| Matthew goes to his bag, pulls out a folded piece of paper and a flip memo notebook thingy. The master set list. He goes on and shows it to me; the .. I guess you could call it "prototype" .. archetype even maybe. it was the usualy songs played. he showed me some new titles, where they do most new song flipping in the set, etc. he then shows the smaller tablet to Daniel and Ira, asking if that was ok with them. Shurgs and nods. He flips the page and he makes the final set for the show. Once finished, he shows it to them.... "It's too early to play 'Yr. Head' so were gonna do 'Fruit Fly' ... " ... and then ... "And we're now gonna do "Spooky" forrr" he points at me with the Sharpe .. "Rusty," Daniel and I make eye contact, (now I told him and asked him with hope they'd play Icebox too! And they did). I then ask Matthew my question of questions .. (this might've been as or before he pulled it out): "One more request," "Sure, Sure" "Can I have the set list after the show?" "Of course you can! Just be near the stage after the show" And of course I'd be, Daniel gave me the best seat in the damn place. I could see everything and all. So I head back in, and talk to Jake and Christine and Lauren, all who were happy for me as Nada heads in to set up and start there show. I snapped two or three pics of Ira and Daniel setting up. And around 1130, Matthew walks over to me as I hang over the steps, something in his hand: "Hey would you mind doing us a favor and taping the show?" my response: "Of course, I'd be honored". He showed me the basics of the camera, record, zoom, pause. This was great! And of course, me and the guy beside me switched so I didn't hog it and my arms wouldn't get really tired and I could take pics. And finally the show started .. 11:45pm ..they kicked in with "Hyperspace" .. then "Amateur" .. "Stalemate" was next .. an old safe one for the fans of High/Low. And during the middle of it, they broke into another song, and all of a sudden, Jake and I looked at each other at the exact same time. One of our all time favorite songs, completed surprised by, Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" ... we were so stoked and amazed. That wasn't on the set. Two verses, and two choruses later .. back to "Stalemate". The show would go on til near 12:50, 1am. At one point, Matthew startled me by saying "I wanna thank Rusty's parents for bringing him here tonight," I felt honored. I was like "holy shit, he's talking about me!" And I thought Jenny and Pierre might say something of Jake and I... And after one song, someone in the crowd yelled "Spooky" which started several others too, including me. And Matthew said "well I guess I know what we're playing now," I taped it and sang along. Every damn word to the song that reminded me of Faith and our latest break up. I had told Matthew about it outside, and he felt bad. He, too, had a bad last year when having "the crush on the wrong person," He was so nice about it though. When I asked how old he was he said that he recently turned 34. "That's double my age!" I replied. His rebuttal "I'm old enough to be your neighbor!" He laughed and smiled. His face then and there I will never forget. And they went on to do an encore after Daniel dedicated "Slow Down" to his kid brother. A new one first, "Blizzard of 77" from the recently released Arena Rock compilation. Then another new one, probably the best one I had heard, "Killian's", brooding rocking piece. And they closed with "The Plan" awesome song, grest ender. Ira came over to me after the show, Roman Coke in hand and just repeatedly slapped my hand. Awesome awesome he said .. or something like that. He walked over to center front of the stage where the set list sat. Someone started reaching for it slowly, my heart raced. As quickly as that, IRa snatched it. "I'm sorry," he said. "But someone else asked for it first," he walked over to me. "He touched this before we did!" He handed it to me, Mission Accomplished. Right now, the set list is sitting on my bed, and has its stamp of authenticity, Matthew's foot print of approval. I took pictures and they turned out so so .. nice one of me and Jenny, awesome one of Matthew's guitar solo during one song. But the greatest and best picture of all, is of Christine and Lauren ... Lauren is so pretty, I kinda fear saying anything of starting something with her. They live in DC, and they want to see us before summer's end, Monday they says. Wanna hang at the Harbor, see the aquarium, do lunch at Hard Rock, just hang out. We exchanged e-mail addresses and have already conversed. Last night was the time of my life I tell you. Never have I been so blessed in my life. To Rilo Kiley .. Jenny, Blake, Pierre and Jon, you guys rock and are nicer than Hell! I hope to see you sometime on the road in the near future. Matthew Caws, you are the man! Meeting you last night made me realize something. You're a rock star to me, but meeting you made me realize, you're just human. You talked to me like I knew you my whole life and I can't wait to meet you again. Daniel Lorca, the dreads kick ass and yr voice rules! Spain, Bacardi, and "Icebox" forever. And Ira Elliot, the man who handed me the set list, I thank you. Love the cowboy hat. Lauren and Christine .. may Jake and myself see you very, very soon. |
| goodnight, sleep tite - 12:57am. |