobotron’s setlist, but I know it included [not in order] Nice Things, a cover of Liz Phair’s Fuck and Run, Empty, Got It!, and Never Turn Around. He also shushed the crowd at one point. It was brilliant.
Kevin Devine was next. And what he had prepared for us, no one could imagine. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. He joked, and made up a song from someone’s yell [something like ‘cagaga’?], but above all, played songs I’ve been yearning to hear live. Setlist [in order]: a new song [note ‘11.09.10’ on his Facebook page], Tapdance, Brooklyn Boy, Another Bag of Bones, Longer That I’m Out Here, She Stayed As Steam, Carnival, Yr Damned Ol’ Dad, interjection for a story about the Beatles’ Blackbird here [video soon to come], Ballgame, Brother’s Blood. I dunno about you guys, but Tapdance is one of my favorite KD songs. Live, it’s a million times better. I was so blessed to hear that last night, jeez. The incredible thing is — even if it’s one of my favorites — I’m not very familiar with the lyrics. But when he was singing it, all of a sudden, the words just flowed out of my mouth. It was sick!
Oh yeah and then Andy Hull came on stage, Robert came back too, and they all played freakin’ COTTON CRUSH. WHAT. [I have a video of this too, I’ll post it sometime.]
So after that awesome yelling kicking and screaming song, the duo/trio starting played Bad Books music. Setlist [in order]: Holding Down The Laughter; Baby Shoes; Mesa, AZ; You Wouldn’t Have To Ask; Please Move. AWESOMENESS. [I’m going to start running out of adjectives, if I haven’t already.] And, Andy’s joke of the night: what’s the difference between a baby and a bag of cocaine? … Eric Clapton wouldn’t drop a bag of cocaine out the window.
Then KDev and Gobo left, so Andy was the only one left on stage. Which means he and his beautiful voice were about to own The Social, North Orange Street, and the entire city of Orlando. Heck, even all of Florida. Setlist [in order]: Wolves At Night, I Can Barely Breathe, Shake It Out, a new Manchester Orchestra song that will be on their upcoming album Simple Math [I also have this in video form], 50 Cent, Rotten Black Root, Colly Strings, The Only One, 100 Dollars, Where Have You Been?, The River.
I wish I had recorded I Can Barely Breathe because – since this was an acoustic show – Andy played it with just his guitar, so it was in an arrangement I had never heard before. And it was so beautiful. I almost cried. Also, if you hadn’t noticed, I listed that he played Colly Strings which is always incredible live, as well as Where Have You Been?. Ahhhhhh so great.
After the show, my friends and I waited around for Kevin and Andy, well because, we always do. Caroline and I have met Andy once before, 01.27.08 in West Palm Beach, where he gave me an awesome bear hug [and possibly a fist bump? I don’t remember], and we’ve met Kevin on 3 separate occasions. He claims to remember us. It’s fantastic. Anyway, right before security was about to kick us all out because of curfew, the singers heard our cries and came out [no Gobo, though]. Kevin signed people’s tickets and took pictures with fans, while Andy chatted it up with some dudes. Finally, our ‘turn’ came, and Kevin was busy so I started talking to Andy. I told him I was at The Stuffing, that it was great seeing him again, and that I loved his ICBB arrangement [he gave me a fist bump for that]… then I brought up Twitter. I don’t remember how, but he definitely took that by the horns, talking about how much he hates Owl City and how he really does know who I am because of when I said “last tweet, promise”. After some more inspirational words, I asked if we could get a picture with him and Kevin, so we all got an eeeexcellent group picture that will be up in probably about a month. It’s on Caroline’s camera and she doesn’t have her computer connection cord and I’m going to bug her to post the picture until she does it. So no worries.
Then I started talking to Kevin, and asked him to sign a picture I printed out of Caroline and me with him at the last show we saw [before The Stuffing: 07.02.2010, with Lex!]. As he signed it, I brought up Twitter again, because that seemed to be such a hot topic with Andy haha. I told him I was in Atlanta and was the one who videotaped Thanklin Franklin and Mesa, AZ, and he said he remembers RTing those two tweets of mine. I was about to thank him for singing Tapdance, but then a guy [who may had been talking to him before me] interjected about trying to get together a Ft. Lauderdale fanbase. Caroline and I looked at each other, because whaddya know, that’s where we’re from! We said this out loud, but he looked unimpressed. He then went on to say that he’d also like to see him in Gainesville, and – yes, you know where this is going – Caroline and I looked at each other again and went “WHOAAA, we’re from Gainesville!” This time the guy looked suspiciously at us. No, we’re not pulling your tail, buddy. We do live here.
Kevin then began talking again about how he had been to the 1982 bar once in ‘08 and would love to go back to Gainesville. So Gainesvillians, consider yourselves warned.
It was time to go so I said bye to KDev, re-thanked Andy, and we went on our merry way.
I still find it funny that we had seen these three guys less than two weeks before, in a different state. So great, how life lets you do these things, amiright?
