Apparently there’s not much we won’t do for rock n roll. Apparently there’s not much we won’t do for FREE rock n roll. Last night was proof as we stood in the rain for nearly 4 hours to hear The Killers play. And this wasn’t just “rain” - this was Rain with a capital R. Lightning, thunder, wind, fat drops, the whole bit. We weren’t alone, but we had one thing most of the people didn’t - free tickets.
Through the graciousness of work I acquired two free tickets, which we found out became real valuable because the show was sold out and heard that some had to be purchased for $60 on eBay (double the face value).
I can’t tell you the last time I was so soaked in my life, probably when I was in elementary school because this was a soaking. A soaking along the lines of having water slush around in your shoes. A soaking where your jeans were 10 lbs. heavier. A soaking where all the umbrellas and ponchos in the world didn’t make a difference. We didn’t have either, but many did and they didn’t fare any better than we did. Standing in the second row, I now know what wet humans and White Castle smells like. Mmmmm.
After we finally got into the venue we found that Louis XIV was the opening act. Surprisingly enough I had heard of Louis XIV and was actually interested in hearing them. Only a single or two of theirs have been played on local radio but at least I knew who they were, which is more than I can so for a lot of the opening bands I’ve seen. Louis XIV came out with their ass on fire ready to put on a top notch show. They got about three songs in when the fat rain got fatter. They had to stop their set right there while the crowd waited in the hard, fat rain.
I couldn’t even tell you how long it was before the music resumed. It’s a funny thing about being pissed and miserable in the rain - you’re not real concerned with quality, you just want to be done. Louis XIV may have sounded really, really bad but they sounded good to me because it was live music and almost justified why I was standing in my own puddle. But they did put on a good set even after the unplanned break. I’m listening to their songs now at their web site and I must say that I think their live performance music is better.
After they were done it was time to hear The Killers, the reason we were there. Jen and I are both Killers fans and while I pretty much know their first album by heart, their second (and most recent) album I really don’t know shy of the singles. Their set included a good mix of both albums which kept everyone very happy. They played great and put on a show good enough to make most of us forget it was raining. Eventually it stopped raining and just ended up being hot and humid, but it did help us all dry out a bit.
Unfortunately we don’t have any photos from the show because the venue prohibits cameras. Although there were people with their cameras taking shots so hopefully I can find them soon. I was a little bummed for not having my camera after seeing everyone else with theirs, but given the rain condition my camera would have been toast real fast. Oh well, I was so into the show it didn’t matter. I’ve found when I have a camera in my hand I become really obsessed with getting good shots and spend more time looking through the viewfinder than I do the actual live show.
The Killers seem to be an odd bunch of fellows. The lead singer definitely has some loose screws. His movements were extremely odd and he looked out at people that he saw but no one else did. You could see in his eyes that he was in his own little world. I think his “different” behaviour is possibly how he overcomes being in front of a huge crowd. The guitarist had apparently beat up Michael Jackson for his Captain EO jacket before the show. It was tin foil silver with all the zipper pockets and the whole bit. The entire show the guitarist looked bored as though he was thinking to himself, “my talent is SO wasted with this band,” and in his defense The Killers are not a heavy or complex guitar band, but every band needs a good guitarist.
The bassist looked like an Allman Brothers reject and didn’t do much to speak of. He barely moved from his spot. The drummer was quite possibly the hardest working man there and looked like Andy Kaufman trying to look like Jason Lee from My Name is Earl. Certainly a roundabout much of guys but they can play their music well and it sounded really good. Obviously not as polished as their album but it was far from bad.
To The Killers credit they just kept going. They played three encores and played what ended being probably and hour and a half. In the back of my head I thought they were doing it because they knew we were all waterlogged after standing in five hours of rain just to hear them. Despite all the rain the venue was packed, sold out. It’s interesting how bad conditions will bring people together. Here we all were soaked to the bone just wanting to hear some good music. It was a very sane crowd, shy of this fat chick who kept trying to squeeze her way past me to get closer to the stage. Bitch. Everyone was enjoying themselves, maybe more so because of the rain. Everyone was just like, “fuck it,” there’s not much else they can do to us so we’re going to jump, sing, and rock all night long.
We went through all that just to hear some live music. Pretty nuts and on a better day I would have given up early on in the quest, but I really wanted to see these guys and had free tickets. Sure, you think, “well it was free so if you left then you’re not out anything,” which is true, but I would have been out one hell of a good show. Had it been a band I wasn’t particularly interested in seeing I would have attempted to bail but for some reason it was all worth standing in hard, fat rain, soaked to my shorts.
