Remembering the Encores

Who: Mat Kearney with the Leagues When: November 11, 2011 Where: Town Ballroom/ Buffalo, NY With: Katie, Sara Of Note: my own personal dance party, Katie's Kearney obsession, discovering the Leagues From Remembering the Encores The internet is an amazing thing. Like really, how else would you be able to discover that people you went to high school with but haven't seen since you graduated moved three blocks away from you? So, thanks Mark Z., for creating a world where you can falsely feel like you're still "in touch" with people even though you're absolutely not. In any event, welcome to Buffalo Katie! I'm glad you're here. And, thank you for being cool with my whole, "We're gong to be friends now, 'kay?" schtick. When Katie asked me to go see Mat Kearney, I was more than happy to go along. Katie & Sara had a good laugh at my expense. I had bought my ticket online, labeled the envelope with the name of the ...

Who: Phish When: September 14, 2000 Where: Darien Lake Performing Arts Center/ Darien Center, NY With: Ben, and a bunch of other people Of Note: Philly cheeseys, the pouring rain, not finding my car for hours afterwards, my huge fight with Ben So, one of the questions everyone asks you when you go to college is if you're going to stay with your high school boyfriend. I remember running into some folks I graduated with a week or so before I moved to Buffalo and when they asked, I truthfully told them I didn't know. I'm not sure I made a conscious decision about the long-term implications of what it meant to stay together/do the long distance thing but, I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time? Anyway, as I said, before, Ben found Phish. Which means that I got into Phish. So, here's the thing about me and Phish. I like Phish for their great musicianship, their crazy lyrics and their songs. Yes, I like it when Phish sings songs, not so much when they...

Who: O.A.R with the Lost Trailers When: May 17, 2003 Where: The Tralf/ Buffalo, NY With: Matt, Andy, Pete Of Note: Pete getting stuck in the crawl space above the Hell House porch, standing right up against the stage, all my favorite songs in one night From Remembering the Encores Man, who didn't love O.A.R. in college?  Their story is relatable (they started by playing frat parties!), their tunes are infectious (you can't help but yell along to, "It's 3am and I want to go to be-e-ed!"), and they know where their bread is buttered (closing every concert ever with "Crazy Game of Poker").  Matt said that he, his brother & their buddy Pete were coming up to see O.A.R. play in Buffalo and invited me along.  I found some crash-space at the Hell House for them and it was quite the week-end. There was some drama with tickets, I think - Matt & Pete had them; Andy & I didn't?  It wasn't really a big deal; we went to the ticket ...

Who: Chris Trapper with Kristin Cifelli When: October 28, 2011 Where: Ninth Ward/ Buffalo, NY With: Hillary Of Note: fun acoustic show! From Remembering the Encores My (new) friend Hillary is obsessed with Chris Trapper.  She is a super fan.  I can appreciate that, having some musical obsessions of my own.  She has talked about Chris a ton and when she said that he was coming to town and invited me along, I was more than happy to accompany her.  Especially because Hillary is fun, funny and super duper nice. I'd never been to Ninth Ward, but it's a beautiful performance space.  Ani DiFranco converted an old church; the building is stunning from the outside.  The concert was in the basement, a really chill and intimate venue for a concert. Kristin Cefelli opened.  Her voice...was incredible.  It has a really unique timbre with almost a haunting quality to it.  It was just her and her guitar, but she definitely filled the space....

Who: Al & The Transamericans When: September 4, 2003 Where: Nietzsche's/ Buffalo, NY With: Ben, Mike, Matt, Ryan (?), Ben's Southlake roommates (?) Of Note: essentially bluegrass moe. for $10, Mexico for Mike's 21st birthday From Remembering the Encores This day had not been a good day. The brakes on the Jeep were shot and making some sort of weird scraping sound and I did not have the money to fix it. But! Ben had rounded a bunch of us up to go to a concert at Nietzsche's. I wasn't sure what to expect because I think this was after we'd gone to see al.one, which, no disrespect to Mr. Schnier, but the electronic DJ thing did not do much for me. Ohmygoodness, was I in for a treat. Al & The Transamericans is a side project of a bunch of great musicians from other bands - Al, Vinnie & at the time Jim from moe.- who play fun, poppy bluegrass and do moe. songs! So, it was essentially like seeing moe. minus the half hour jams, plus a ...

Who: No Doubt When: April 12, 2002 Where: Alumni Arena, University at Buffalo; Amherst, NY With: the entire UB undergraduate population Of Note: the concert genie From Remembering the Encores Kiss98.5 has been a staple of my Buffalo life. Though we spent a fair amount of time in the dorms downloading music (legally at the time) and creating the perfect playlists in Napster, then WinAmp, then Windows Media Player (yes kids, there was a time before iTunes), when we dormed together sophomore year, Beth and I spent a fair amount of time listening to "your number one concert connection", Kiss98.5. (Later, we would go on to name our goldfish [who ended up dying of fish cancer, we're pretty sure] after some of the famed Kiss98.5 DJs. I would also spend a fair amount of time, energy, and social capital into getting an autographed picture of Janet Snyder and Nicholas Picholas for Beth. You could say we were maybe just a wee bit psychotic?) UB announced that t...

Who: Dave Matthews Band with moe. When: June 20, 2003 Where: Darien Lake Performing Arts Center/ Darien Center, NY With: Beth, Cassandra Of Note: moe.andDavemoe.andDavemoe.andDavemoe.andDavemoe.andDavemoe.andDave, the sacrifice of the duck blanket, the best damn hot dogs I have ever eaten, Beth's post-show adventure From Remembering the Encores Dave Matthews Band. Summer time. Big, outdoor concert venue. Long day of tailgating. Killer opening band. Boone's Farm. Hot dogs in a Solo cup. Intense sunburns. And the funniest story pretty much ever. This day will go down in history as one of the best days ever. Days like this are the reason so many people love concerts. So, being college girls in the early 2000s, we obviously loved Dave Matthews and were excited to get tickets for the summer tour, now a tradition. Because the only concert I had ever been to at Darien Lake at that point was Phish, I assumed all concerts at Darien were like Phish and you neede...