Guster

Last Friday, I got to see my favorite band for the fifth time.  Guster played at the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis but before that happened, a couple of comedians took the stage.

I've never seen a comedian open up for a band before.  And after the first comedian, maybe I know why.  The first comedian wasn't that good.  He was trying but the crowd wasn't that into him and I'm pretty sure I heard some laughs just for the sake of empathy.  What made this comedian's night even worse was the hecklers that were just three rows ahead of us.  First, I hate hecklers.  I think it's ridiculous what they do and the reasons they do it and if you want to learn more on that subject, watch the documentary, Heckler. The whole experience was just uncomfortable to watch.

After the first comedian bombed due to multiple circumstances, Jeff Garlin took the stage.  If you don't know who he is, he is best known as Jeff Greene on Curb Your Enthusiasm.  He came out and he said he doesn't have an act and that he just improvises.  I wasn't sure if I believed him at first but yes, it seems to be true especially since a lot of the dialogue on Curb Your Enthusiasm is improvised.  He was already well aware of the hecklers and he was just waiting for the right moment for them to speak so he could rip them apart and that's exactly what Jeff did.  He went off on them for minutes to the point where he wanted one of the guys to come on stage and told him he gets 30 seconds to talk.  He came on stage and sat there for a minute all stupid-looking (really) and then finally started into a bit about the metric system.  I really think there was more than one screw loose in this dude's head.

Jeff and the Idiot

Jeff finished his show and I was finally ready for the part I came for....Guster!

Guster was acoustic all night and it was so awesome. We've been lucky enough for the past few concerts to be pretty close to the stage and so we were in the 4th row on the right side on the aisle.  The sound was perfect!  I also loved the style of show and they played some oldies and didn't always play their popular songs and for a true fan, it a great show.  There's some songs I still would have loved to have heard but maybe next time.  Video was strictly prohibited, more than any other show I've been to.  I had the usher chic come up to me and ask me if I was taking video or a picture.  It was a picture!

Fun fact:  The guitarist/bassist/banjo-ist (?) guy in the band named Luke used to be the singer in a band called Blue Merle and his voice sounds so much like Chris Martin from Coldplay.  Listen!

I tried to find the best song that represents Guster and their happy-go-luckiness and this is what I came up with.