"it's getting biblical out there"

so, last night was the beck show. and for a show that i felt kind of indifferent about since the day we ordered the tickets, i had the best time ever! it was really a totally amazing, awesome, incredible show! let's start from the beginning...

the entire east coast was drenched and flooded yesterday by this insane crazy rainstorm that lasted for like 2 days. driving to the show, which is about an hour and a half away from where i live, sucked just a bit at first. we left in what we thought was plenty of time to get there and get a good place in the pit. the traffic wasn't too bad, but it was really difficult to see, people were driving slow, etc. the roads were totally flooded in a lot of places. but it was okay. until we got to philly. HOLY CRAP! we missed the exit for the bridge, and then we ended up finding it and got to camden, nj where the show was. cool, we thought. we made it, no accidents, plenty of time. well, we somehow screwed up again and ended up in THE SHITTIEST part of camden ever. and camden is pretty bad; it made #1 on the "dangerous cities" list last year. but, then again, the city i live in was on that list, too, at like #4 or #8 or something on the medium-sized city list. anyhoo, we ended up nearly stalling the car and getting stranded in what can only be described as a small pond. 2 people in front of us tried to get through, and failed. we didn't want that. we somehow made it through (yay!) but that didn't change the fact that we were still lost. so chris goes into some convenience store and asked for directions. the girl told him the wrong directions, and he knew it. so then we see a cop at another convenience store and asks a him directions. the cop and this other guy tell him that the whole area is flooded, and we should seek higher ground and just go home. we were like, ?!?!? yeah right! he said, "there is no ingress or egress!! turn back now!! get a refund and take the high road!!!" *LOL*

it was funny that we went through so much to get there. we were both totally relieved that we made it in one piece. it was also funny that the tweeter center was literally right down the road from where we stopped for directions. and the sad thing is, i'd been to the tweeter center before, many times! ahhhh, i'm such a tool.

but it was all worth it. there was hardly anyone there when we arrived, so we got in the front row. yay! and beck just kicked ass. it was the last night of the tour, so he warned that he was going to be "long-winded" and he did indeed play a good mix of stuff. some entire songs, some medleys: "pay no mind," "truckdriving neighbors downstairs," "where it's at," "novacane," "hotwax," "debra," "he's a mighty good leader," "lonesome tears," "do you realize??", "lost cause," "hell yes," "black tambourine," "e-pro," "nicotine and gravy," "mixed bizness," "golden age," "tropicalia," "clap hands," uhhhh...i can't think of any more right now. oh yeah, "loser." it was really just incredible. beck thanked us all for braving the storm, and mentioned that it was "getting biblical out there." the roof was leaking onto the stage and everything. it was just SUCH a great show, one of the best beck shows i've ever seen. and front row makes any show better. i'm usually totally impressed with beck live, but this show was just GREAT! woo-hoo!

some good moments for me: during the acoustic "tropicalia," beck wanted audience participation with the horns at the end. well, like NO ONE was doing it, except me and this girl behind me. beck pointed to us and said, "well, at least some people over here know it." we were like, damn right! and then during the acoustic "debra," he paused after "i wouldn't do you like that..." and me and the same girl screamed out "zankou chicken!!!" and beck closed his eyes and went, "yeeeaaahhhhh..." and it was funny. beck was personable as usual, and his band this time around is awesome. they definitely had a good stage thing going, what with the dinner break and everything. i wish i hadn't read about that before the show, and was surprised. they brought out a table and the band sat down to dinner while beck did his acoustic stuff, and they ended up banging on the silverware and providing percussion for "clap hands." it was very cool. i read reviews about beck not being very energetic lately, but i didn't find that to be the case at all. he broke out a couple sweet dance moves. no splits or anything, but there were moments that he couldn't resist.

i've got a coupla crappy camera phone pics...but they really aren't that special. there was one point where beck was standing directly in front of me with his banjo and a crazy look on his face, and chris tried to get a pic, but all he got was a blur becuase beck jumped off whatever he was standing on at that exact moment. blah.


this fine fellow has groovy pics of the show, and also had a heckuva time getting there. man, the people who were there really deserved a kick-ass show, as we all risked life and limb to be there.

p.s. mcrorie was pretty good, too. he did an 80's metal medley that was pretty sweet.