Street Scene 07: Day One Highlights

(the crowd and stage for Muse)

Okay, so I was pissed off when I got to the lovely Coors Amplitheatre and they were charging $10 for parking. In the dirt parking lot. Motherf**kers. But I’m not one to let that kind of stuff get in the way of getting my show on. So here is how it went…

2.15-2.45: Walked around to get an idea how things were laid out. Got meat on a stick.
2.55-3.25: Met up with Roger and Sara at the Plaza de Mexico stage where Dirty Sweet were on. Also ran into Rosey. Weird to hear Dirty Sweet in the daytime, but the crowd was digging it.
3.25 - 3.55: Got a beer and headed towards the Coronado Stage.
3.55 - 4.40: Matt Costa on the Coronado Stage. Nice little indie rock band that gets to keep their membership in the Indie Rock club for having a song with whistling in it and for playing the harmonica.
4.40-5.20: Hung out near the Plaza de Mexico stage with the Supersuckers as background music. But instead of watching the band, we were enthralled by the band’s kids - who were hanging out together and were so punk rock. The oldest one was about 6 and had long, curly hair and was wearing huge sunglasses. He was shirtless and wearing black jeans and a studded belt. And he already had all sorts of rock star moves. The two other kids were equally punk rock - the girl had long hair and was dressed in all black (including a skull t-shirt) and the youngest one had a mohawk. They were running around giving us a show that was much more interesting than what was going on over yonder. After they were done, we headed towards the Captain Morgan stage.
5.20- 6.05: Kinky on the Capt Morgan stage. I really liked their set. Rock en espanol is still rock. Standout songs were “Mas” and their cover of Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio”.
6.05-6.40: Headed to the Pacific Stage and found seats in section 101, about halfway through the rows. This would be our perch for the rest of the day.
6.40-7.10: Augustana on the Pacific Stage. First thing to comment on is that Dan cut his hair!

They played a short set (six songs) that was half old stuff ("Stars and Boulevards”, “Wasteland” and “Boston” of course) and some new stuff. “I Still Ain’t Over You” has been arranged differently since the last time I heard it and I’m liking the new version.
7.10-7.30: Thumb twiddling until Jack’s Mannequin comes on.
7.30-8.15: Jack’s Mannequin on the Pacific Stage. Andrew (who was wearing a “Free Lindsay” tee) is looking good - he seems to have gained some weight after being super skinny during his recovery from leukemia. He’s still his manic and entertaining self on stage. Their set was filled with fan faves - from my personal favorite “Dark Blue” as the opener to “Made for Each Other/Breathe” to end the show. In between, Andrew kept the energy high and got us involved during “La La Lie” where we sang along with. (William Beckett from The Academy Is.... came out and led the crowd with the “la la lie” chorus.) There were a lot of fans around me - I heard someone else singing along at various points in the set, especially during “Mixed Tape”.
8.15-8.45: more time killing
8.45-9.45: P!@TD on the Pacific Stage. Without the theatrics of their set decorations/themes/costumes, etc. Brenden and the boys just came out and hit it. The crowd was happy to hear all their faves like “London”, “Lying” and “Sins” (abbreviated for my sanity, full titles if you rawk on). Plus they had a little fun during “Camisado”, teasing the Police’s “Roxanne”. But the surprise of the night? Their surprisingly good cover of The Band’s “The Weight”. They also played a couple of new songs, which seem to be well received.
9.45-10.15: As we watched them completely clear the stage and start to bring in all of Muse’s equipment, we knew we were in for a good one. 3 LED screens, lighting, fog, and other shenanigans were all being tested. There was a point where they tested a star background, which was obviously for “Starlight”. They did not come out soon enough.....
10.15-11.30: Muse at the Pacific Stage. They opened the set with the epic “Knights of Cydonia” and absolutely killed it. And continued to kill it for the rest of their set. An early crowd favorite was “Hysteria” - the crowd sang along to the “I want it now” lyrics in the chorus and you could see a sea of camera and cell phones getting their photo ops in. After “Hysteria” was “Supermassiveblackhole” where Matt and his falsetto seduced us like it does every time we hear it. And then the three song sequence of “Invincible”, “Time is Running Out” and “Starlight” showed us exactly why Muse belongs in big venues - can I use the word epic again? “Starlight” was especially cool - it is such a good song and that star background did come out....

For the encore, they had a JFK quote running on one of the screens.....something about us being Americans that stand for liberty and freedom. And then they came out and wowed us more...especially the set ending “Stockholm Syndrome”.

11.30-11.50: As I walked to my car and got out of the parking lot clusterf**k way faster than anyone ever should (plus beat traffic by going the back way out of the venue), I can say that I definitely got my money’s worth for day. Muse alone was worth it. But add all the other bands that I already like plus getting to see a band like Kinky as part of the mix, that just puts the nail in the coffin.

P.S. Full set lists for Augustana, Jack’s Mannequin and P!@TD if you rawk on.