Alright...

Alright, so I went to the Dave Matthews Starlake opener last night. It was also his summer kickoff show. Honestly, I had no idea I was going, let alone driving. I met up with Heather and Sarah at the salsafied cafe and was convinced to attend. Then, encouraged to play the usual role of limo driver, except, via Subaru. Our group was semi-disorganized, yet sturdy and determined. Fortunately, I cleaned out my car the day before - it was a pig sty. We made it to the lot around 6pm and hooked up with The Dub and his crew. Nearby was Jenn, Amanda and her crew. Taligated for a bit and I snagged a mail order ticket off some dude in the lot for $20. I thought about working the buy and sell angle but just didn't feel like it. Jenn was envious of my mail order ticket and wanted to trade for her standard one. I declined - an omen of things to come.
They all went into the show as I finished off a beer. When I went to the old lady scanning the tickets, she scanned and it came back negative. No fucking beep noise. "Are you kidding me?" She looks down at the ticket and explains it's for Saturday, the following night. I'm a little astonished. I never bothered to check the date. I just assumed it was a go, especially since it was a mail order. So I gather my wits and head back to the dumpster area and look for a ticket. Very little action at this point, since it was going into the third song. I ran into this one guy and he offers me a ticket for $30. I try to get him down to $20, but I'm tired of haggling and I give him the thirty. I bum another beer, drink it, and head down to the same old lady. "Alright, let's try this one." She scans it. No fuckin' beep. She softly explains, "I'm sorry sir, this ticket has already been used." This time I'm pissed, not at her, but at myself. I let that fuckhead sell me a used ticket. UNBELIEVABLE. What am I? Some kind of concert going newbie.
Anyway, I take a deep breath and head back to the car. There's group of 4 people hanging out near my car in the VIP lot. They sense my dismay and this one guy asks me, "Hey, what's up?" I respond, "You don't want to know." This guys is just like me, looking for a floorshow or some side entertainment. I go into the prolonged explanation of how I got a ticket for the wrong night and then bunked. His girlfreind says they have an extra and she insists on giving it to me. He tries to charge me for it but she insists. Alright, so I get miracled at a DMB show and the original Saturday mail order ticket is still usable, even though it was scanned.
I missed about 5 songs but made up for it with about 3 extra beers. I squirmed my way to the box seats where my original crew was. KILLER seats. Definitely among the best. As for the show itself, hats off too Jenn D. for calling the Don't Drink The Water opener. She studies these DMB setlists though. I blame myself. I think she takes after me with the Dead setlists.
I thought the show could have been a bit stronger song-wise but there was some great energy. I don't care for Grey Street as one of their closer songs. I thought the encore would be the song about his sister, but I was thinking Grace is Gone - it turned out to be the other song about his sister. I was surprised by the small crowd. The grass lot and VIP sections were a little over half full. Kind of low for a nice weather Friday night. Maybe it's the economy, but hey, isn't Dave the king of the rich-white-college-girl crowd? That's actualy why I like him - DMB is a marketing machine. F'in A.
The ride home took an extra half hour. I'm not going to explore this part of the night in print. Dropped everyone off at the house and hit the Alpha. I'm taking my crew up to Pittsburgh today. They just want dropped off and they're going to dinner and the Penguins game #4. I'll pick them up around midnight. Guess where I'll be in the interim? That's right - round 2. Can't let that ticket go to waste. I think it may be the first time in the history of Starlake that someone shows up in an empty limo. Dare to dream...