Dumbek's Random Stuff

(Update: I changed the Black Cat link to a better URL)

I spent most of last week on the phone. Not with friends. Not with family. I had one phone in each hand, repeatedly hitting redial for 3-4 hours every night, trying to get through to DC101 for Foo Fighters tickets. I probably heard those damn tones over 500 times. For all my efforts, I got through exactly one time. The entire conversation consisted of "you'recallernumberfour(click)". However, due to the generosity of a friend, I managed to get in. I'm not sure how they did it. I don't really care. We got in.

Tickets at 8:00. Doors at 10:00. Show at 11:00. I got there just before 8:00, expecting the line to be hundreds of people long. Nope. Maybe 150 or less. I got in line right at the corner of 8th and V. Not bad. Since the show was 100% will-call and we couldn't go inside for hours (there was an early show happening), they had a rolling ticket window. The line was stationary but the window was on wheels and rolled down the line. The ticket owner showed ID and they gave you a ticket stub and a wristband. The "+1" got the same. Your "+1" isn't here yet? bzzzt. They lose. No ticket for them. You can't hold it for them. You both have to track down the ticket window later. That probably meant losing your place in line.

So we waited a while for the ticket window. It finally shows up. Lo and behold, we're not on the list. Crap. I'd been trying to not get too excited about this, knowing the potential for something to go wrong. It wasn't looking good. But it turned out we were actually on some other guest-list rather than the main list. The guest list doesn't come out until 9:30. More waiting. Getting a little stressed.

9:30 comes. The ticket window is long gone. My friend goes to find out what the deal is. My friend comes back and says "come over here". I wasn't terribly anxious to leave our spot in the line, seeing that the line is probably 800 people long by now. But I followed. It seems they started a separate line for guest-list folks. We just moved from 150th in line to about #8. Sweeeeet. However, we're not inside yet. They finally start letting people in. We get up to the guest list table. Lo and behold, we're not on the list. Stress increasing, as I'm now watching other people walk inside. We get pulled out of line and brought the the regular ticket window. A short conversation and it's all worked out. Here's your ticket. Go get your wristband. 5 minutes later we were inside. Whew. Now I'm getting excited.

Despite everything that happened, we were still probably among the first 100 people inside. We had time to hit the bathroom, grab a beer and secure our position. As of Friday morning I didn't even think I would be able to get inside. But here we are - dead center, maybe 5 people back from the rail for what may be the biggest show of the year. Ho-ly Crap.



The show was nothing short of amazing. They played just about anything I could want and then some. They pulled out a few things they said they hadn't played in years. Lots of hits (of course) and a couple of covers - including an aborted "Message In A Bottle". One of the bigger highlights was Dave jumping offstage and onto the bar on the right side of the club during "Stacked Actors". He hung out there for a while (playing the whole time) and even did a shot of Jagermeister. I'm pretty sure he even left a tip. Even rock-star-Seth made an appearance, playing drums during "Born On The Bayou." They played for nearly 2.5 hours. Yowza.



Here's the setlist:

Last Song
This is a Call
Best of You
My Hero
Learn to Fly
For All the Cows
Times Like These
Have it All
Stacked Actors
DOA
Breakout
Generator
Gas Chamber (Angry Samoans)
The One
I'll Stick Around
Message In the Bottle (The Police)
Cold Day in the Sun
Low
Hey Johnny Park
Monkey Wrench
Everlong

Aurora
In Your Honor
Born on the Bayou (Seth Hurwitz on Drums)
All My Life



Despite being so close, it was hard to take decent pictures. I was being jostled around constantly, even during the slower songs. It's been a long time since I've been up front during a fairly rowdy show. At first it was annoying, but then I realized I was just being a cranky old man and lightened up a little. Those crazy kids are just having fun. Been there. Done that. It's good to know I can still hold my own down there though. Plus, I took solace knowing that these brats wouldn't last 30 seconds in the MDC/UK Subs/Black Flag pits of my glory days. heh heh. Amateurs ;-).

So everything worked out perfectly. An amazing night. Thanks to my friend for getting me in. All-in-all, I'll say it was my 2nd favorite Foo show ever. Even most of the big-time Foo fans agree that the Black Cat 2000 show was the best Foo show of all-time. Hard to argue with that. I'll put this up as a close second though.


Clap Your Hands Say Yeah tonight.
Ambulance Ltd. Saturday.
Death Cab Sunday.