Midlake
Concerts are already the ultimate bliss, but there's just no feeling like seeing a band you love for the first time.
Getting to the Paradise was no problem. I must've been 7 years old since the last time I rode the subway, and obviously things have changed since then. There was this guy playing guitar in the station and it was like, all spacey and awesome. He was wicked cool. And then we made it to the Paradise and ended up being the first in line, which made me feel like a special dork.
Talked to a few Midlake fans. They were nice. I liked them. Haha, there was this one woman and I was just waiting for her to say where she lived because had such a Massachusetts accent. She was from "Woostah". Saw this guy who looked JUST like Tom Bentley. I only saw him for a second, but it was convincing enough that I sent him a message on Facebook to see it if was him. XD
The doors to the place opened like, half an hour late. DUMB. At least it wasn't freakishly cold or hot outside.
Bought some good concert swag. Got the green Van Occupanther shirt I saw online. I didn't get the tour shirt 'cause it would've looked awful on me. But I also got a patch for my jacket.
There were two opening acts. The first was this guy who's name I can't remember, but he played the keyboard. I liked him. I'm not gonna buy his CDs or anything, but he had a nice voice. His songs were a bit odd. I'd love to meet the bitch that must've mentally kicked him in the balls so hard. Every song was like, how he was mistreated by some chick.
And the second act was really great! I bought their CD on the way out. This chick Dawn Landes and her band (which consisted of this guy who looked like Markham on the cello) and a drummer who had a long beard and came onstage in his boxers. But they were really fun, I liked them a lot. I was a big fan of their use of the cello.
And at long last (seriously, it was like, 10:00 by this point) Midlake came onstage and fucking blew me away. They were amazing. I had a GREAT spot, (usually) right in front of the very sexy Mr. Tim Smith (who is married, I saw the wedding ring. D:). Haha, I blew through my roll of film pretty quick and I know these pictures will actually come out good because the stage isn't 5 feet off the ground.
Somewhat inaccurate setlist:
Van Occupanther
Bandits
In This Camp
Young Bride
(A new song, that I don't remember the name of)
The Jungler
Roscoe
(Some cover song or something)
We Gathered In Spring
Excited But Not Enough
Balloon Maker
Chasing After Deer
Head Home
Kingfish Pies
Branches
Highlights:
- In This Camp. I fucking love this song and it was unbelievable. Like, I don't even know what to say. It's easily one of my favorites songs ever by anyone, and live it was even a million times better than it already was.
- The new song! It was awesome! I'm really freaking excited about it. It was great. And when they played it it was cute because Tim and Eric were sitting side-by-side at the same keyboard. And it's just adorable when people do that. XD Oh man, I loved the song.
- THE JUNGLER. If I had to pick my favorite song of the night, this was it. I always liked the song, but it's been one of those ones that I tend to skip over. Not anymore. It was insane. It was so hypnotic with the drums going crazy and Tim just singing it all velvety smooth the way he does. It was GREAT.
- Roscoe. Tim doesn't play it the same way I do. I use a capo, he didn't. *shrug* But it's such a great song.
- Excited But Not Enough. This was one of the first Midlake songs I heard, and I got to feel special because Tim's like, "This song is very, very old. The real fans will know it."
- Balloon Maker and Kingfish Pies. I just love these songs and I'm so glad they did them.
- Chasing After Deer. Not gonna lie, I cried a little. It was gorgeous. It was all quiet and sad and there's just things you can only get from a song seeing it live.
- Head Home. My favorite, I was very excited.
- Branches. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. What a way to top it off.
They just all seemed like great guys. You could tell that they really love what they're doing. They were so into it. Haha, I'm happy to say I made Tim laugh by demanding a flute solo.
I met the two Erics after the show. I didn't really talk to them, but they signed my poster and they were super-nice. I wanted to hang around and meet the rest of them, but I was ushered out by a guy who worked there. :P
The only bad thing about the show was this fucking drunk chick next to me. ARGH. She'd nudge me with her elbow and smile and scream, "THIS IS GREAT. I LOVE THIS SONG. WOOOOOOO!" and just scream stupid dumb shit during any quiet moment. "PLAY ANOTHER SONG MAAAAAAAN! I LOVE THIS SONG MAAAAAAN!" She was also underage.
But, of course, because good shit usually can't happen to me without disaster, disaster happened. Sean and I ride the respective subway lines to get back to the train station, only to find that the train that the internet told me would be there, wasn't there and we'd missed the last one by like, 10 minutes. I panicked and called my dad, who drove to Boston to get us. I wish I had just taken a breath and called someone IN Boston, like Jessica Survelas or something. If we'd had somewhere to sleep, we could've taken the first train today. I felt really bad that I fucked up the trip and my dad had to rescue us. I'm so lucky that my dad is seriously the most wonderful person ever.
Along with that feeling, I won't ever forget the few homeless people we saw sleeping on benches and in corners of buildings.
It's still weighing me down, but what's done is done. I know not to trust the MBTA website's trip planner anymore, because it's the thing that told me we had a train home. Aside from bad feelings, I've got a bit of concert soreness, as well as a new bruise on my thigh from when my fucking computer chair tipped over backwards about 20 minutes ago. Stupid cheap, light thing.
But yeah, Midlake. I officially give them my #2 best live act spot, behind Gomez.
It felt weird to get out of a show so early. (Before midnight!) It feels so short when I think about it. I'm used to Gomez and several 8+ minute jams and crazy shit like that.
I feel like the whole concert just happened in the blink of an eye.
