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(Pretend this is not a title, but the opening bars of The Tain)
All right, I lied. I don't know how I thought I wouldn't have to make a post tonight about the concert. That was almost certainly the best nothing I've ever spent. (Free concert! Free Decemberists concert! Free Decemberists concert with the orchestra. I can't say that enough.) I kind of want to go through everything in detail, but as fun as the beginning was, the end of the concert just completely eclipsed it. I really don't remember the beginning too well--I was next to a bunch of indie-kid snobs who talked the entire time. (I knew they were indie-kid snobs because one of them, while on the phone to his friend, uttered the unforgettable line "Yeah, like, 99% of the people here haven't even heard of them. I hate that." Frakking indie kids. Shut up and enjoy the music if that's what you're there for, no one cares about you showing off. I saw a couple that was probably close to retirement dancing away and having a blast. What were you doing? Sulking? I thought so. Stuff it. Learn to have fun.) Lesson learned from the first part of the concert: never sit near the back. Less enthusiastic people are boring. I only made that mistake, I think, because I was way early and wanted room to stretch out. I'll know better next time. BUT ANYWAY. So, the concert acheived complete awesomeness somewhere around the opening bars of The Tain. Because they played the entire thing. The entirety of The Tain, with orchestra. Ironically, this is when some people started leaving, so thankfully I decided to move up in the crowd to where people were actually standing and dancing. And suddenly the acoustics were better and everyone was enthusiastic and even the little hiccups that come from a band playing with an orchestra were easily ignored because of the general atmosphere of awesome. I happened to run into one of my Rescom colleagues, and I got to bask in his glee a little. (I think the conversation went something like "Hmm... ::taps him on the shoulder:: Hey!" "Oh hey!" "What's up?" "...The Decemberists are playing!!" "Hahaha, I noticed. I feel ridiculous being here in my interview clothes." "::actually looks at me:: Oh yeah. The Decemberists are playing WITH THE ORCHESTRA." It cannot be stated enough how much I love enthusiastic people when they're enthusiastic about things I am also enthusiastic about. I should use enthusiastic a few more times. Enthusiastic enthusiastic. It's a good word. Anyway.) There were probably several hundred indie nerds up as far as we could get (the place was PACKED), and by the time the encore came around, we'd all packed up against the barrier behind the paid seats. And though it'd been raining off and on for a while, it was finally starting to storm. So, at the concert's false-conclusion we had followed by cheering, shouting, clapping, and lightning. Then 16 Military Wives, at which point a bunch of people crashed the barriers to fill the aisles by the paid seats. And from there, it turned into a giant dance party in the open space in between, with most of the security guards split down the middle between complete amusement and (and I quote) "Oh HELL no." ("Oh hell no" was the reason I didn't jump the barrier and dance more.)
And the end... the end of the concert was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. The storm was coming in, so there was lightning every 30 seconds (and probably thunder, but you wouldn't have been able to hear it over the crowd), everyone was cheering and screaming, and we all danced an interpretive dance to The Mariner's Revenge Song. Interpretive Dance. Mariner's Revenge Song. Oncoming Storm. Awesomesauce.
Of course, the storm meant I got absolutely utterly poured on on the way back (thankfully, in a rare, RARE moment of forethought, I bought a rain poncho at Walgreens before the concert... which kept me dry during the concert, but was pretty much useless against the torrential downpour that followed). But it's okay... I'm assuming my nice interview pants aren't ruined, and it was fun running from the bus stop to my apartment in the rain. I managed not to get my library book wet, and that's about all I was worried about. And the rain was warm. Nice, warm, summer downpour.
Oh, and the interview went well today. I have about a 75% chance of having a job at the bank, which is good because even though the pay isn't good, the hours are decent and it's at Belmont and Clark, which is the middle of one of my favourite neighborhoods and really easy to get to on the red line (hour and a half commute TOTAL)... plus it's close to most of the concerts I want to go to, so I can get off work (in blue jeans and a t-shirt, because it's casual) and run/hop a bus to the concert and be there relatively on time. All in all, probably better for my psyche than the publishing job, though I'm going to call them and check in tomorrow anyway... because if they want to give it to me, I'll take it. I'm just... not going to ask for it a lot.
And the end... the end of the concert was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. The storm was coming in, so there was lightning every 30 seconds (and probably thunder, but you wouldn't have been able to hear it over the crowd), everyone was cheering and screaming, and we all danced an interpretive dance to The Mariner's Revenge Song. Interpretive Dance. Mariner's Revenge Song. Oncoming Storm. Awesomesauce.
Of course, the storm meant I got absolutely utterly poured on on the way back (thankfully, in a rare, RARE moment of forethought, I bought a rain poncho at Walgreens before the concert... which kept me dry during the concert, but was pretty much useless against the torrential downpour that followed). But it's okay... I'm assuming my nice interview pants aren't ruined, and it was fun running from the bus stop to my apartment in the rain. I managed not to get my library book wet, and that's about all I was worried about. And the rain was warm. Nice, warm, summer downpour.
Oh, and the interview went well today. I have about a 75% chance of having a job at the bank, which is good because even though the pay isn't good, the hours are decent and it's at Belmont and Clark, which is the middle of one of my favourite neighborhoods and really easy to get to on the red line (hour and a half commute TOTAL)... plus it's close to most of the concerts I want to go to, so I can get off work (in blue jeans and a t-shirt, because it's casual) and run/hop a bus to the concert and be there relatively on time. All in all, probably better for my psyche than the publishing job, though I'm going to call them and check in tomorrow anyway... because if they want to give it to me, I'll take it. I'm just... not going to ask for it a lot.
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I'm hoping some concert reviewer somewhere will give the numbers. It didn't really occur to me how big the place was until I was up near the paid seating and realized that I could still barely see them. And as far as I know, all the seats were filled, and the lawn was packed... and it was solid people all around the outside, too. So I'm blaming the not-sounding-like-lots-of-people on my phone being held somewhere near my bellybutton most of the time. (-;
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And if the Hideaway Block Party is fine for people under 21, I'd still be more than happy to go. I am also good for getting dragged places. I'm actually looking forward to seeing sunlight and getting fresh air.
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I will look into that, then. It's not until the end of September, though, so we've got time. (-: Fresh (well, as a relative term, considering this is a city) air is a wonderful thing. Which is why I'm glad I went for a walk today, even though it was along the Chicago river and not a river that was, you know, clean. ^_^
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Things down here where I live are relatively clean, considering it's a city. Like, there's a park across the street and I can hear frogs and coyotes at night, especially in the summer, and just behind that is a trail. It amuses me because the houses at the top of the hill are all part of the rich neighborhood. It's all fairly clean, though, if you ignore the bloody bandages on one section of it and the random, used hypodermics.
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Downtown Chicago usually is pretty clean, but the river has a special (outdated) reputation for being exceptionally polluted. I think they reversed the flow at some point many years ago, so it actually flows in from Lake Michigan, which makes it fairly clean, though they still recommend that you don't set foot in it.
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...Why does that make me want to go down there and look for mutants?
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Because you should!
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Lock and load. We're looking for Nessie and Nightcrawler~