Mudhoney was last night; weird sort of Sunday night vibe with a too-small crowd (Billings, Montana, hey whattya want?) but they were having fun and smiling a lot, which is a little quirky, to be honest. Absolutely unbelievable that Mark Arm can do *that* voice every night and still have any voice at all. 

Biggest laugh of the night was the Merch table:

It occurs to me that I've been remiss in reporting back on hiccup and ptooey's Year of the Concerts.

We got to see The National last month, back-to-back evenings, with Aussie band The Beths opening. Friday night we had fancy schmancy reserved seats stage right and just above the stage floor. The Beths were great. Excellent guitar tone, harmonizing and good tunes. If you haven't yet had the opportunity, check out Expert in a Dying Field. The National took the stage and were stately and majestic and loud and crazy good. The Dessner brothers were charming and funny and I was surprised by the degree of guitar wizardry on display. Bryan Devendorf hardly moves his arms during all of that complex drumming, which was kind of fascinating to watch. Matt Berninger was in exceptional voice, and while not as chatty as the Dessners, occasionally chimed in with a joke or a goofy dance and it was fun.

The next night, we had GA tickets and decided we were just going to go for it and set up right along the barricade, stage left. The Beths ripped through an identical set (it was still great), and the National came on a little loopier and more ragged than the night before. We were about 6 feet from Bryce Dessner for most of the concert. Berninger apparently gets a little stage-frighty and had been pregaming more than the previous night. He still sounded great, but was just a little wobbly. He usually goes out amongst the audience for a couple of songs, and when he left the stage, he went off the opposite side from us, which was a little disappointing. He did, however, loop back past our side and while I wasn't quite close enough to clap him on the shoulder, it was close enough to realize he isn't as tall as I'd imagined. They closed the show with Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks, acoustically, with all microphones pointed at the audience. The audience sang every word, and the band sang without mics. I've had the opportunity just a couple of times to hear favorite vocalists up close and unamplified, and it's always a special feeling, but standing 8 feet away from Matt Berninger and locking eyes with him as we both sang "All the very best of us string ourselves up for love" was something for the memory banks.

This past Saturday, we took the whole famn damily to see the Freaks on Parade tour. I've wanted to see Ministry since Twitch came out and Al Jourgensen remains not only surprisingly alive, but compelling and active and in great voice, even with all of the effects. The current band is great and loud, and just scary enough and it was a good time.

Alice Cooper. How in the world can a 75 year old man still perform that well? Vince still sounds great, has put together an excellent band with 3 mind-bogglingly amazing guitarists. Sixteen songs, hitting all of the highlights, a snake, 2 swords, 2 stabbings and a beheading by guillotine. I've always wanted to see him/them, and it was everything I'd hoped for.

Rob Zombie was the headliner and while I wasn't really as stoked to see him as the other 3 acts, but it was a reminder how much fun a rock spectacle can be. Crazy light show, video walls, flame pillars, gore, and 12 foot tall demon puppets. His band is also extremely good and he's hilarious. At one point, he had to stop the security crew from putting a halt to what used to be expected concert behavior. "Hey, she's just crowdsurfing. Let her. See? They caught her. It's fine". The times sure have changed.

Filter was the opener. I really enjoyed Short Bus and Title of Record and was surprised by the fact that Richard Patrick sounds EXACTLY the same as 28 years ago. They only played 6 songs, so there wasn't much time for banter. Halfway through the set, they played Take a Picture. He added an extra bridge as the outro to the song, changing the lyrics to "Hey son, what do you think about your dad now?" as I'm standing on the grass at Fiddler's Green, 32 years after my first concert there next to my adult daughters and my oldest's fiance. After the song ends and the applause dies down, Richard asks the crowd "Did we give you The Feels there?"

Geez, man.

Nice shot.

It occurs to me that I've been remiss in reporting back on hiccup and ptooey's Year of the Concerts.

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Nice shot.