I walked through the haze of Parliament Lights & American Spirits as the hipsters took their last drags at the entrance. An older man eagerly welcomed me to The Fillmore and I found my way to the stage where a crowd had already gathered, leaving the rest of the ballroom-like room vacant with its hovering chandeliers. I grabbed my bottled water from the bar with my outreached “21” stamped hand and staked my claim at stage left. It was 30 minutes before showtime and I swept the room, looking for a familiar face where I new none were to be found. I passed the time compulsively twittering to battle the growing anxiety I was having about possibly being the oldest person currently standing in the room. I smiled as some guys behind me spoke of the success of the Zero Boys. At least now I was an old person who was on a first name basis with the Zero Boys’ bass player. I half-heartedly turned around thinking I could try to be social with my eavesdropping but the pair of guys had already started to bore me. So I twittered about it instead. I was really beginning to question why I had ventured out on a week night in the midst of the biggest work week I’ve dealt with in months. I barely knew this band. I was “that person” who had only heard their latest album, and yet, there I stood a couple feet from the stage, deceptively labeling myself as a hardcore fan staking her claim before the sold out crowd arrived. Now I was an old poser. To help rationalize this nonsense, I used my iPhone to get my sites moved to new hosting. Tweet: “I’m a mac, and I’m bored.”

Here We Go Magic took the stage a little after 9. A venue who starts things on time. Thank goodness. My old bones might just survive the night. I enjoyed their set. I didn’t enjoy standing next to their friends who felt compelled to give shout-outs between each song. They started out really good, but their sound sort of skipped genres throughout the set, sadly away from the start of the show I really liked. They weren’t bad at all and I genuinely got in to a few songs but I was sort of ready for their set to be over. I’m a jerk.

Now, there are good and bad things about going to shows alone. While I waited for Grizzly Bear to get setup, I got a dose of the bad. I had managed to work my way up to stage center, one person back from the stage. Behind me was a fully packed ballroom at this point and I needed to use the bathroom. Damn that bottled water. I still can’t say if I made the right decision, but I decided my place by the stage was more important. That decision impacted the rest of the show for me.

I tried to distract myself. I stared at the bass clarinet on stage. HS band memories turned out to be a weak distraction. I was desperate. I made up back stories for the preppy couple beside me and how they were enemies of the hippie kids on the other side of me. By the time Grizzly Bear took the stage, I had picked sides in this non-existent feud. I had no basis other than the fact that preppy girl was wearing a button down shirt with a little red scarf around her neck. All that stood between her and a career as a flight attendant was a roller suitcase. I bet she has one, too. Between that scarf, her new 3GS, and the judging looking she kept sending out, I decided I hated her. The hippie kids won by default, despite being the same group who were giving shout-outs to the opening band. I still really needed to use the bathroom. Damn.

Grizzly Bear finally filed out on the stage. I don’t know if their stage setup was music or philosophy-based, but I thought it was cool. They lined up right across the stage. I had done well choosing sides. I was at the multi-instrumentalist end, not the drum kit side. As mentioned, I was the poser fan, so quite a few songs, which I assumed to be from Yellow House, fell on virgin ears. But I dug them. I got really excited when the bass clarinet got some love. I can honestly say it was my first experience having a clarinet shake the floor around me and send pulses through my body. “Sweet.” And that was cool on its own, but it also seemed to trigger the unleashing of the entire band. I think we were all caught up in a trance. I couldn’t standstill. It’s one of those moments in a show where you close your eyes and let the music flow thru you. I didn’t think about all that water I drank or how it was past 10 o’clock for that entire segment. I did however think how much more I would be digging this if I were only a few years younger again. My back was hurting. But those jams flooded in to a set of songs from Veckatimest, so I could actually sing along, helping disguise my pains. Awesome. I was as fascinated by hearing my fave songs as I was by finally having a face behind each voice I’d been blindly singing along to for weeks. I just can’t get enough of “While You Wait For the Others” (KCRW radio premiere). If it’s about what I think it might be, it’s an absolutely beautiful way to express it. And even though “Two Weeks” is essentially the same line repeated over and over, it is such a marvelous line to repeat.

When they left the stage, it was already 11:30p. I paused for a moment and decided I’d give priority to the bathroom this time. I scurried out of the bathroom in time to perch myself in the back of the room to take in the encore, an acoustic set of “All We Ask”. Would have loved to see it from my spot but it was cool to watch it over the flood of people with a place to half sit. My mind was free of any physical worries and could just absorb the sounds. It was nearly midnight when they finally left the stage. I happily grabbed my free show poster and hoped the bus was on its way. It pulled up in 5 minutes and after copying over my photos, I was smothered in my bed just before 1am. So even though I began the show feeling old and left feeling even older, I do hope to see them again…maybe on a weekend…before 10pm :) And to everyone who has told me to check out this band for the last few years, I do wish I’d listened to you sooner. So many bands, so little time. Perhaps I was meant to come across them at this juncture, though, and work my way back. It’s been that way with so many others.

I ended up only recording songs I didn’t know. Here’s footage of Little Brother. Take note of the 12-year-old’s surrounding me.

And you can check out all the show photos, here.

Setlist (from setlist.fm):

  1. Southern Point
  2. Cheerleader
  3. Lullaby
  4. Little Brother (Electric Version)
  5. Service Bell
  6. Knife
  7. Colorado
  8. Fine For Now
  9. Two Weeks
  10. Shift (Alternate Version)
  11. Ready, Able
  12. Foreground
  13. While You Wait For The Others
  14. Fix It
  15. On A Neck, On A Spit
  16. Encore: All We Ask (Acoustic)

And on Saturday before my night at The Fillmore, I got a chance to check out Tosca at the War Memorial Opera House. It may have topped the others for me. It was incredible. The mezzo soprano just melted my being. The lady I met at the last opera has been emailing me any special offers she gets, so I got tickets 50% off. So awesome. Beautiful way to spend a Saturday night. The bus ride up & down Van Ness is such an extremely mixed crowd; it’s hilarious. I give bonus points to every couple I see on there in formal wear sitting next to crackheads.