the uphill battle, or: seeing iron and wine in concert

last night was a testament to how much tim and i wanted to see sam beam and company...here are a few of the uphill battles we had to face:

problem 1: the rain and snow while waiting outside
solution - undisclosed. rest assured, we didn't sit out in the snow.

problem 2: arthur and yu
solution - sadly, there was none. we had nice spots on the balcony and as bad as arthur & yu were, we were forced to sit through every plodding song. it was seriously pretty rough. on the plus side, they made the whole crowd REALLY excited to see iron & wine. of course, after their set i was REALLY excited to step on a rake. in case you missed it, here's what they looked like and sounded like. just switch the keyboard and you're there.














problem 3: the drunk underage guy standing right next to tim
solution: well he was so annoying that i left and stood down below. i'm not sure how tim put up with him, but in addition to tim and i, there were about four other people ready to toss him over the balcony. seriously, if talking for three hours is your thing, why pay $30 to go to a show? why not just talk annoyingly loud at home? news flash man: you're never going to double date with your friends you bumped into and your lady is dumping you sometime just after christmas.

problem 4: the weather home
solution: some sweet defensive driving...otherwise this post would never have happened (i guess it really is like that butterfly flapping it's wings thing). no seriously, God apparently wants tim and i alive for a little bit longer because there was a soccer mom in a white van dead set on wiping tim and i off the planet.

as for the show...it was amazing. it was worth the uphill battle. my only disappointment was that many of i&w's catchier, upbeat songs were played down tempo. this was a cool effect for the first few songs, but as a hyperactive person, i wanted him to open the throttle a bit. he shared the stage with seven other talented musicians, i wanted to see their range. that's such a minor critique though: the show was amazing. they played for nearly two hours, everything sounded amazing, the crowd was appreciative and hopefully their tour made it out of utah and on to denver.

for those of you looking for vanessa's top five from 2007, she had some computer difficulties this weekend. she'll post soon! thanks for being patient.