The PLAY MINNESOTA Thread!

Dirty Frank Z

Bump

vant0037

In case anyone cares, Ryan inspired me to recap our trip...

It will probably be impossible to describe this trip, and as Ryan said about LA2 show, I'll say about California in general: it's just weird (in good and bad ways).

In so many ways, California (I've been twice before) is great. Maybe it was the scrubby gold and green hills in every spaghetti western or seeing latino kids skateboarding amongst palm trees in Thrasher when I was 13 and freezing in Minnesota, but I've always had this romantic ideal about it.

Nothing about this trip diminished those dreams or the pull that Cali has on me (I'd be lying if I said that being up in the hills on Sunday didn't almost make me choke up). But there were times when the luster died and the varnish wore off, and all the reasons why some people loathe LA and California became apparent. Rude people. Fakey smiles. An inability to ask a question and get a response from a stranger, ever. Again, we had a wonderful time, and these oddities served only as the warts of any place that, while small, merely warrant mention (and NOT as the roots of a generalization about the place). In other words, the bad stuff was outweighed by the good!

San Diego is a great town, but we really didn't spend that much time there. We went to the show at night, and then back to our Inn on Coronado. I highly recommend staying in Coronado if you're ever there (across the bridge from San Diego, palm trees, shops, beach, awesome). We struck up a conversation with a random couple next to us, only to find out that one of our good friends in Minnesota...was the lady's ex-boyfriend. Small, small world. "The Pearl Jam Effect." The show itself was awesome. Great setlist (even if it was populated with songs that are cult favorites but which I believe are highly overrated), great sound, great crowd for the most part. We had seats that were 4 rows from the top, straight back, facing the front of the stage, which meant - if I may be so snobby - that we were among the "casual" fans. Lots of energy for the hits, Facebook status updates for the non-hits. Thankfully the arena was small enough we still felt the energy from the enthusiastic fans on the floor. This was probably the best show of the 3 we saw.

Los Angeles is a whole other animal. Highways, palm trees, boutiques, cell phone stores, liquor stores, hills, cell towers, horns, gun stores and lots and lots of people. We stayed in West Hollywood at a place called Farmer's Daughter, which is a hipster-ish hotel in a great location. Fantastic staff, cozy amenities, whisky hour from 5-6pm every day. What more could you want?

Our first day there, we drank, ran into actor Steve Sheridan (on the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry David gets caught stealing silverware from a restaurant, he played the host who reports Larry - he's also from Minnesota), drank some more, ate great Singaporenese (sp?) food, got heckled at a comedy show at the Improv, stumbled home.

Our second day there was the day of LA1. We went to Canter's deli (great jewish diner/deli across from CBS Studios) and ate well. Our good friends Joe and Diane (Joe is JOEJOEJOE on the forum) were kind enough to take us around to see the sights (Walk of Fame, the high school of Jack Irons, Anthony Kiedis etc, local rock spots, Scientology building), including the largest and most overwhelming record store I've ever seen (Amoeba Records in Hollywood. Wow). We then went to the show, where we had GA tickets. Great show, great energy to start, and great crowd around us. Unfortunately, we had to learn how great our fellow fans were only after a large, very spacey, very high guy ran into, semi-groped her, and wouldn't leave. My fellow fans and I took care of him (I'll leave that to your imagination), but suffice it to say, it ruined a few songs for Hannah and I. The rest of the show after the dust-up was great. The version of "Black" from LA1 was possibly the best I've heard and getting "Garden" was awesome. Come to think of it, this show epitomized why most of Ten still plays really, really well. "All Or None" was another nice surprise (only played 11 times total) in a fantastic first encore.

Our third day was the day of LA2, and we decided to get out of the city for the day. After packing a sweet lunch, we took the pacific highway north, past Malibu, to El Matador state beach, which is a secluded beach, tucked under the coastal bluffs and lined with huge rocks that resemble bulls (at least to me).



We ate our lunch, walked the beach, swam a little bit (unintentionally). There was an incident (a very sad one too) with a bird, but that's for a story in person. Other than that, it was a great day, perhaps a highlight of the trip.

