Worst Show
Up until 07/25, there was no doubt in anyones mind what the worst show of the summer was. Unfortunately, most of the usual suspects did not even attend this one. It was me, Adam , and some girl who has since never come around. The show was Gil Mantera. Let me make this particularly clear: we attended the show because of pink spandex. The picture of the band shows one of them in a pink ski suit, one of them in a pink spandex jump suit. This seems like good enough reason to attend a show, right? After two mediocre opening bands (including The City on Film, Bob Nanna from Hey Mercedes' new band), Gil takes the stage. We stay for almost one song. I actually left WITH A BEER IN MY POCKET. I couldn't even finish a beloved PBR. How upsetting.
On 07/25, we attended a metal show. An awful metal show. We should have known something was up when we asked the bounced what band was on, and he wouldn't tell us. The band we had come to see, Heads Will Roll had already played and gone home. What we were left to see was a band that made liberal use of a gong. Give me a fucking break, a gong? We were at this show for less than a half hour. That is $1 for every five minutes we were there. Talk about a fucking rip off. This metal show, however, cleared Jake's name, as Gil Mantera was his idea. (we also came to find out later that Gil Mantera shows devolve into crazy debauchery. Oh, the regret)
Winner: Nondescript Metal Show (07/25)
Runner-up: Gil Mantera's Party Dream (06/29)
Drunkest Show
I would love to say that this is an easy one to pick, but it isn't. There were alot of shows where I was somewhat drunk. The one I recall being the worst was the Streetlight Manifesto show on 06/10. It was about 100 degrees outside. There was no re-entry, and me and Seabass got there way too early. There was one window and one door, at the back of the club. A combination of the profuse sweating and copious amounts of PBR between the hours of 8p and 3a (we hung out after hours) made for a crazy, drunken night. I remember waking up at Seabass' house, my feet covered in some unknown black tar-like substance. I used the decorative soap. His wife got mad. It still makes me laugh that Seabass, the silly motherfucker that he is, has decorative soap in his house. Nancy.
The Diver show had $0.50 PBR's. Nuff said.
Winner: Streetlight Manifesto (06/10)
Runner-up: Diver (07/06)
Funniest Goings-on
The people that I did most of my show-going with this summer like to drink. They like to get rowdy and crazy and stupid (and some of them like to fall asleep at the bar). In any case, I can think of two fairly funny moments of the summer. The first one was on 07/19 at the Constantines show. It was average at best (we were attending as someone compared the Constantines to Fugazi -- give me a break!). We drank some cheap beers and stood around for a while. My friend Angie was at the show, so we were talking with her. A friend of hers came up to be and Dylan and started talking to us like he knew us. His name was Neil. As he was talking, Dylan grabbed his beer and started drinking it. He didn't force it out of his hand, or make some quick move to obtain it; he non-chalantly just took the beer as if Neil was handing it to him. Neil walked away, not seeming too mad. About five minutes later, he comes back over and says "You took my beer!". Dylan replies with "Yeah. I did." and keeps drinking it. Neil comes back with "Do you know who I am?". Now I have no fucking clue who this kid is. Maybe he is important or rich or his parents told him he was more special than the other kids. However, that is no excuse to throw the old "Do you know who I am" around. You just sound like a tool saying shit like this. Neil walks away again, doing nothing. A bit later, we are outside talking to Katie and she mentions that at one point, Neil pushed a girl. Dylan, already looking for a reason to fight this kid, calls him out on it. I break this up. The ridicule of Neil resumes when he walks outside to leave, and his truck won't start. For some reason, he comes back up to the group of people making fun of him, and THEN proceeds to call AAA. Like he wanted us to see just how big of a jackass he actually is.
The other funny event that is clear in my head is from the 07/28 Hard Lessons show at Kraftbrau. It was all going well until Dylan got cut off, and Jeremy got thrown out. I guess Jeremy, from outside, punched through a window and stole a clock. Then he came back in with the clock (this is all vague to me, I didn't know of any of this). When I heard Jeremy got kicked out, I had to let the Kraftbrau folks know that there was better beer brewed across the street . They then threw me out, telling me to go across the street, where my kind belong. I guess my kind, those of us that like good beer, don't belong at Kraftbrau. It makes sense now. In any case, I heard that someone through a pint glass at the Kraftbrau building. I don't know who it was.
Winner: Constantines (07/19)
Runner-up: Hard Lessons (07/28)
Best Show
This one was a hard one. It could have been much harder has Bear vs. Shark played longer on 08/12, and had that show not been during the day. Thinking of seeing sunlight in Mac's still gives me the shakes. However, my favorite show was the first one of the summer, Bear vs. Shark on 06/06. This show was attended by myself, Adam , Mona , and Jake . I was totally blown away by BvS's presence and talent. I had only started listening to them earlier in the day, at the recommendation of Sean . I owe him big time for that now. I listened to them for about two months straight following the show, becoming very acquainted with both their albums.
Winner: Bear vs. Shark (06/06)
Runner-up: Hard Lessons (07/28)
Band of the Summer
For me, no question, Bear vs. Shark. I listened to them most of the summer in my car, I listened to them at work, and on my iPod. I love this band to death, lyrically and musically. I can't wait for them to put something else out.
I was also introduced to the Hard Lessons this summer thanks to Adam and Dylan. They put on an awesome live show, lots of energy, and seem like cool people as well. Easily the best band I know of to have come out of Lansing. I would see them every time they come around, the show is that good.
Winner: Bear vs. Shark (06/06, 08/12)
Runner-up: Hard Lessons (06/16, 07/28, 08/18)
Thanks to all the people that made all the shows fun this summer: Adam , Alia , Dan , Dylan, Jeremy, Mona , Neil, Sam and anyone else I'm forgetting. Leave comments or don't!
Edit: And Jake
Current Music:
Turbonegro - Death from Above