This may be a long post, but you should read the whole story since you never know when I will post again!Two years ago,
RoopDogg talked me into joining him for a Counting Crows/Goo Goo Dolls concert in Massachusetts. I knew very little about the Counting Crows except for two songs I had on my computer. In fact, I was more interested in seeing the Goo Goo Dolls that particular evening since I knew about 5-6 of their songs.
Over the past two years,
RoopDogg has successfully converted me into a huge Counting Crows fan. Their music is fantastic, and they put on a great concert. It also probably helped that when we went to
their concert in Hartford last year, there was open seating and we found a place to stand where we could almost touch the stage.
Well, needless to say,
RoopDogg did not have to twist my arm to make the trek back out to Mansfield, MA for a Counting Crows/Maroon 5 concert this year. It was disappointing that the Counting Crows would be opening for Maroon 5 on this particular night (with a slightly shorter set), but it was still an amazing day.
The afternoon started with a an unfortunate run-in with commercialism. The concert was at the Tweeter Center, which I've been to once before. Apparently, in the 3 months between when we purchased our tickets and the concert, a new corporation decided to put their name on the concert venue.
RytheRed was driving and did not print out any directions, but we did have a general idea where we were going. However, when we saw a sign for the '
Comcast Center' in the same general vicinity of our concert venue, we weren't sure if that was the same place. Our tickets said 'Tweeter Center'. However, since commercialism causes stadium names to change every few years, and the fact that
Comcast probably wouldn't put their name on some puny concert hall in the middle of nowhere as a 'consolation prize' for losing out on naming rights for the big venue, we decided to chance it and follow the signs.
We were right. God Bless America, presented by
Comcast.
Despite having a group of eight people (not counting the three people who bailed out), we weren't the most prepared for our tailgate.
RoopDogg bought a new grill that we could not figure out how to light up at first, and we forgot a few key tailgate supplies (i.e., ketchup - which was my fault...long story). There was a group of four girls sitting next to us that started giving us a hard time about our inability to light our new grill at first, and it turned out to be the start of a very fun evening. We ended up joining tailgate forces with them for the rest of the evening. One of the girls was originally from Kalamazoo, MI (and a
WMU grad), so we reminisced about the awesomeness of the state of Michigan for a while (and how we wish houses were as cheap in New England).
And yes, like every other girl from the west side of Michigan older than 20, she was married.
At some point,
RytheRed decided that we should teach these girls how to play '
Dodgebexr'.
Dodgebexr is a complex drinking game that I learned just recently. At first, I thought the game was the dumbest game ever and WAY too complex. However, after playing three times now, the game has grown on me. The fact that I am surprisingly good at the game might help, too.
There was a small problem, though. You need cans of beer to play
Dodgebexr. Alcohol is prohibited in the
Comcast Center parking lots, but the cops that drive through
frequently will look the other way if you use plastic cups. We decided to be slick about this rule by putting a plastic cup upside down over the beer cans. It added an extra wrinkle since you had to take the cup off the beer can to drink. Surprisingly, the trick worked. The first time the cops came by our area, they kept going right past our table. However, the second time, they stopped at our table and studied the setup for a while (six beer cans with plastic cups covering them and a bunch of ping pong balls). After studying the scene for at least a minute, they asked us if this was some sort of game. When we fessed up, all they said was 'no games' and then left. Bizarre. No comments about the alcohol, though maybe they never saw the alcohol.
We didn't heed their warning. A little later, a couple of girls parked a couple cars down wanted to see this strange game we were playing.
RytheRed started chatting it up with one of them, and the rest of us started busting on him. You see, this girl looked
young. There was no doubt that she was under 21. The question was how far under 21. While that was going on, the rest of us started talking about how young was 'too young'. I threw out the old rule of 'Half your age + 7, rounding down'. All of the guys in our group considered this a generally accepted and widely known rule. However the girl in our group and the girls parked next to us had never heard of it.
To break the tie, I'll ask Mouse and/or
Mpls Ju to comment on whether this is a well-know rule.
Back to the situation, the girl was 19, and so out of it that we were debating whether she was simply wasted, or on something a little 'stronger'. We didn't smell anything 'wacky' from their car, so we chalked it up to binge drinking. However, no one was completely convinced.
Since the girl was 19,
RytheRed, at age 25, was 'in the clear' to continue flirting. Just barely.
After an entertaining and rainy tailgate, w
e made our way into the concert venue. We ended up missing Sara
Bareillis's 25 minute set. Thankfully, since
FlyingV had to miss this concert because of a wedding, our group didn't think it was a big deal to miss the opening act.
The Counting Crows, as always, were awesome. They played two of my favorite songs by their band ('Long December', 'Mrs. Potter's Lullaby'), and about six songs from their new CD (meh). I'm still waiting for the concert I attend where they play 'Anna Begins', but I'm 0-for-3 so far. The Counting Crows live rendition of 'Long December' is amazing!
Maroon 5 was
ok. Many of their songs are on the radio, but they all kind of sound the same. Where the Counting Crows sing about hope and generally positive things, Maroon 5 has much darker songs, and probably a more jilted lead singer. I wasn't really a big fan of their music outside of 'She will be Loved'.
After the concert, we went back to our car and continued our tailgating while waiting for traffic to calm down. At some point, we were having a discussion about
RoopDogg and
UNICorn's ridiculous sleeping habits, especially compared to my inability to sleep in past 8:30 or 9AM. One of the girls from the other tailgate talked about how awesome it was when she slept until 11:30 not too long ago. When I made a smart ass comment about sleeping away half of the day, she said:
"That reminds me of something my father would say".Ouch. I was harassed about being an old man for the rest of the night. For the record, I was definitely not the oldest/grayest person in that group. Just want to clarify...
I got home around 1:30AM after the concert. I was awake at 8:15AM this morning. Figures.
Definitely an awesome concert. The most fun day I've had in a long time. Can't wait to see the Counting Crows in 2009!
--EDIT - I slightly altered the name of the drinking game since I was getting a few more google search hits today than I wanted for a semi-anonymous blog.