That night was night 2 of the LA shows, and I agree with Ryan's assessment that it was, all in all, a weird one. Our seats were reserved, on the floor. Highlights for me included finally getting "Oceans" (which completed Ten for me), "My Father's Son" (leaving me one away from completing Lightning Bolt), "Immortality," "No Way" and "Blood." The weirdness from the show didn't stem from the setlist, but more the order of songs. Both encores seemed very spiky, which might have been due to Ed's mood that night. Much was said about Ed's demeanor with the "Night 1 Kick-Out Fiasco" so well documented here on the forum (which I have pictures of if anyone would ever like to see).

But night 2, his mood again seemed to impact the show as there was apparently an issue with a guitar tech during "Sirens." During the middle of the song, it sounded very off and I watched Ed drop his guitar on stage, purposefully out of the hands of the waiting guitar tech, at about that time. I'm sure you'll hear on the boot how weird the middle of the song sounds. But the encores themselves had a weird pace to them, and that might be what made the second night seem just a little off.

We got back to our hotel exhausted and tired (and me still fighting a nagging cold) only to have the sink in our hotel break and water flood all over the front part of the room. If you played Benny Hill music in the background and filmed it with a wide angle lens, the scene couldn't have been more perfect: me holding the faucet down with my hands and a towel, containing all but a heavy mist, Hannah dumping the fast-collecting water out of the sink with the ice bucket, the front staff calling their maintenance staff (who was not on duty at 1am), many of our belongings getting soaked. Thankfully, they moved us to a dry room immediately and refunded the last night in the hotel, so we were well-taken care of and would definitely go back to that hotel.

Overall, the shows were great and the band seems to be truly having fun again. Our trip was fantastic, but once again - as always when traveling for Pearl Jam - it became less about seeing Pearl Jam and more about all the other stuff. Hannah and I had a great time, met some great people, saw some great friends, had a few run-ins with some weirdos and flaky Californians, had a few run-ins with some awesome strangers, saw the sites we wanted to see (the hills, the beaches, the Improv, Jewish delis and diners etc) in a state that while I'm not sure I could live, I will never hesitate to visit.

Our Pearl Jam California trip was truly one of my favorites and like usual, there is so much more to tell than I ever could here. We can't wait to do it again. If I can figure out how, I will post pictures.

End vantrant.

evenflow82

Wow, that was cool. Thank you for the document of your journey. 8-)

Dirty Frank Z

Bump

evenflow82

Happy Thanksgiving from Happy Thanksgiving Reynolds. Minnesota, represent . Seriously, check this out.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/27/mee ... nksgiving/

CM189191

evenflow82 wrote:

Happy Thanksgiving from Happy Thanksgiving Reynolds. Minnesota, represent . Seriously, check this out.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/27/mee ... nksgiving/

too funny!

Happy Thxgvg everyone!

I'm thankful for PJ playing Target Field in 2014. Midway Stadium?? The Zoo???

evenflow82

We'll take anywhere. Isle Royale island for gosh sakes. :-)

evenflow82

Minnesota!

Dirty Frank Z

Sysco forgot two pallets of stock at the warehouse. WTF

bump.

CM189191

Lot's of good vinyl at Cheapo still...

evenflow82

Am I the only one who wonders how Cheapo is still in business? I love the place, but is it getting some outside help from a private donor?

AndySlash

as usual, i'm disappointed by the number of things being flipped on here for the rsd stuff and for ridiculous prices.

can't stop it from happening, obviously, but it still disgusts me.

AndySlash

evenflow82 wrote:

Am I the only one who wonders how Cheapo is still in business?

for the amount i shop there i probably pay someones salary alone.

evenflow82

What do you do for a living?!?!?!

Dirty Frank Z

Tattooed bump!

donnaruhl

Dirty Frank Z wrote:

Tattooed bump!

How does it feel to get a shout out?

evenflow82

donnaruhl wrote:

Dirty Frank Z wrote:

Tattooed bump!

How does it feel to get a shout out?

are you new to the thread? If so, welcome! :-)

Dirty Frank Z

donnaruhl wrote:

Dirty Frank Z wrote:

Tattooed bump!

How does it feel to get a shout out?

Pretty good, I suppose.

?

Dirty Frank Z

Sopranos!!!!

Diddy and I are finally finishing this amazing, epic show.

I've watched it when it first aired, Diddy is the one catching up and I love it!

Baked zitti and a bottle of red wine to finish it off right!

evenflow82

Never watched the sopranos. I don't know how some people find all the time to watch 500 different shows.

I'll be volunteering at the Holidazzle parade tonight. I'm sure many of the spectators would come to see PJ play a show in Minnesota.