my car was shaking like a mofo for some reason most of the way. We actually ended up getting to LA like four hours before we expected (we sorely overestimated the time it takes to get there), so I called up my old roommate Max who lives in LA. We went to a record store (I got New Day Rising on vinyl), then we went to this Jewish deli and got sandwiches, then we went and hung out at the La Brea tar pits. It was pretty cool.So me and Katherine are really tired at this point, but we can't go and rest in the hostel (which was pretty nice but also sort of expensive for a hostel). We had to go quickly, get changed, and go to the show. The Troubadour was a short drive away, but we had to spend a while looking for parking. All the parking we found was either no parking at night after a certain time, or it was permit parking only. Speaking of which, its really weird how in LA the residential areas just sort of blend in to the city. Its like a huge suburb. Anyway, we eventually found parking five or so blocks away from the venue and set on our jolly way.
After we got in to the venue, we got in line to buy merch. There was nobody selling any merch at the time, but we really had nothing better to do. We ended up talking to this guy in line for a while. His band is possibly playing the Fest this year, which I'm going to (oh yes), so maybe we'll see him there. When the merch lady finally showed up, I got a t-shirt and a poster and Katherine got a different t-shirt and poster. So the first band, Globes, plays. I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been so tired and impatient, but at the time it seemed like they were playing forever. Finally they finished and after a quick(ish) set up AOL came out to play.
Don't get me wrong- I love Archers of Loaf. I really do. But I really only know Vee Vee and Icky Mettle and a little bit of All The Nation's Airports. So when they spent the first 45 minutes of their set playing stuff off of more recent albums (the only one they played that I recognized was Harnessed in Slums), I can't deny I was a little disappointed. After all, I was going to have spent upwards of 12 hours of driving time in two days specifically to see them. So I was very relieved when they started playing Plumb Line and proceeded to end out their set (minus the two encores) with mostly Icky Mettle songs. That's when things really started to get crazy. There was a guy on the floor praying; at first I thought he had passed out, then I thought he was really Christian. Turns out he just really likes Archers of Loaf. Their encores were mostly Vee Vee and Airports stuff too, so I was still pretty pumped (as was everybody else). Even the mid-30's/early-40's aging hipsters were getting into it.So yeah, all in all it was a great trip, albeit a short one. The next day we got brunch on Santa Monica Boulevard and drove all the way home with only one short stop for gas. I'm not going to lie, my back got very sweaty from sitting so long. But if a sweaty back is the price I pay for seeing a band that I have wanted to see for years but never thought I could, then I would have gone even if I had two backs. Amen to that.
