In this Discussion
- bedcomb5 April 2007
- breathloss2 April 2007
- BT06 April 2007
- bugleverse2 April 2007
- DJRose April 2007
- dollarflame6 August 2007
- headheight03 April 2007
- knot34story April 2007
- lightblack8 March 2007
- manx9shrine August 2007
- markpull6 March 2007
- mumblo April 2007
- nutrod51 April 2007
- rice62witch April 2007
- sherib August 2007
- suit6lion April 2007
- sureeyesawake April 2007
- target35ghost April 2007
- Tempe Arizona April 2007
- truckorgan02 April 2007
- women60banana April 2007
- yak63geese April 2007
- ytel82 April 2007
Comments
if anyone knew who the opening bands going to be
and if we can bring cameras
if anyone knew who the opening bands going to be
and if we can bring cameras
well, the WPI site says Ok Go with The Cadence: http://www.myspace.com/thecadence
they're kinda cute, especially the one on the left
I reeeally wanna go to this show but it's just too far from Boston. I'd have to take the commuter rail from South Station and then the bus when I get to Worcester, which is fine coming in but not going out. I'm afraid I'd miss the last train back. It would be no problem getting back to Boston once I'm on the red line but the commuter rail stops running at like 11. So I'd be stuck- and then I'd have to call my parents and they'd be sooo angry. It's like a 45 minute drive but I don't drive. And my parents would never ever drive out to Worcester. And none of my friends have cars since everybody uses the subway.
And the other thing is my parents would never let my sister go anywhere with me but she loves Ok Go and I'd feel bad going without her but I don't wanna sneak out again.
but I probly should stop whining since there are people from CT coming to this show. That is real devotion, AnnaLee.
By the way: if you're going to the concert make sure to find me and Steph (anna lee) we're giving out free hugs!! (You'll see us with our Free Hugs shirts!) We want hugss and we know you want some too so if you see us don't be afraid to ask for a hug!
Good for you, Tabetha. You should go! You're only young once, right? Plus, we may be running out of opportunities to see these guys in small settings. Go for it!
aaw, you're so awesome! I think you've seriously inspired me- yeah, I'm going to go, even if it means the creepy bus and subway at night.
Looooovvvvvveeeeee, FREE HUGS on ANNA LEE's COMPUTER.
AND WE CAN'T WAIT FOR EVERYONE ELSE SO MAKE SURE YOU GIVE US HUGS IF YOU SEE US!
Another little tid bit: Remember when the band was on a riser in the middle of the crowd playing "Million Ways" ??? Remember the guys in red shirts dancing on the balcony? So those guys all are from WPI's Soccomm which was in charge of the show. Now they have been practicing that dance for months, but they didn't know until today (during sound check) that the band was going to be on a tiny platform with flashlights, and that they were going to totally upstage them. So that was kinda cool.
Last tid bit: Sometimes band request really weird stuff in their dressing room. The only weird thing these guys asked for where brightly colored bath towels that had all the tags removed. I watched some friends of mine sit down last night and rip/cut the tags off 15 super bright bath towels. It was kinda funny.
Other than that the guys were pretty nice. As they mentioned at the show they were tired from having flown in from LA, so they weren't super friendly, but as far as rockstars go, they were pretty nice.
Also I thought the opening band sucked. Some of you might have seen me on stage messing with one of their guitar pedals right before the show started. The guitarist though it was broken and was about to take one of OK Go's pedals (without asking I might ad) when I showed him he was using it wrong. So they were pretty clueless, also I didn't dig their sound at all. Though to be fair, they were nice guys too.
Yeah, thank you!!!
That's what i was thinking - what do they want bathtowels for, why do they have to be brightly colored, and why get rid of the tags?
I bet this is how Tim gets his kicks now that he doesnt do the audioblogs...
Buttt basically I had an amazing time.
First of all, I have to thank Mumblo. I don't think I would have gone to this show if it wasn't for her comment- and it turned out to be one of the happiest nights in my life. Watching them on stage made me certain that I would burst, like a balloon so happy it had to pop.
