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walkitoutI tried to sleep in. T. wanted to do things. So he read a book out loud and I listened; that was fine. He also wanted me to help him pack a bag for something we are doing later on. I didn't want to do that but eventually succumbed which was a mistake. I should have had breakfast first. Oh well. Next time, T. and I are going to put together a packing list.
R. took T. to a birthday party at Trombetta's Farm. Fortunately the mini golf is mostly covered -- unexpected and very cool!
I took T. to Papa Razzi. He's a little bit of a celebrity there, so we always get great service and people are super friendly and attentive. I had brought a cooler and cold packs for our leftovers, so we could proceed from there to the garden in the car this time (we took the train on Friday). I had pre-bought parking, saving about $4. It's weird, if the train actually charged for T. (they should -- he's 12 now), the parking vs. the cost of the train two ways would be within a few dollars. But they don't charge for him yet. But we drove, because Sunday means traffic is minimal and the schedule on the train is pretty inconvenient (we actually would have missed the last train, in the event).
We got there at doors, so we had to wait in the security line for a while. We got drinks, snack, went to the loo, bought t-shirt and poster. T-shirt lines not nearly as bad, but that may have been because we were there earlier. I had the margarita again (manhattan at dinner).
First opener was K.Flay. I have no recollection of listening to her before; she was fine, energetic, used the (shorter) T to good effect.
Second opener was Grouplove. I like Grouplove. I might have gone to see them (in a smaller venue) as the main band. They are goofy and fun, and currently have green hair. They had costumed characters also with green hair come out as one of their bits. Some new material. Great inflatable props that look like teeth (teeth with grouplove spelled out up high, and a smaller batch of teeth on the stage). The woman was wearing a leopard print leotard and she is _very_ energetic. Nice set.
Main band was Imagine Dragons. This is the only band I've done the "verified fan" purchase, not because I'm a hard core fan but because I'd been buying resale and figured I'd put in some effort to try to get the presale code. It was worth it, in terms of the overall cost being lower for comparable quality of tickets. Obviously, Imagine Dragons is poppy and I like poppy rock so I've heard a lot of them, and I made a point of listening to Evolve in particular several times over the last few weeks. That said, I was stunned at how good the show was. They started late (after 9 p.m.) and ran until almost midnight (no encore -- they just ran the clock out). Fantastic light show -- at one point, there were bubbles, confetti, lasers all at once (with video, and those weird light pyramids). There were giant balloons that Reynolds was popping with the ubiquitous drum sticks. Oh, the drums! I knew this was a drum happy band -- I liked that about them -- but wow, there are moments where all four are merrily drumming away. It's like some weird Bumbershoot drum circle thing, only with excellent production. Another bit where the guitars were up front on the T, Reynolds was standing on his toes on the front of the drum platform, sharing the drums with the drummer. Fun stuff! Reynolds' presentation is tent revivalist / televangelist level grab the audience and mesmerize them into reverence. I hadn't expected that at all -- lots of could have been corny but were instead charismatic descriptive gestures. Big arms, and lots of other emphatic gestures which worked as a conductor of the band. The band itself is amazing -- super, super tight, and with Reynolds' doing his thing not as cold as on the album, but converts the audience into another participant in the band. The time just flew by, and T. decided to leave one song early to beat the rush (and he was tired) and I was a little sad.
While the t was short compared to FOB, there was second stage at the far end of the garden. They played a more intimate set including Tom Petty's Stand My Ground from that end of the arena. A Berklee music teacher of many of the band members was in the audience, and they got lights and video on him, which was a really sweet bit. They walked through the stadium to and from the small stage, including a lap around my section (unfortunately, T.'s and my seats were in the middle of my section). Sort of like what Bastille does, but with security looking a lot more nervous tagging along.
K.Flay came out to do a song with them towards the end of the show. K.Flay's style is very similar to Imagine Dragons, but wow, the scale is so different -- in every way. Reynold's is a tall guy, and that just emphasizes how tiny K.Flay is. And Imagine Dragons lyrics are really carefully designed to be performable in an arena _and understood_, which is a _rare_ thing. K.Flay's are not. But it worked well, and felt really nice.
Reynolds' talked a little bit about Las Vegas and Boston and the importance of unity and not letting people divide us. He also spent a while talking about the stigma of depression and anxiety and encouraging anyone with anything like that to have a therapist and described his own therapist as his best friend. It fits in well with his presentation as frontman -- very tent revival type of rock opera spirituality.
I was worried going into this weekend -- 6 bands in 3 days is a lot, especially with two different kid parties to go with. But I really enjoyed it (even with a migraine on the day in between). Fortunately, the horse canceled due to weather, which simplified the day a lot. I would not avoid seeing any of the bands again, and I would happily pay to see Grouplove, FOB or Imagine Dragons again as the main draw.
ETA: I canceled my iphone X order, because I have been unable to reach customer service or otherwise correct the incorrect shipping address on the order. I tried calling and chatting as soon as I placed the order last week, but they weren't taking calls or chats. I tried calling and chatting again on Sunday, spent a half hour on hold before giving up. I was able to link the order and thus finally get access to cancel it. I still don't understand what went wrong, but I'll eventually get around to re-ordering. I tried to reorder, but failed because the canceled needed to percolate through to my carrier.
