status check - good
background ambiance - tv (desperate housewives - whee!)
have you seen this pink blur? be warned - this monstrosity is the embodiment of concert spoilage. a fan of the lousy slightly stoopid, this otherwise lame-but-oblivious person became the target my disdain during ss's set, as michelle and i tried to escape the wretched "we're dispatch on seriously drowsy medication" sounds that filled the orpheum last night.
why this pink-clad, trucker-hat-high-and-backwards fellow? because he was among the rowdy minions who made the staff decide to not allow out-of-state licenses without a second form of ID at the drink station - not to mention the decision to forbid a duplicate ID in any attempt to purchase. so, since i don't live in boston yet and i lost my original ID, i wasn't even able to try drinking the music out of my head. yet this guy, who looked all of 17 and probably had a lovely new fake ID? he walked by me with his overflowing cup of alcoholic goodness - and my 24-year-old-competely-legal-for-three-years self wound up directing all my faux-rage at him.
so, without even a cup of beer (which i would have happily consumed, i didn't like slightly stoopid so much), i instead stood with michelle in the lobby, watching staff kick out drunk, stoned, rowdy or oblivious people out of the orpheum during the stupid set. which actually proved far more amusing than one might think. i couldn't believe the crowd there last night ... it really seemed as if every truly obnoxious person i've ever known was cloned and handed tickets. but perhaps i should have expected it? the gramatical atrosity of slightly stoopid's name alone turned me off - i imagine that's part of the appeal for the "oh damn we're too late for the grateful dead" crowd.
why am i starting off the post on such a sour note? so i can get my good-natured bitching out of the way early. the fact of the matter is that i had a fabulous time during my return to the orpheum last night. i walked in excited to see tristan perform (again - it's been funny to realize how frequently she's performed in this area lately - thanks, t!), walked out with a mini-crush on garrett (g. love).
i went to the show to see tristan. well, truth be told, i went to the show because michelle bought me the ticket as a birthday present - i didn't know until yesterday afternoon whether we were seeing t&g or ari hest at the paradise (it was a surprise. note to michelle: good selection and thank you again!). but upon being told that the orpheum was the "venue has an e in the name, you've been there in the past 12 months and we can get there either by driving or by taking the t to a green line stop" she referred to, i was psyched to see tristan again before she returns to the west coast.
and she was fabulous - again. the set was short (as to be expected, as she was the first act of the night), but she included "guest check," "love love love," and "evaporated." not to mention a brand new song that i really dug. the slightly stoopid crowd was absurdly rude, shouting throughout her set, but she made sure to playfully threaten to kick their asses, so we were whooping for her from our seats in the balcony.
and after the whole lobby hangout episode, we went back to our seats to be thoroughly impressed by g. love. i was shocked - i'd seen g. love perform five years ago and wasn't overly crazy about the performance (funny anecdote: we actually left g. love's woodstock set so we could be sure to get over to the other stage and see lit perform. hmm. g. love's still around ... can't say the same for lit). but the set was a crazy kind of fabulous. i'd recommend anyone catch a live show - the music that doesn't come off overly well on an album just needs a space to fill, while g. love brings a legs-pumping-body-dancing-with-attitude charm to his performance. i was singing along to songs i didn't even think i remembered and falling for the funk/blues/r&b/hip-hop flavor presented.
the evening's expectations were beyond fulfilled by the time garrett invited tristan onstage to perform "beautiful, beautiful." singing along and cheering accompanied said song.
as we walked away from the theater after stopping by to say hi to tristan, i danced around a bit and realized the show was a great cap to a delightful day. after arriving in southie, michelle and i headed into the city and wandered the common, tremont, boylston, washington street and the north end. admittedly, we were limping our way to the orpheum by the time doors opened, as we were both wearing shoes not suited for distance walking (my feet still ache), but we laughed, chatted and took photographs throughout it all. not just fine holiday fun. grand holiday fun.
walking through the city, i again vowed to get there sooner rather than later. after the alcohol fiasco, i added a side vow: to go to a show there after moving and acquiring a massachusetts driver's license. i'm going to order a beer and take a big ol' swig of it right in front of the table. and laugh.
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