I know that to some people on this board who spent time in Mass, Worcester wouldn't be defined as "western," but to us natives, Worcester is most definitely, definitely, western Mass. If you ever tell a Bostonian you're going to Boston, their jaw will drop and they will say, "Aaaall the way there?" (maybe we just have a cultural dislike for long drives, I don't know) But as soon as I told my friend "Worcester," she went crazy. "Western Mass?! It's at LEAST an hour!" She wanted to stay in Boston and go to the mall. I love her and we hadn't hung out in the longest time so I felt bad for dragging her all the way to Worcester, especially since she was not an Ok Go fan. She had seen the HIGA only once, after I told her about it. But I prepped her- I showed her the Sweptaway vid Electra posted so she would see how fun Ok Go is. "And it'll be an adventure- a random, crazy night." She likes adventure, so in the end she agreed.
Worcester was like another world. It seems odd to say that about another place in your own state, but it was extremely different from Boston. Boston is continuous car-beeping, traffic with people giving you the finger, chaos and shoving and the city. Worcester was...grass and quiet, peaceful neighborhoods, friendly people and wide, curvy roads. My friend couldn't get over the design of the roads. And WPI was so different from my university in Boston, stuck in the middle of the city's chaos. No, WPI was just so quiet- a big contrast to my school's arena, WPI's auditorium was tiny and doubled as a gym. WPI is a friendly, suburban place; it was cool to see. Of course, my overprotective parents were furious when they found out I had gone aaaall the way to Worcester, but it was so worth it.
My friend and I met at South Station at 5, so we missed the 4:58 train to Worcester. We wanted to meet earlier, but she was coming in from Park Street and the subway stalled. So had to take the 5:30 train, ending up in Worcester at 6:45. I have to say, about the Worchester station- omg! It was like a mansion! There was even a wedding going on in the station when we arrived. omg, omg, omg. How different from our disgusting, spit-filled Boston subways! Then we took a cab to WPI and after getting our tickets, so we didn't enter the auditorium till around 7:10. So we were not the very first- we were close to the stage but not the closest, unfortunately. When I had gone to Lupo's, I had been right up against the stage, but in addition to not being first this time, WPI had blocked off some space between the audience and the stage and had WPI boys acting as security guards to keep the space. Bleh, I didn't like that.
We brought a cake. On the cake we had drawn 4 stick figures, one with glasses, and the words "Ok Go." It's really hard to keep a cake safe during a concert. We took turns holding it and ducking when moshers came by.
The Cadence were nice boys- I really, really liked their hair. They didn't say much and their set was very short: I know they were on longer but it felt like only 15 minutes.
And then! Ok Go! They started, as tradition, with The House Always Wins. And then Tim announced that Andy is from Worcester, as is one of the tech guys. Tim. was. awesome. When I had seen Ok Go at Lupo's club, Tim looked amazing and played amazingly, but he seemed distant from everything (Damian had joked that Tim was stoned). But tonight, Tim was really interacting with the crowd- he was talking, he was on the edge of the stage, and man! did he rock. Just looking at him made me want to jump, shout, scream, anything and everything- I sincerely can't express the greatness, the power, the screech-till-you're-hoarse awesomeness of Tim. But I don't have to- you guys already know. I screamed out "YEAH, TIM!" few times just cuz he's the kind of guy whose admiration for you can't keep contained inside yourself. "You played basketball here, right?" he asked Andy, and Andy smiled a yes.
Then Damian began to talk. He started by praising Worcester, and then a boy yelled, "Minnesota rocks!" And Damian told the guy that he knew he wanted to talk, but this was a one-way conversation, "and I don't give a fuck about Minnesota." And then Damian apologized for insulting Minnesota and asked the boy if he went to WPI. The boy yells, "HELL NO!" And Damian laughed and replied, "There's going to be a Minnesota lynching tonight." And then Damian asked the crowd not to hate this Minnesota boy, but to instead direct their hate to the stage. And then he said The Violent Femmes were from Minnesota, so the boy should be forgiven- and then he added quickly, "actually they're from Wisconsin!" and launched into Prove My Love. Afterward, Damian asked, "Was that you moshing? Points for Minnesota!!"
