Dashboard Diary: concert

Showing posts with label concert. Show all posts

Tunesday: Local Live Music Lately

Feb 25, 2014

Over the last week, we have experienced our fair share of live music.

Thank youuuuuu Jesus, it's been a while.

We were able to enjoy the tunes of Lord Huron, Dr. Dog, anddddd Neutral Milk Hotel.

. . . and Typhoon is coming soon!

We started off on our own little concert series with a sold-out show downtown at The Majestic.

. . . hard to believe that a little band from Ruston, Louisiana that hasn't toured in over ten years could sell out a pretty large venue in Dallas.

Neutral Milk Hotel has been topping Josh's to-do list for a while.

Mine, not so much.

I do enjoy their music, but prior to this concert I wasn't the biggest fan.

Needless to say, I was converted.

This band has so much history and charm.

Josh had me read this article before the concert. and I must admit I was pretty excited to witness the band in action.

I was so fascinated by everything.

From listening to the whispers of the middle ages hardcore fans from the early 90's to observing the interaction of the band with each other and the crowd.

I think the most captivating part of the show was the pure excitement of the band themselves.
You could tell they were genuinely glad to be back and so very overwhelmed by all the support from the fans.

The band requested that no photos be taken (which I admired-it was very "enjoy the moment without your face being stuck behind an iPhone"-much like the Lumineers) but nevertheless I had to snap a quick one.

Recommended songs: King of Carrot Flowers & Oh Comely

Video Recap of our Gorge Experience

Jan 22, 2014

I forgot that I took quite a few videos from our time at The Gorge last summer.

In case you don't remember, that trip was one of the highlights of our lives.

I blabbed about it for weeks.

You can catch up via photos and funny stories here and go here to see more from our time in Seattle.
If that sounds absolutely terrible and time consuming, then just watch this little recap:

A Weekend with Dave at The Gorge Amphitheater

Sep 11, 2013

One of my favorite places in the country is the Gorge Amphitheater.

One of my favorite bands in the world is the Dave Matthews Band.

Combining the two (plus 5 boys plus The Head and The Heart and Lord Huron on the side) surely made for a fantastic weekend.

We spent Labor Day weekend galavanting around Seattle for a few days, and then we loaded up in our sexy mini van rental car and headed east.

For the first part of our northwest adventure go here.

We assumed our rental car would have a roof rack, so we packed a rooftop cargo carrier to stuff camping gear and luggage into.

What were we thinking.

No roof rack.

Six people, six suitcases, five sleeping bags (Bart didn't pack one?), an eight man tent, six chairs, food for four days, and enough beer for five boys still trying to relive the college glory days.

We were stuffed to the brim, but we made it.

Needless to say, the car was a lot less loaded down on the ride home.

Nearly every bite of food was demolished, and the beer disappeared quick (of course).

Home sweet home.

Mike's Sweetwater frisbee was vital throughout the pre-show downtime.

Our view from the campsite was pretty glorious.

The walk from the campsite to the venue was a bit taxing, but the weather and the view along the way and the weather made it worthwhile .

I was apparently really into taking photos with the glare of the sun.

The boys brought a little love from our wedding (and the PBR gave me flashbacks)

In case you missed the story behind our wedding koozie's, go here!

Lord Huron and The Head and The Heart were fantastic, and Dave and the boys (of course) were incredible.

Sorry, iPhone pics only.

Mornin' partner.

This is Mikey.

My brother.

Also the guy who randomly, in a moment of deep contemplation, asked "Y'all, what exactly is a booger?"

Even though we bought breakfast food, we ended up having some pretty fantastic neighbors who made coffee and bagels each morning.

We sought shade most afternoons, but we couldn't complain about the weather.

The "heat" in Washington has nothing on August in Texas.

Day two at the show was a blast.

. . . so we took senior pics.

Gorge Yoga Love.

Bags didn't quite make the group photo.

He was napping.

He was also the one who said "The beauty of this place just makes me want to throw up."

Kinda loved this license plate.

The neighbor's tent was quite a hit as well.

On our final night there, we chose seats in the shade at the top of the hill overlooking the venue and the Columbia River Gorge.

(We are way past the days of trying to get there early and race to the stage only to get gut punched and have our hair pulled in order to be a foot closer to Dave.
Kidding, actually the hardcore Dave fans up close are really nice.)

