May 25 2008: The Benders - Middle Earth Music Hall, Bradford VT

Caitlin and I had planned to see this show on June 1. But then we figured out that it was happening the weekend prior, aka the weekend my folks and sister would be in town. So after a little thought we just decided to pack Mom, Dad and Anna into the car and head north.

It was the last show to take place at Middle Earth, and for their last hurrah the owners flew various Benders members in. The guy on slide came from Taiwan. Bassist from Flagstaff. Guitarist from Nashville. And Bow (banjo) and the mandolin player were already around, presumably with nothing better to do.

It was a great show. The Benders are Caitlin's favorite group, and she used to see them all the time in Boston before they scattered. And they were fabulous live. Played all the hits, and a bunch of tunes I didn't know but really really really enjoyed. Bow was great to hear sing and play, and bassist's songs were nearly as good as Bow's. Amazing slide and mandolin playing. Dad said afterwards that he'll probably never see any group so talented play again.

And, um, the second encore was started up with "Stairway to Heaven." I'm not shitting. And yeah, it sounded about as rough as you'd imagine it would. Shame they hadn't just stopped after one encore, which ended perfectly with "Can't Wait." And man was it fun to hear "Can't Wait" live.

Finally hit the road at 1230am, and rolled back into Northampton a few minutes before three. Caitlin and I in the front with gas station coffees, the lion's share of my immediate family asleep in the back. Good times.

May 7 2008: The Hold Steady - Andrus Field, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT

The Hold Steady! They played! A free show at Wesleyan University to celebrate the end of the semester! Afternoon rock and roll! Yeah! And the place just was crawling with drunk kids. Amongst them, three guys shotgunning bud lights. One of whom, the one without a shirt but with FUCK SCHOOL written across his chest, vomited it all back thirty seconds later. High fives ensued. Oh yeah!

And it was a pretty great show. I arrived about twenty minutes before they started playing and there were a bunch of folks on a hill facing the stage, getting all fucked up. Maybe fifty folks were standing at the stage. I went and found the table where they gave me a green wristband so that I could drink the beers I'd brought without getting hassled by the cops, headed for the stage, opened my first one, and pretty soon the band came out and started with a new tune called "Constructuve Summer," which segued right into "Hot Soft Lights." Then "Stuck Between Stations," then "The Swish."

As I say, it was pretty great. I took my shoes off and felt the grass between my toes. The band played a couple other new tunes, none of which I'd heard before, and some old tunes but nothing I hadn't heard before. The new one "Stay Positive" sounded pretty good. And "Stevie Nix" into "Multitude of Casualties" into "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" in the middle was lots of fun. Craig, to my amusement, had to chuckle his way through the "You don't have to go to the right kind of school" line in "You Can Make Him Like You." And the show ended after an hour with "Chips Ahoy" into "Killer Parties." Some folks yelled for another song, but most of the crowd just took another sip of whatever they were drinking (and they sure were drinking some awful stuff - until today I hadn't seen anyone with an OE forty since, uh, college), and that was that. I headed back to the car and was home by five. I can't imagine a better way to have spent the afternoon.