pop's was interesting... the gps had me get off the highway an exit too soon and we got to see a real live hooker tottering along the gravel on the side of the road wearing high heels, a mini skirt and a sparkly tank top... excitement! i had never been there before and will probably never go back... the show was good but i spent the entire night terrified that we were going to come out and the car would either be broken into or totally gone... so on to the show... they had a divider up that blocked off the side of the venue with the "big" stage... it made sense though because there was still plenty of room in front of the "small" stage... i liked them, but ninja gun got no love from the crowd... it was still pretty empty so alex r. and benny were out in the crowd watching their set... the loved ones were absolutely amazing... dave... wow... i had to look up the name of the song but when they played "massive" i totally fell in love with them... i bought both of the cds that they had for sale at the show and they kept me company on my long ass drive to omaha the next day... it seemed like there were a bunch of people there mainly for MBD because it cleared out a bit after they were done... personally i don't get it... gaslight was (of course) totally amazing... i put the setlist up here: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-gaslight-anthem/2009/pops-sauget-il-43d7936f.html some between song highlights included bringing one of the guys from the loved ones out on stage and letting the crowd vote if he should keep growing out a beard... "wait... we're not really interested in the deep voices here... so ladies... beard or no beard?" and brian doing a prince impression and then telling us that "i got a gold tooth but not a purple suit"... we had to bail pretty much the second the show was over because my friend had to get home...
next day... sokol underground... it totally sucks that they didn't have a bigger turnout... my friends bought tickets the day before and had #'s 62 & 63... the fact that it started pouring about 10 minutes before doors probably didn't help much either... that said it was kind of a treat to see them in such a little place with such a small crowd... i liked ninja gun ever more the second time around... the loved ones were good as well but seemed to be lacking a little of the energy from the previous day... still wasn't digging MBD so i took an extended smoke break out in the rain... we were about 4 or 5 people back on the left side and ended up 2nd row about halfway through gaslight... it was a little crazy but only right in the middle... brian actually stopped the show at one point because of a fight... the set seemed shorter but i still need to reconstruct it from video clips... they did do left of the dial... before the encore instead of yelling for "one more song" the crowd started chanting "It's alright, man, I'm only bleeding, man. Stay hungry, stay free, And do the best you can." over and over... kind of cool... they came back out but only for 2 more songs... interesting crowd... the usual supsects but then i also saw a dad with his son who was probably around 11 years old... kid looked super excited to be there... the dad not so much... and there was a guy around my age with a date who looked so out of place i felt really bad for her... she was wearing kakhi shorts and heels and a red sweater and she was carrying some big ass designer purse... i'm old but at least i try to blend in haha...
will try to get some pictures & video up soon... hoping the video i took on friday with my friend's flip turned out better than what i got on my camera on thursday
Subject: sauget & omaha 
Sun Sep 13, 2009 3:55 pm
