Hmm

For future reference: If you ever go see a show at the Double Door in Chicago, unless you have a serious need to see the band, don't bother standing near the stage. Great goodness the sound there is terrible. Back into the crowd it's fine, even good, but in front of the stage it's just astoundingly bad. I couldn't hear any of the singing. Also, the crowd for Dr. Dog tonight was epically weird. If I had a dollar for every time I was elbowed by the giant hairy old man in front of me who was randomly playing air guitar, I could've bought like, five tickets.

I mean, seriously, it wasn't even a hairy old man playing air guitar sort of concert. Unless you take into consideration all the ridiculous comparisons to The Beatles (they sound kind of similar sometimes, I guess, but personally I prefer my concerts air-guitar-elbow-free, and could do without the back hair sticking out of the shirt, too. Ew. It was like I sacrificed all the polite hipsters from the Mountain Goats concert, and all the enthusiastic unclassifiable people from the Mucca Pazza show and replaced them with frat boys, old men, and obnoxious girlfriends. And a random, very very tiny person smoking pot right next to me, who nearly set my pants on fire with her lighter.)

However! The Cave Singers were quite good, and I may put in an effort to see them again someday, preferably not opening for someone, and at a venue that isn't full of ridiculous people. The other opener, The Golden Boots, was all right, but didn't really leave a lasting impression. So, I guess the moral of the story is "Crowds can make things incredibly un-fun" or maybe "Don't stand in front of the band at the Double Door" or "21+ concerts on Friday nights are often full of people who are there to get drunk/stoned/etc and be obnoxious, beware." Or maybe just "Dr. Dog is much better on their albums, when things are mixed correctly and you can control the volume, and you're not standing there going 'I can't hear any words! And I don't know these songs well enough to sing without words! Also this moron behind me trying to mosh or crowd surf or both is very painful!' and thinking about how much the sunglasses, quirky hats, odd lighting, and energy devoid of mirth make them look like they're actually performing on Saturday Night Live." Conclusion: Concert was surreal, but in a way that left bruises.