Next asked how all the girls in the audience were and then all the guys, and the girls voices came from up front and the guys from in the back- so he said, "Guys, just to let you know, all the girls are up here."
And then Damian looked at us all in front of him and then looked at the group sitting above us on the bleachers. "Who are they?" he asked. "Are you VIP?" And someone shouted, "THOSE ARE OUR PARENTS!" And then Damian told said, "As you can see, we're a massively successful band. And we just toured with a slightly more massively successful band, Snow Patrol. And we played to stadiums of 60,000 people. And I had them do the wave. And since you're on bleachers, you should do the wave too." And the group in the bleachers did the wave once he started them off. "You should do the wave too, not just them," he said to all of us on the floor, and so we too did the wave. Damian said we were much better at it than the stadium audiences.
And then he asked everyone to wave cellphone light during Oh, Lately It's So Quiet and as tradition, he announced, "this is the second verse."
Then they went into the crowd to play AMW and What to Do acoustically in the dark while an audience member held the big flashlight. While there, Damian explained, "Sorry if we seem rude. It's because we spent all night on a plane from LA. And both Tim and I were next to really, really, really fat people. I have nothing against really, really, really fat people but when they're in your seats...so that's why we might seem rude." And while they played AMW, the WPI boys working as "security people" got up on near the bleachers and did the AMW dance. Damian was pleasantly surprised and said, "You guys are fucking awesome!" and asked if they had a dance to What to Do as well (they didn't, teehee).
Damian also told there the story of the Germans who loved their rock so much that they moshed on acoustic songs. And then he said, "If you're starting a band, here's a word of advice. Places to avoid in February: Canada and Germany. Guess where we've been in the past Februaries? Canada and Germany."
And, hehe, to fulfill the irony, someone moshed during the acoustic songs.
He also said something to the person holding the flashlight- this I can't remember so well unfortunately, but it was something like, "You're doing a great job honey but Tim and I are going blind. Can you direct the light below our necks?"
Then, back on stage, Damian asked if WPI kids learned more technical things. And if everybody liked Legos. And he announced that when Tim wore a motorcycle helmet, he looked like a Lego man, to which Tim smiled and shrugged that it was true. And then they played Electric Light Parade.
The biggest difference this night was that instead of showing Damian projected on the wall, the projection shifted from Damian to Tim to Dan to Andy. Seeing all of them projected like that was fantastic. It meant that we could see Dan's face so well, for the first time! And he was intense! It was like he had been born with drumsticks in his hands. And the whole time he had this huge smile. Mirth, blithe, bah, words are useless to express the happiness that he emanated.
And now for my confession. I feel terribly about this, but I could not stop myself from touching Damian. He ran into the crowd twice in excitement once to play acoustically, and every time he went back and forth, I touched his arm and shoulder and back over and over- I must have touched him about 15 times. Damian, I'm sorry for not respecting your personal space, I really am. But it was so surreal: the person who lives in your computer, in your ipod, in your cd player- suddenly this is not somebody you imagine but an actual person, and I couldn't help touching him, confirming that he was real. It's shocking and amazing to discover that you hadn't imagined somebody, that they don't live in your mp3s but are real, actual people- touching just to confirm that he is real was instinctive somehow. But it's also kind of disrespectful, so I'm sorry, Damian.
When they left, the crowd began to chant, "One more song!" but I was disappointed in the chant, because I felt like at Lupo's we had chanted for a whole 10 minutes and it was such a rush but here the chant lasted only about 2 minutes (but I mean this may just be how I felt, since I didn't actually check the time). And then Ok Go came back and played 2 more songs, including DWYW with the air socks. It was the first time I had seen the air socks- it was totally, totally cool. And Damian mentioned that the music video could be seen on youtube, adding, "but I think you have to search for 'walpaper' version cuz there are like 3,000 versions."
