Last Sunday I was able to participate in two of music's most honored rituals, the outdoor concert and the (mini) road trip.
I had been sitting on MySpace and for once I decided to read a band's bulletin, and thank God I did. Local Minneapolis band The Drive Back, whose shows have been few and far between lately, were announcing two upcoming gigs, the second of which was an opening slot for OK Go and The Hush Sound. Another key element to the announcement was the word "free." The concert was a college show and therefore had no promotion outside of the campus of Minnesota State University - Mankato. It was by pure chance that I had actually decided to read the one item announcing the concert, and on the day before no less.
My first hurdle was transportation. I didn't bring my car to college because I live only a short half hour trip from home and I live in the center of one of the largest cities in the Midwest. Thankfully, options were abound. I first ran it by my roommate who responded "Yes!" before I had finished telling him the plan. After further investigation however, we found out the show started at an appallingly early 4:30 which would not work with his schedule. I then turned to my girlfriend, Hailey, who is always up for these types of things, but I was unsure if she wanted to endure the extra driving time to pick me up. Unsurprisingly, she also agreed without second thought, and thankfully had no conflicts.
So, the next day my faithful lass picked me up at the consumer haven that is the Mall of America (salutes). First, we had to pick up the two essentials to a successful road trip: gas and snacks. Being the gentleman that I am, I paid for her gas and she picked up the tab for the snacks, which included: Vitamin Water, jalapeno and cheddar chips (for her, which ensured that I would not kiss her for the rest of the day), and Munchies Snack Mix for me. We convinced ourselves that the healthy benefits of the water would cancel out the garbage we would be filling our stomachs with.
With all the necessities accounted for, we hit the road with the iPod on shuffle and the windows down. It was an amazing day, nearly 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) and sunny. Hailey is quite impatient with shuffle, but with my assurance that we could indeed occasionally listen to a song that was not her absolute favorite, we managed to find some adequate driving music to sing along to. The two hour drive passed quickly mainly due to the sheer obnoxiousness that ensues whenever Hailey and I are within shouting distance of each other. Certainly the anticipation of seeing one of our collectively favorite artists, The Hush Sound, didn't help calm us down.
Seeing as neither of us had been to Mankato, let alone the University campus, we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. Luckily, there were people waiting to point us to free (!!!) special event parking a couple hundred yards from the stage. To continue our good luck, we showed up a couple of minutes before the show started and were able to score a spot about five people back.
The Drive Back opened with a half hour set of Copeland-esque rock, but with a little more teeth. The new song they played seemed to be shaping up nicely and I'm eagerly anticipating what they churn out in the studio this summer.
The Hush Sound took the stage next and I was surprised at the amount of cheers that awaited them. For being a smaller band on an indie label they had convinced quite a few fans to make the trip from the Minneapolis area. They were able to put on a surprisingly energetic set for a band that contains so much piano. With three quarters of the band in long sleeves on such a warm day, it definitely would have been sensible to tone it down a bit, but The Hush Sound was as rocking as ever. Their set consisted entirely of tracks off of their most recent album Like Vines, with the exception of “Crawling Towards the Sun” (off of So Sudden, a cover of The Cardigan’s “Lovefool,” (love me, love me, say that you love me) and a new track called “Honey” which will (presumably) show up on their next album. They sounded flawless outdoors and have the perfect vibe for open-air show.
OK Go ended the night with an energetic set of their danceable tunes. They put quite a few tricks into the set; going into the center of the crowd to play acoustically, getting offstage and running through the crowd while singing, and shooting obnoxious amounts of confetti which, because of the wind, came right back at the band. I am not the biggest fan of OK Go, but I cannot deny that I enjoyed seeing them live.
During OK Go’s set I had a chance to talk to Bob Morris, guitarist and vocalist from The Hush Sound. I told him that he didn’t need to be so modest (he had mentioned during the set that no one must own their first CD because of the lack of cheers for the sole song played from it) and that plenty of people had made the trip exclusively for them. He was surprised to hear that they were playing so far away from a major city and that they had been able to draw so many fans to the middle of nowhere. Bob also discussed The Hush Sound’s plans for the summer, which unfortunately will not include many shows, but thankfully will be consumed by the band writing and recording new material. After a short chat, I left Bob to spend time with his girlfriend.
I took the reins on the way home, which also meant that I had more control over the iPod. This mainly consisted of sing-a-longs to Take This To Your Grave, Fall Out Boy’s infectious second full-length. We had to stop for food at Arby’s which increased my guilt of eating things that are horrible for me but just taste too good to pass up. Later on we passed a Red Bull car, and thinking that it would be beneficial to my alertness, I rolled down the window and shouted for them to throw me one, but unfortunately they did not oblige. The drive home through the state with the windows down was a relaxing ending to an ideal day filled with great weather, company, and music.
