Kris, her brother Travis, and I headed out to Perrysburg, Ohio at noon on Saturday. It took almost five hours, which was about how long we'd planned for. With a quick stop at a BP station to clarify directions to the venue, The Mission, we pulled into the parking lot at around 5:15. Excitement quickly turned to disappointment, though, as we learned the venue had not passed inspection and had been "condemned." As the news began to sink in, we began to freak out. Ticketmaster had confirmed the show, the place, and the time only the day before. All the websites still showed this as the place.
In a moment of desperation we booked it over to the local CD Warehouse, grabbed on edition of the local music paper and discovered that the show had been moved to a nearby town, Bowling Green, in a place called Howard's Club H. Off we went!
Got to Howard's at a quarter to six, made friends with the bartender girl who set us up with free cokes! This was a good thing because now all we could do was wait. At 8:00 the venue made everyone leave the bar to go outside and wait in line. (???). So we did. Once back inside, we waited another hour for the doors to the stage area to open. When those doors opened we took our place directly in front of the stage.
Now a moment to describe the stage. This is important. The stage was very small and only about 18 inches higher than the rest of the floor. There was a bannister on the left and the right sides of the stage separating it from the crowd area. In the center of the stage (where we were) there were three steps up to the stage, with no barrier at a all.
Band number one came on a 9:45. Gil Mantera's Party Dream. Their set was outrageous and hilarious. Some people in the crowd didn't get them, and I'm sure that happens at all their shows, but I loved it. What they do takes balls galore and I give them all kinds of respect.
Band number two was Shai Hulud, same band that opened in Louisville when we saw awk there. The musicianship is terrific, but I just don't care for bands that do nothing but that hardcore screaming. If you'd calm that voice down just a bit I may be able to understand what you're trying to say. That's just me. Everyone else seemed to love them. In fact, the crowd was intense. Way intense. The venue posted security guys directly in front of us to create a barrier from gaining access to the stage. We ended up being sardines. Security was pushing us back and the rest of the crowd was pushing us forward. At this point I started getting a little ill. My head began to pound, but I was determined to carry on as long as I could.
By the time Andrew finally came on stage, even more security had been placed in this "step area" where we were. Now there were five or six guys whose job was to push, push, push on us. When the music started, the crowd went freakin' bananas. And I do mean bananas. Kris took an elbow to the teeth and fell down on one of the steps. I spent all my time fighting to stay vertical. And through all this, we couldn't even see the show b/c of the all the security placed directly in front of us. After three songs, I backed out and went to sit down at the back of the venue to ease my aching head. Kris and Travis went to the back of the crowd and rocked from there.
I wish people could rock out without being stupid. Why get so crazy that you can't even enjoy the show? There's no way anyone there at the front could even have heard the music for all the fighting to stay alive that they were doing. Oh well.
After the show, disappointed as I was, I went out to our car, took some ibuprofin and took to feeling better. However, Kris was determined not to make the trip a comlete bummer. She hung out after the show and got to talk to Andrew in person and got a picture and some other stuff signed.
Although this one didn't turn out as planned, what does? AWK is such a terrific, genuine person, and his music is so powerful...I will continue to go to as many shows as I can, wherever they are. Some will be like this one, some will be great fun, but no matter which kind they are I will continue to get wet finding out.
Andrew, the Lincoln's love you.
