Saturday Night is All Right For ROCKIN'!

Recognize this band? Me either. But I saw them in concert last Saturday night and they fucking ROCKED!

That's right, Husband took me on a date. Two moths ago I was instructed to block off June 2nd for a date night, which I immediately did. And for two months, Husband kept his mouth shut about what we were going to be doing. Yep, a mystery date, no less. While few and far between, Husband does very well with the surprise dates. I once got all the way into an auditorium before I knew who we were going to see play (Yes,) and there was the time he not only took me to see Cirque, but managed to literally get the best seats in the house/the owners seats. Yah. That did not suck.

Now, I hadn't recently heard of any big shows I especially wanted to see, but unless it's for the Sippycups or some other toddler-related musical extravaganza, I will be the first to admit I am mostly completely out of the loop. So, I figured it was something similar to what we'd done in the past. I know Cirque has a new show coming out -- maybe that was it? Great! Was there some other last-minute concert hitting the bay area that I'd not heard about? Cool! Really, just the act of getting a sitter and staying up late to do some grown-up activity was exciting enough. Hell, a lazer show at the planet-arium would've gotten Husband laid (but don't tell him that.)

Saturday night rolled around, and into the car we hopped. I missed my nap, so I fell asleep just as we were hopping on the San Mateo Bridge. This pretty much threw me; what the hell was there to do in the East Bay? Oh well, I'll think about it when I wake up. And off to la-la land I went. I woke up in completely unfamiliar territory, and it took me several minutes to get my bearings. Lots of hills. Eucalyptus trees. WTF? And then I saw the concrete pillars rising into the sky: The Greek Theater. Cool, we're in Berkeley! Concert it is! Whee!

I had to look at the pavement as we went into the grounds for fear of seeing something that would give away the big secret. I was whisked to my incredibly hard concrete slab pretty much as close to the center line as you could get, and for an hour I alternatetly tried to not look at anything for fear of finding out my own secret, and furtitively trying to see if I could figure it out. The stage was completely nondescript with no band images, and even the sound/light control area we were sitting behind had no markings indicating who we were seeing. Great! I mean, dammit! Arg! Wait, did someone just mention The Flaming Lips? Is that who we're seeing?

Wait, what did you say, Husband? You've actually never heard the music from this band? This was on someone else's recommendation? Wait, we're both kind of on a mystery date? How simultaneously cool and scary! What if they suck? Did we just waste an evening of babysitting?!? Momentary panic!!

But no! I refused to let this unknown quantity ruin my evening! I was out on a date! With my husband! And after a $7 Dixie cup of red-flavored-chill-the-fuck-out, I was relaxed and ready. Bring it on.

The opening band? Well, I kinda though t they sucked. Lots of unintelligible (and badly sung) female vocals, and lots of feedback-ish guitars. Eww. Apparently they were called MumbleMumble and they were from Mumble in England. All chick band. All appearing to be about 17 years old. Many jokes were made about missng curfew. Husband liked some of their songs. I began to wonder which one of us hand been drinking. I occasionally wished the group of 40-something frat boys boozing it up next to me would continue talking about their experience running with the bulls in Spain instead.

Eventually night fell and the main act took the stage. Whoo hoo! Hooray! Much clapping and cheering from the sold out crowd! And yet, I still did not know who the fuck they were. There was a whole passel of musicians. 8? 9? Possibly even 10? And what the fuck instrument is that? A hurdy gurdy? Oh look, some french horns! An accordian! Of course! How very Canadian! (my one clue.)

But damn they rocked. They were a crazy tight band who's members would switch between 2-3 instruments each. And yes, there was plenty of guitars and bass and drums on top of all the other instruments (did I mention the pipe organ?) that drove the music on. And it all worked. It was really incredible. And I am hard pressed to rememebr a show where the musicians were more into it. They were clibing on the scaffolding, throwing instruments in the air (not so much for the organ,) pacing all over the stage -- you know how some bands are better either in the studio or on the stage? This was a stage band. In every sense.

After about two songs I finally had to ask Husband who in the hell we were listening to. While I love a good suprise, getting to the end of the show and still being in the dark was a bit much.

Any guesses? Anyone? Bueller?

Turns out we were seeing the Canadian wonder-band Arcade Fire. Very indie rock, very VERY good. I might even go so far as to say 'amazing' in a Cartman-esque voice. Considering I did not know a single song, I had a blast. I think Husband did too, and not just 'cause his chances for getting some increased as the evening progressed. They were just, well, they just put on such a great show!

Sadly, the night had to come to an end. We hiked for about 2 miles uphill to get back to our car, where we sat in the parking lot for at least 30 minutes waiting for that particular snarl to clear up. We got home latelatelate (sorry babysitter!) and immediately passed out. And of course Mags was up at 730 the next morning demanding our attention, so not so much in the sleep department for Memom and Pepop. But it was worth it. Time to start doing that more often.

Yet another reason to move to Canada, Husband. ;)