Who: John Mayer and The Counting Crows
When: August 12, 2003
Where: Darien Lake Performing Arts Center/ Darien Center, NY
With: Melissa & Beth
Of Note: "I'm Honky-Tonkin'!!"
2003 was the year we all turned 21. It was also the year that I lived in what I call, affectionately, of course, "the Hell House". The issues with the house were numerous: five girls in one house was possibly too many; my room didn't have heat; at one point there were mice; there was a grow room in the basement; during the summer, it flooded...typical college house stuff. But, honestly, I would not have traded spending my senior year of college having the closest thing to a sorority experience that attending a largely non-Greek, northeast, public university could afford. And, it certainly wasn't all bad - the inside jokes, stealing Breugger's bagels when Beth brought them back from Albany, mid-day dance parties, Pizza Plant lunches, raging keggers, "Like two gorillas in the jungle, making love!", the treehouse....being the first "pledge" of "GZV" (hazing was sleeping under the dining room table!) was one of those life experiences I'm glad I had.
Anyway, for my 21st birthday (I didn't live in the house yet), the girls threw me one of their massive keggers. I went 4-0 in beer pong, not bad for my first time playing. For Beth's 21st the following July, Melissa & I planned an epic scavenger day hunt for Beth that included: putt putt, a movie, various meals, and being drunk at her place of employment...all with different friends. The night ended in another huge party. (Also, Melissa & I followed her around and videotaped it all, which was, in retrospect, a little creepy...but made for an awesome video.) Melissa's birthday was in June and for her celebration, we went to Chippewa. Melissa wore a dress over wide leg capris; she would not be talked out of it. For her birthday, Beth gifted Melissa a cheap-o frame with a picture in it. But, that wasn't the real gift - it was tickets to see John Mayer with the Counting Crows, because, at the time, Melissa was a John Mayer super fan. I picked up a ticket of my own and off we went.
The opening band was called WiseChild. They were incredible. I mean, absolutely phenomenal. I bought their album from the merch table and we listened to that for YEARS. I still listen to it and sing along to every word. I have no idea what happened to them, and Google is not being particularly helpful...which is a pity. They were so, so good. The narcissistic side of me loves them because the lead singer walked the middle of the stage and said, "What were you doing on February 28?" and I freaked out because that was my birthday! And they sang a song called "28th of February"! And it was an awful break-up song and I went through an awful break-up right before my birthday! And they were speaking to me! The music lover part of me just thought they had a great rock/almost bluegrass sound and a way with lyrics. Man, thinking about it, I need to dig that album out.
I believe that the Counting Crows performed first. I think this was technically a co-headlining tour and so they switched off from night to night, but I think they went first the night we saw them. They were still touring their 'Hard Candy' album. Things I remember about the Counting Crows: people were way more into their selections from 'August & Everything After' than the newer stuff (I mean, you can't argue with 'Mr. Jones' and 'A Long December'), I was obsessed with 'Big Yellow Taxi' at the time and was waiting for Vanessa Carlton to jump out (and save us from the apocalypse!) (embarrassingly, I had no idea that song was a cover until much later), and they ended with a pretty awesome version of 'HanginAround'.
And then, the moment Melissa had been waiting for....John Mayer! Thing I remember about John Mayer: Beth & I were jaded by having recently seen Dave Matthews Band supporting 'Everyday' where we determined that Dave should stick to acoustic guitar because the electric just wasn't as good and thought the same thing about John (oh how I would come to change that opinion!), the song 'Bigger Than My Body' (the current single) was kind of lame, John made some really weird faces when singing that caused us to giggle like schoolgirls, the crowd went crazy for 'No Such Thing' (obviously). Then there were the things I remember about Melissa during this.... First, whenever John would go up to hit a higher note, Melissa would pretend to be squeezing his balls to help him hit it. Second, at one point, we looked over and she had her thumbs tucked into her belt, doing some impressive hip thrusting. When asked what she was doing, she gleefully replied, "I'm honky-tonking!" Okay Mel-A, okay.
(I looked up the show in the live music database and man, John's set is great - I don't remember the 'Can't Always Get What You Want' breakdown in 'Come Back to Bed' nor the band kicking things off with 'Total Eclipse of the Heart', but both are fabulous. Plus, even though this was when he was still firmly in cute boy with guitar/frat territory, you can hear where subsequent albums' blues & musicianship are going to kick in. You can listen to it here.)
As it turns out, I became the John Mayer superfan of the group and Melissa decided she didn't like concerts that much (the horror!). But, this was a great way to gear up for senior year. Plus, occasionally, I still like to ask Melissa about honky-tonkin'.