Before the show started, we sat around talking for a while and ultimately developed a five year plan.

We each agreed that we all had to end up living in the same city in the next five years.

As we each threw out random "fun" cities, someone in the group casually mentioned that it truly wouldn't matter what city we chose, as long as we were all there.
ehhh, Detroit?

The highlight of the weekend was probably the moment Josh said this (which may not have been his most sober moment of the weekend):

"Honestly, all I want is to be able to wake up Christmas morning, look at the mantle, and see stockings with the names Mike, Marsh, Bart, Bags, Em, and Charles."

As cheesy as that was, it nearly made me tear up.

These are our friends from all walks of life; some of Josh's high school friends, our college friends, and my brother, yet we all seem like we've known each other our whole lives.

Josh later told me (in what would probably be the most feelings I've ever heard from this man's mouth in his life) that on that Sunday night at The Gorge he was the happiest he has ever been.

He said he was in his absolute favorite place with all of his favorite people.

He said he couldn't imagine adding anyone or subtracting anyone from the group, and that it was truly each of his very best friends.

This trip will definitely go down in the books as one of our favorite of all time.

. . . on a lighter note, after not showering for four days, and wearing the exact same outfit for that entire time, how did he manage to still look hot?

(and kinda like a boy from One Direction)

Speaking of showering, another one of my favorite quotes from the weekend was this:

Marsh: "Whats the rules with showers in the place?"

Josh: "If God wanted you to shower he would make it rain with shampoo clouds.

One last thing that can't go without being mentioned:
THE setlist game

Anytime Josh and I go to a Dave Matthews weekend show, after the first night's concert we always try to predict the songs for the next night.

Even though he is truly the "bigger fan" (he's seen over 35 shows) I still beat him from time to time.
Night two: I won
Night three: He won
Marriage.

NYC: The Governor's Ball Music Festival

Jul 29, 2013

Last month we went to New York to surround ourselves with the magic that is live music and great festival food.

(In case you missed part one of our trip to New York go here!)

We've had experience with music festivals all over the country, but this particular one was probably the most challenging one yet.

Three reasons:

1) Tropical Storm Andrea

2) The fact that the festival was on an island and transportation to and from the island was very limited

3) Tropical Storm Andrea

Day 1 in a nutshell:

Thanks to some silly tropical storm that decided to drop in, we spent most of Friday evening soaking wet.

Most of the bands had to cancel their shows that night (but thankfully they were able to reschedule throughout Saturday and Sunday)

Thankfully we enjoyed Local Natives before the monsoon picked up too much.

Day 2 in a nutshell:

I was thankful for the encouragement provided by this sign.

Side note:

The "You're Doing Great" stage was on a driving range.

Ordinarily this would be awesome.

Due to the tropical storm plus a bazillion people stompin around in the mud, golf balls seemed to rise from the ground like zombies.

It was kinda awesome at first, then it just got annoying.

Seeing Edward Sharpe and the gang play "Om Nashi Me" made me cry.

Why?

The day we got engaged Josh told me that was the one and only song that he demanded play some part in our wedding.

It became the song that played as we exited the ceremony as man and wife.

Now you can go listen to it and cry too.

We also got to see Dirty Projectors that day too!

Josh and Bart were basking in all of the glory that comes with VIP-ness.

(See what I did there?)

Marsh and I were just measly peasants on the other side of the fence.

(Temporarily at least, we got sneaky)

Reunited.

At last.

Is it ironic that we often "rinsed" our feet off using a mud puddle?

Day 3 in a nutshell:

Seeing Beirut was lovely.

We also so Animal Collective.

Meh.

Seeing The Avett Brothers was phenomenal, as always.

Highlights:

Seeing Beirut for the first time

Going absolutely nuts with The Avett Brothers (instead of watching Kanye West with the rest of the world)

Eating snowcones while enjoying The Lumineers

. . . who did an awesome cover of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and a CCR cover of “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” and then had a little children's choir from New York come out to join them in singing Ho Hey and Stubborn Love
(Yes, all of the above)

. . . so maybe the mud and rain and dirty feet truly wasn't all thaaaaaaat bad after all

To see more from our musical festival adventures go here:
Lollapalooza 2010 & Lollapalooza 2012, Austin City Limits and that time we met Justin Vernon, Mile High, Rothbury, JazzFest, and Sasquatch