The Weekend #1

Hi there!
We had a pretty eventful weekend, you could say. This is why I named the blog 'The Weekend' (the pronounced 'thee', thats how good this weekend was).

NB: There are two parts to this blog, the second installment will be up in a few days

Anyway...

On Friday night (April 1st) Drew, Peter and I went to see An Emerald City, The Checks and Alizarin Lizard play at Sammys (an awesome venue which ya'll should check out). We went primarily for The Checks, as they are one of our fav bands and one of HBs influences. I was rather excited because I hadn't seen The Checks play in a while, and rumour had it they were going to play some new songs (they didn't, they were just really old songs I hadn't heard before so new to me). I was also pumped to see An Emerald City, because they are unbelievably EPIC. They opened for the Datsuns when they played Sammys in '09, and blew my mind with their distorted violin and electric percussion fused with psychedelic gats and bass. The gig was awesome.

But one thing constantly bothers me whenever I go to a Checks gig.

Why are so many of their fans tall, jocky, speights drinking male idiots? I just don't understand it. The Checks are truly a crossover band, with enough indie cred to keep those hipsters happy, enough heaviness to keep us HB kids happy, and enough pop cred (radio play to you) to keep the first year girls happy. That I can understand.

But guys like this?

Sorry if you know this guy...

Now, I'm not usually a hatin' type of girl. Well... sometimes I am. But not usually one to discriminate against people at gigs. We're all there for the same reason right? The Music?

Now I'm inclined to think perhaps not.

So it's after Alizarin Lizard and Drew and I were keen on getting up the front. So we joined the throng at the front of the stage and quietly slipped into position, with me sitting on a wee jutting out bit right in front of the middle of the stage (effectively where the singer would stand eg. prime real estate). We had a bunch of extremely drunk and raucous young'uns to our left (although they were all about a foot taller than either of us), and some even larger guys to our right. Then one of the large guys on our right sat right next to me and began shuffling against me, effectively pushing me right off my perch. I was all 'bro, wtf' and he was all 'wtf' back. I said 'Can't you see me sitting here' and he just looked at me like I was mad (I was getting a bit mad at this point) and then just continued to shimmy his behind against mine until I was 'half-on' the seat (if you get my drift).

Somehow the cast of Friends never had this problem

So, admitting defeat, we went back to the back of the ever-growing throng (with the drunk young'uns at the front continously trying and failing to start a 'We Want The Checks' chant), and just chilled out. The Checks came on (to the delight of many), and launched into 'Take Me There', their most well-known and radio-friendly hit. All the large, drunk, rugby type guys around me went nuts, singing along and jumping up and down like tweens watching Bieber. But then as the set went on, and The Checks progressed into material from their new album, and old songs hardly anyone knew, the crowd began to thin. By the end of their last encore, we were standing about 3 or 4 rows from the front, without any pushing or jabbing of elbows at all. Hardly a large man in a rugby shirt and smurf beanie to be seen. I had a wee 'lol' to myself, as I thought of the guy who had usurped my position at the front was probably back at his flat on Castle Street, raving about how awesome The Checks were, even though he only stayed for the first two songs.

'Owwaooaaahhh Taeke Me Therrrre! I LOVE that song!!!'

I am honestly at a loss as to why so many idiotic large male students like The Checks so much but hey. It's just one of those funny wee things in life we must all accept. Like Richard Simmons.

That's all for now, but I'll be back with 'The Weekend #2' later in the week.