I can't wait for them to come back.
Getting to the Paradise was no problem. I must've been 7 years old since the last time I rode the subway, and obviously things have changed since then. There was this guy playing guitar in the station and it was like, all spacey and awesome. He was wicked cool. And then we made it to the Paradise and ended up being the first in line, which made me feel like a special dork.
Talked to a few Midlake fans. They were nice. I liked them. Haha, there was this one woman and I was just waiting for her to say where she lived because had such a Massachusetts accent. She was from "Woostah". Saw this guy who looked JUST like Tom Bentley. I only saw him for a second, but it was convincing enough that I sent him a message on Facebook to see it if was him. XD
The doors to the place opened like, half an hour late. DUMB. At least it wasn't freakishly cold or hot outside.
Bought some good concert swag. Got the green Van Occupanther shirt I saw online. I didn't get the tour shirt 'cause it would've looked awful on me. But I also got a patch for my jacket.
There were two opening acts. The first was this guy who's name I can't remember, but he played the keyboard. I liked him. I'm not gonna buy his CDs or anything, but he had a nice voice. His songs were a bit odd. I'd love to meet the bitch that must've mentally kicked him in the balls so hard. Every song was like, how he was mistreated by some chick.
And the second act was really great! I bought their CD on the way out. This chick Dawn Landes and her band (which consisted of this guy who looked like Markham on the cello) and a drummer who had a long beard and came onstage in his boxers. But they were really fun, I liked them a lot. I was a big fan of their use of the cello.
And at long last (seriously, it was like, 10:00 by this point) Midlake came onstage and fucking blew me away. They were amazing. I had a GREAT spot, (usually) right in front of the very sexy Mr. Tim Smith (who is married, I saw the wedding ring. D:). Haha, I blew through my roll of film pretty quick and I know these pictures will actually come out good because the stage isn't 5 feet off the ground.
Somewhat inaccurate setlist:
Van Occupanther
Bandits
In This Camp
Young Bride
(A new song, that I don't remember the name of)
The Jungler
Roscoe
(Some cover song or something)
We Gathered In Spring
Excited But Not Enough
Balloon Maker
Chasing After Deer
Head Home
Kingfish Pies
Branches
Highlights:
- In This Camp. I fucking love this song and it was unbelievable. Like, I don't even know what to say. It's easily one of my favorites songs ever by anyone, and live it was even a million times better than it already was.
- The new song! It was awesome! I'm really freaking excited about it. It was great. And when they played it it was cute because Tim and Eric were sitting side-by-side at the same keyboard. And it's just adorable when people do that. XD Oh man, I loved the song.
- THE JUNGLER. If I had to pick my favorite song of the night, this was it. I always liked the song, but it's been one of those ones that I tend to skip over. Not anymore. It was insane. It was so hypnotic with the drums going crazy and Tim just singing it all velvety smooth the way he does. It was GREAT.
- Roscoe. Tim doesn't play it the same way I do. I use a capo, he didn't. *shrug* But it's such a great song.
- Excited But Not Enough. This was one of the first Midlake songs I heard, and I got to feel special because Tim's like, "This song is very, very old. The real fans will know it."
- Balloon Maker and Kingfish Pies. I just love these songs and I'm so glad they did them.
- Chasing After Deer. Not gonna lie, I cried a little. It was gorgeous. It was all quiet and sad and there's just things you can only get from a song seeing it live.
- Head Home. My favorite, I was very excited.
- Branches. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. What a way to top it off.
They just all seemed like great guys. You could tell that they really love what they're doing. They were so into it. Haha, I'm happy to say I made Tim laugh by demanding a flute solo.
I met the two Erics after the show. I didn't really talk to them, but they signed my poster and they were super-nice. I wanted to hang around and meet the rest of them, but I was ushered out by a guy who worked there. :P
The only bad thing about the show was this fucking drunk chick next to me. ARGH. She'd nudge me with her elbow and smile and scream, "THIS IS GREAT. I LOVE THIS SONG. WOOOOOOO!" and just scream stupid dumb shit during any quiet moment. "PLAY ANOTHER SONG MAAAAAAAN! I LOVE THIS SONG MAAAAAAN!" She was also underage.
But, of course, because good shit usually can't happen to me without disaster, disaster happened. Sean and I ride the respective subway lines to get back to the train station, only to find that the train that the internet told me would be there, wasn't there and we'd missed the last one by like, 10 minutes. I panicked and called my dad, who drove to Boston to get us. I wish I had just taken a breath and called someone IN Boston, like Jessica Survelas or something. If we'd had somewhere to sleep, we could've taken the first train today. I felt really bad that I fucked up the trip and my dad had to rescue us. I'm so lucky that my dad is seriously the most wonderful person ever.
Along with that feeling, I won't ever forget the few homeless people we saw sleeping on benches and in corners of buildings.
It's still weighing me down, but what's done is done. I know not to trust the MBTA website's trip planner anymore, because it's the thing that told me we had a train home. Aside from bad feelings, I've got a bit of concert soreness, as well as a new bruise on my thigh from when my fucking computer chair tipped over backwards about 20 minutes ago. Stupid cheap, light thing.
But yeah, Midlake. I officially give them my #2 best live act spot, behind Gomez.
It felt weird to get out of a show so early. (Before midnight!) It feels so short when I think about it. I'm used to Gomez and several 8+ minute jams and crazy shit like that.
I feel like the whole concert just happened in the blink of an eye.
I can't wait for them to come back.