The Show That Wasn't: X @ Double Door, CHI 6/19/09
Riley and I live in different cities. We don’t go to many shows together. So, when we made plans to go to Phish shows on 6/20 and 6/21 we figured, BRILLIANT! We’ll go see X play the Friday before in Chicago. Not a bad idea. We’d both been wanting to see them on this request tour they’ve been playing.
The trouble really comes in when we get the invite to a going way party for a friend who’s moving to NY. We figure the party starts at 8 and the concert is at 9, so we’ll go to the party at 9 and there’s no way X is gonna go on before 11. I think doors were at 830 or 9 and Steve Soto and The Twisted Hearts were opening. 10:30 at the earliest they’d come on.
Back at our going away party things seemed on schedule. We even turned down the all you can drink deal. ‘No we’re leaving soon for a concert.’ But the beers started flowing, tequila was poured, and poured again, more people arrived… Finally we had to leave. It was after 11, but not by much. We were at Double Door by 11:15. We walked in grab a couple PBR bottles and settled into our stage right position. Just in time for them to finish a song and exclaim, “THANK YOU, CHICAGO!!!”
We were miffed. I mean yeah the band’s a little older now and sure they’re from California, but F@ck. This is a punk band right? They play ‘til 11:15 on a Friday?
We watched the encore still kind of amazed that we’d missed basically the entire show. They did play my favorite tune “Burnin’ House Of Love.” That was cool. We got to catch at least a few of Billy Zoom’s licks. But we finished our beers and by 11:30 it was all over. They were done and we missed almost all of it.
Oh well, back to the party I guess…oh tequila…...
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I did the same thing for The National last year when they played Central Park in NYC. Being a transplant New Yorker, I can only go on past experience and most of the venues in the town start extremely late. Having some friends in from the midwest, I decide to take them to a concert I think they might enjoy. The ticket says 5 pm but no big deal that's just when the doors open. I was just at Fleet Foxes the other night and they didn't come out until 10:30 (whoops). We sit down for food, come back and hear that they are playing. *Oh Crap!* Then we walk in to find out they are playing THE ENCORE. Saw a song and a half (and I'm glad they didn't end with Gospel because I would've had a hard time appreciating it). I've seen that band 4 times and I have yet to see a full performance of there's. It's fate or something. At least I paid for my friend's tickets.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, sorry for the rant...Just thought I'd share a similar tale. It always gives you that feeling like when you realize you lost your wallet or your car keys. Sucks.
Juice, thanks for sharing. Glad to know we're not the only ones to have that Homer Simpson, 'DOH!' feeling.
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