So on Friday the 11th, Stacey and I drove to Seattle to see Modest Mouse at the Showbox. We ran some errands and also had some dinner at the Thai restaurant on Capitol hill where we first ate the day before we started dating. Oddly enough, our second trip together to that restaurant was almost exactly 2 years after the first one.

In any case, we met up with Ryan & Nicole at the Showbox at about 8:30 or so. We knew the show was sold-out, but none of us had been there recently enough to remember how crowded that would make the place. It was PACKED. Something like 1100 people were crammed in there. I guess it was better than seeing a show in the Tacoma Dome or something…..but still.

The first opening band was a couple of guys from MM playing some Irish style reels and jigs on fiddle and flute. They played for 20 minutes or so, and to be truthful, weren’t very good compared to real Irish musicians. But they were easy to listen to and made for a fine opening act. Probably 20 minutes later, the second opening band got on stage. They were alright, nothing particularly special. But the songs were catchy, though they mostly sounded the same. However, they played at least TWENTY SONGS and were onstage for well over an hour. That was way too long for an opening band. Seriously, opening bands should be no more than 40 minutes. Let me get a taste and then leave me wanting more. If I get sick of you as an opening band, there’s no way I’m going to get off my ass to see you as a headliner.

And then, to make matters worse, it was over an hour before Modest Mouse even got on the stage. At this point it close to 11:30, the bar was packed, I couldn’t see over the idiots in front of me, and the drinks were expensive and the bar lines horrible. Once they started playing, MM sounded good. You’d better be in love with the new album, since they played almost every track off of it, but overall they were rocking well. Stacey and I snaked a spot on the wheelchair ramp, which got us a couple feet up and able to see over the floor crowd’s head, so that helped as well. But by the time they were halfway through their set, Stacey was miserable because of her back hurting from standing and I was still pissed at having to wait so damn long and being packed in like a sardine. Nicole and Ryan left 6-7 songs into the set, and we stayed through “the long song from one of our old albums that we stretch out to a 15 minute jam and play right before we play the closing RAWK! Songs” (in this case it was “Cowboy Dan”). I sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around for the encore.

I guess I just don’t care enough any more to go through the trouble of going to Seattle to see shows. It’s three hours of driving, too many “cool kids”, pricey tickets, no drinking, and hours of standing around waiting. There is a comedian who talks about the “Over 30” rock show (to go with the under-21 show). The Over-30 show would start at 9:00pm, have no opening band, everyone would have a place to sit if they wanted, everyone could see the band, no encores (play the new album, play some old stuff, play the “soundtrack” song, surprise us with a cover, then close with the single), and the whole thing is done by 10:30-11:00. Sounds retarded, but I’d happily pay more to see a show like that.

I really love hearing live music, I just hate going to concerts.