R. took T. to a birthday party at Trombetta's Farm. Fortunately the mini golf is mostly covered -- unexpected and very cool!
I took T. to Papa Razzi. He's a little bit of a celebrity there, so we always get great service and people are super friendly and attentive. I had brought a cooler and cold packs for our leftovers, so we could proceed from there to the garden in the car this time (we took the train on Friday). I had pre-bought parking, saving about $4. It's weird, if the train actually charged for T. (they should -- he's 12 now), the parking vs. the cost of the train two ways would be within a few dollars. But they don't charge for him yet. But we drove, because Sunday means traffic is minimal and the schedule on the train is pretty inconvenient (we actually would have missed the last train, in the event).
We got there at doors, so we had to wait in the security line for a while. We got drinks, snack, went to the loo, bought t-shirt and poster. T-shirt lines not nearly as bad, but that may have been because we were there earlier. I had the margarita again (manhattan at dinner).
First opener was K.Flay. I have no recollection of listening to her before; she was fine, energetic, used the (shorter) T to good effect.
Second opener was Grouplove. I like Grouplove. I might have gone to see them (in a smaller venue) as the main band. They are goofy and fun, and currently have green hair. They had costumed characters also with green hair come out as one of their bits. Some new material. Great inflatable props that look like teeth (teeth with grouplove spelled out up high, and a smaller batch of teeth on the stage). The woman was wearing a leopard print leotard and she is _very_ energetic. Nice set.
Main band was Imagine Dragons. This is the only band I've done the "verified fan" purchase, not because I'm a hard core fan but because I'd been buying resale and figured I'd put in some effort to try to get the presale code. It was worth it, in terms of the overall cost being lower for comparable quality of tickets. Obviously, Imagine Dragons is poppy and I like poppy rock so I've heard a lot of them, and I made a point of listening to Evolve in particular several times over the last few weeks. That said, I was stunned at how good the show was. They started late (after 9 p.m.) and ran until almost midnight (no encore -- they just ran the clock out). Fantastic light show -- at one point, there were bubbles, confetti, lasers all at once (with video, and those weird light pyramids). There were giant balloons that Reynolds was popping with the ubiquitous drum sticks. Oh, the drums! I knew this was a drum happy band -- I liked that about them -- but wow, there are moments where all four are merrily drumming away. It's like some weird Bumbershoot drum circle thing, only with excellent production. Another bit where the guitars were up front on the T, Reynolds was standing on his toes on the front of the drum platform, sharing the drums with the drummer. Fun stuff! Reynolds' presentation is tent revivalist / televangelist level grab the audience and mesmerize them into reverence. I hadn't expected that at all -- lots of could have been corny but were instead charismatic descriptive gestures. Big arms, and lots of other emphatic gestures which worked as a conductor of the band. The band itself is amazing -- super, super tight, and with Reynolds' doing his thing not as cold as on the album, but converts the audience into another participant in the band. The time just flew by, and T. decided to leave one song early to beat the rush (and he was tired) and I was a little sad.
While the t was short compared to FOB, there was second stage at the far end of the garden. They played a more intimate set including Tom Petty's Stand My Ground from that end of the arena. A Berklee music teacher of many of the band members was in the audience, and they got lights and video on him, which was a really sweet bit. They walked through the stadium to and from the small stage, including a lap around my section (unfortunately, T.'s and my seats were in the middle of my section). Sort of like what Bastille does, but with security looking a lot more nervous tagging along.
K.Flay came out to do a song with them towards the end of the show. K.Flay's style is very similar to Imagine Dragons, but wow, the scale is so different -- in every way. Reynold's is a tall guy, and that just emphasizes how tiny K.Flay is. And Imagine Dragons lyrics are really carefully designed to be performable in an arena _and understood_, which is a _rare_ thing. K.Flay's are not. But it worked well, and felt really nice.
Reynolds' talked a little bit about Las Vegas and Boston and the importance of unity and not letting people divide us. He also spent a while talking about the stigma of depression and anxiety and encouraging anyone with anything like that to have a therapist and described his own therapist as his best friend. It fits in well with his presentation as frontman -- very tent revival type of rock opera spirituality.
I was worried going into this weekend -- 6 bands in 3 days is a lot, especially with two different kid parties to go with. But I really enjoyed it (even with a migraine on the day in between). Fortunately, the horse canceled due to weather, which simplified the day a lot. I would not avoid seeing any of the bands again, and I would happily pay to see Grouplove, FOB or Imagine Dragons again as the main draw.
ETA: I canceled my iphone X order, because I have been unable to reach customer service or otherwise correct the incorrect shipping address on the order. I tried calling and chatting as soon as I placed the order last week, but they weren't taking calls or chats. I tried calling and chatting again on Sunday, spent a half hour on hold before giving up. I was able to link the order and thus finally get access to cancel it. I still don't understand what went wrong, but I'll eventually get around to re-ordering. I tried to reorder, but failed because the canceled needed to percolate through to my carrier.