When: August 12, 2003
Where: Darien Lake Performing Arts Center/ Darien Center, NY
With: Melissa & Beth
Of Note: "I'm Honky-Tonkin'!!"
2003 was the year we all turned 21. It was also the year that I lived in what I call, affectionately, of course, "the Hell House". The issues with the house were numerous: five girls in one house was possibly too many; my room didn't have heat; at one point there were mice; there was a grow room in the basement; during the summer, it flooded...typical college house stuff. But, honestly, I would not have traded spending my senior year of college having the closest thing to a sorority experience that attending a largely non-Greek, northeast, public university could afford. And, it certainly wasn't all bad - the inside jokes, stealing Breugger's bagels when Beth brought them back from Albany, mid-day dance parties, Pizza Plant lunches, raging keggers, "Like two gorillas in the jungle, making love!", the treehouse....being the first "pledge" of "GZV" (hazing was sleeping under the dining room table!) was one of those life experiences I'm glad I had.
Anyway, for my 21st birthday (I didn't live in the house yet), the girls threw me one of their massive keggers. I went 4-0 in beer pong, not bad for my first time playing. For Beth's 21st the following July, Melissa & I planned an epic scavenger day hunt for Beth that included: putt putt, a movie, various meals, and being drunk at her place of employment...all with different friends. The night ended in another huge party. (Also, Melissa & I followed her around and videotaped it all, which was, in retrospect, a little creepy...but made for an awesome video.) Melissa's birthday was in June and for her celebration, we went to Chippewa. Melissa wore a dress over wide leg capris; she would not be talked out of it. For her birthday, Beth gifted Melissa a cheap-o frame with a picture in it. But, that wasn't the real gift - it was tickets to see John Mayer with the Counting Crows, because, at the time, Melissa was a John Mayer super fan. I picked up a ticket of my own and off we went.
The opening band was called WiseChild. They were incredible. I mean, absolutely phenomenal. I bought their album from the merch table and we listened to that for YEARS. I still listen to it and sing along to every word. I have no idea what happened to them, and Google is not being particularly helpful...which is a pity. They were so, so good. The narcissistic side of me loves them because the lead singer walked the middle of the stage and said, "What were you doing on February 28?" and I freaked out because that was my birthday! And they sang a song called "28th of February"! And it was an awful break-up song and I went through an awful break-up right before my birthday! And they were speaking to me! The music lover part of me just thought they had a great rock/almost bluegrass sound and a way with lyrics. Man, thinking about it, I need to dig that album out.
I believe that the Counting Crows performed first. I think this was technically a co-headlining tour and so they switched off from night to night, but I think they went first the night we saw them. They were still touring their 'Hard Candy' album. Things I remember about the Counting Crows: people were way more into their selections from 'August & Everything After' than the newer stuff (I mean, you can't argue with 'Mr. Jones' and 'A Long December'), I was obsessed with 'Big Yellow Taxi' at the time and was waiting for Vanessa Carlton to jump out (and save us from the apocalypse!) (embarrassingly, I had no idea that song was a cover until much later), and they ended with a pretty awesome version of 'HanginAround'.
And then, the moment Melissa had been waiting for....John Mayer! Thing I remember about John Mayer: Beth & I were jaded by having recently seen Dave Matthews Band supporting 'Everyday' where we determined that Dave should stick to acoustic guitar because the electric just wasn't as good and thought the same thing about John (oh how I would come to change that opinion!), the song 'Bigger Than My Body' (the current single) was kind of lame, John made some really weird faces when singing that caused us to giggle like schoolgirls, the crowd went crazy for 'No Such Thing' (obviously). Then there were the things I remember about Melissa during this.... First, whenever John would go up to hit a higher note, Melissa would pretend to be squeezing his balls to help him hit it. Second, at one point, we looked over and she had her thumbs tucked into her belt, doing some impressive hip thrusting. When asked what she was doing, she gleefully replied, "I'm honky-tonking!" Okay Mel-A, okay.
(I looked up the show in the live music database and man, John's set is great - I don't remember the 'Can't Always Get What You Want' breakdown in 'Come Back to Bed' nor the band kicking things off with 'Total Eclipse of the Heart', but both are fabulous. Plus, even though this was when he was still firmly in cute boy with guitar/frat territory, you can hear where subsequent albums' blues & musicianship are going to kick in. You can listen to it here.)
As it turns out, I became the John Mayer superfan of the group and Melissa decided she didn't like concerts that much (the horror!). But, this was a great way to gear up for senior year. Plus, occasionally, I still like to ask Melissa about honky-tonkin'.
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