Wow. Well, first of all, this happened last Tuesday, but my computer's been fucked up so I'm just writing about it now. And yes, I did see them opening for Sunny Day Real Estate on Sunday at Terminal 5, and it was unreal and awesome. I was the only person going crazy for the Jealous Sound, which was cool since Pedro Benito gave me the setlist. But yeah, anyway, Tuesday was much much awesomer.
It started out pretty normal, me and my girlfriend getting to the venue half an hour early as usual, because we STILL can't figure out that 8:00 actually means 9:00. So we show up, and we start talking to this one girl Amanda who also got there early. It was about this time that the progressive meeting of the members of the band started. I forget exactly how it began, but we ended up getting into a conversation with the new drummer. He was telling us about being on the road, and telling his boss that he was going on tour with a rock band and how he got hired and stuff. He was just generally being really friendly. Then the new bassist, Josh, shows up and we start talking to him. Basically the same stuff, us asking questions about the band and them answering it. We did get to see the inside of their tour bus (Blair's parents' RV) though.
So we go inside after a while and Amanda meets up with her friend, and we're just kind of all standing around until the opening band starts. It was pretty torturous, I'm not going to lie. A bunch of Williamsburg hipsters with a Moog singing really crappy shit that Williamsburg hipsters like. And to top it off, the lead singer was complaining about how bright the lights are. What? You're a PERFORMER, we are supposed to SEE you. But me and Katherine were both in pretty high spirits, considering how we had just met half of The Jealous Sound (admittedly, the half we knew nothing about).
After the shitty opener ended, we went outside for respective cigarettes. It was at this point that we proceeded to notice that Pedro Benito was also having a cigarette about two yards away from us. He was having a conversation with another guy (Jeff, we met him later), but I went up to him and introduced myself as the guy who was singing along at the Sunny Day Real Estate Show. He remembered me. We talked for a while (well, mostly he talked), and I learned lots of secrets. Apparently, according to him, he was partially responsible for getting Sunny Day back together with the original lineup, and for the Postal Service even existing. He also told me the REAL reason why The Jealous Sound was on hiatus for so long, but I don't think I'm at liberty to reveal that information.
After this, we went back inside the club and witnessed a truly awesome set from the band. Actually, it was the same set they opened with for Sunny Day, but the energy was much much better. And at the end, Blair played Turning Around alone on stage. When everyone else left, I thought he was going to play a Knapsack song, but whatever. I like Turning Around. Anyway, after they finished (no encore, they played every single song they had practiced) there was a line to meet Blair. But we (me and Katherine and Amanda and Jeff at this point) figured, hey, we met the rest of the band, we might as well. After a lot of awkward standing around and waiting for other people, we finally met Blair Shehan. I asked him about his old Les Paul Goldtop, and we talked about San Francisco and the Bay Area and being a musician. It was really really cool.
So, in conclusion, The Jealous Sound is an awesome band and they're all really nice. I don't think I could have lived with myself if they were assholes, so I'm glad. I don't have to kill myself. And they're officially back together and recording new stuff soon, so I'm psyched. Great night.