When they had left, my friend and I sat on the bleachers and waited for about half an hour for the band to come out. "Rusty!" I said to my friend, "let's go!" She grabbed the cake and we ran down to see him. And this is where I have to say thank you to my friend: Ok Go loves clever conversation but I just can't help it- I get gushy and squealy and fan-girly. When I saw him, he was standing there, looking at me, and I did it- I shouted, squealed, "Rusty!!!" It was a total flashback to that time at Lupo's, except that there I had screamed "RUSTY!!!" so loud that he had jumped, and I remembered that, so this time, my squeal was half the volume. I wish to God I wasn't so gushy, but man, I can't help it. I just kept giggling and jumping and squealing, good grief.
"We made you a cake!!!" I said.
"You did?" he said.
"Yes, but it got a little squishy from holding it during the show, sorry. And we drew you on it!!!" I squealed.
"You drew me??"
"All of you," my friend explained. "Even the glasses."
He tried to open it, but the tape held most of the cover down. He peeked in. "You made me fat," he said.
"Sorry," my friend said.
And then his phone rang and he answered it, saying, "I'll be there soon, I'm doing something right now." I felt so bad for interrupting him and I apologized and he was soooo soooo soooo soooo sweet and said no, no, it was no problem.
And then I asked him if he would sign some things, and I took out the bunch of photos I had. He signed photo after photo and said, "I'll sign all of them-" then he came to a giant photo of Tim-"well, all the ones with me in them."
"I have a big one of you by yourself too!!!" I squealed, sifting until I came to my favorite photo of him.
"Wow, what's this from?" he asked.
"It's when you played in Times Square!!!"
And then he saw the photo of the four of them that ih7*s had posted, with the cards.
"Wow, you have the really hard to find ones!" he said. "Is this from the LA times?"
"Yes!!!" I squealed. "Oh!!!," gushed, suddenly remembering, "can you sign one more thing, please? Sorry."
"Sure," he said
And he said he didn't know where the other members had gone off to, but he would let them know that we were looking for him.
And then he asked us where we were from and my friend and I answered together, "Boston!" And she was really so calm and wonderful, not at all gushy like me. She asked him, "will you play in Boston soon?" He thought for a minute and then said, "We're playing at the Tweeter Center." And then we thanked him and he went, still clutching the cake, to talk to someone else.
And just as my friend and I turned to go, I realized that we had not gotten a picture. I remembered how I had no pictures at Lupo's and it seemed horrible at that moment not to get a picture this time either. So we waited til he had finished talking with the other person and apologizing for bothering him again, asked for a photo. A nice person (I think Andy knew him by name) offered to take the photo of all three of us. "Tell them my arms look awkward cuz I'm holding a cake," Andy joked.
And then we thanked him and I said, "Welcome home!!!" Sadly, we next ran off to call a cab. I really, really, really, really wish we could have stayed longer and waited for Damian, Tim and Dan to come out, but it was 11:20 now and the last train to Boston was 11:40. If we didn't catch it, we would seriously be stranded in Worcester. One day, when they come to Boston, I am going to stay for as long as it takes to get all their autographs. But still, seeing Rusty was indescribably wonderful, like dreaming but not.
The 11:40 train was late, so we didn't get into the Boston subway till 1 AM. And man, there are creepy people out at 1 AM, just as I was afraid of- but it was so worth it.
And I can say that my friend is officially a huge Ok Go fan. And she kept saying over and over how cute Rusty was. And he was! But I would add that in addition to being cute, he was very handsome and really looked like a fairytale prince. My friend proclaimed Rusty her favorite and I knew she had a great, great time. And I know she loved how Damian said "fuck" in every sentence- that was hot. And I came out with no favorites because as soon as I think of or look at any of them, ooooh, how I LOVE whoever I'm looking at. Rusty, the handsome, the sweet, the princely, Tim the witty, the cool, Dan the intense, the mirthful and Damian, the talkative, the hot...I'm trying to find the words to describe them, but I can't. They're just the four most perfect people in the world. But you guys all know that already, hehe.
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(sorry they're mostly Damian- it was just that I could see him best. The other ones of Tim and Andy came out bad and I couldn't get a good shot of Dan at all)
No worries, Tabetha! I'm just happy you decided to go. I was thinking about you this morning when I saw the other comments posted here (well, morning for me here in CA).
I