Back in STL-Land; Post-Oasis Wrap-Up

Back home in STL. Oh man, am I tired.

Yesterday was hard. Yesterday was awesome.

We got out on the road around 11:30AM. Using magic internet directions, we had no real difficulty finding Chicago (kinda hard to miss) or the venue--the AllState Arena in Rosemont. Okay, we DID have to stop and ask for directions once (we were on the right street, heading the wrong way....we corrected our mistake, but wanted to be 100% sure).

Got to the "arena" early, at 5:30.

The Allstate Arena was NOTHING like either of us expected. I was expecting a venue like STL's Saavis Center (whatever they're calling it now) or something like what's downtown in KC (what is that thing called? The Sprint Center???). This place looked like a skating rink. It looked like a movie theatre. It was very small.

At first we were pissed, then we thought: "Wait. This is a GOOD thing!!!"

It was. Our seats were kick-ass, leftside of the stage...lower-level. Having gotten their so early, we were able to kick back and relax. At 7:00, Matt Costa took the stage. It was an unplugged set, with just guitars. It was alright. I have Costa's first album, but not his most recent one. He's a singer-songwriter guy, in the vein of Jack Johnson. The placed filled up (mostly, it wasn't quite a sell out) and around 8:30 Ryan Adams and the Cardinals came out. I like Adams a lot, but I only have one of his records, 2003's ROCK 'N ROLL (which, by the way, f-ing rules). That album was hard-rock, and was a bit of a departure from the indie-rock/country that he normally puts out. The Cardinals were a tight band, and sounded great.

Oasis came out around 9:30--and they were awesome. Though they looked much shorter in person. Liam was wearing this rad coat and was rockin' a pretty cool tambourine. They opened with "Rock 'n Roll Star," which was great. Me and Amber both were amazed at how good they sounded live (we had been worried about their sound quality prior to the show). The only song I wanted to hear was "The Masterplan" and when they busted that out--I was in hog heaven. For the most part they played stuff off their first three albums, with some new stuff off DIG OUT YOUR SOUL thrown in. Amber was sad they didn't play much off HEATHEN CHEMISTRY (other than "Songbird") but if you were an Oasis fan, you were pretty happy with the setlist (i.e. they played all the hits). I can now say that I've sung "Wonderwall" with a 5,000 people. What more can you ask for?

The show ended around 11:00PM (which, for those keeping score--means the show was an hour SHORTER than the DRIVE out to Chicago). We got in the car, and I promptly drove us home. Actually, it wasn't that prompt. In fact, it kinda sucked and I had to turn around once when I took a wrong turn because I was so tired.

But I maned up and drove the whole way home. Oh, and I listened to the new Alannis Morrissette album FLAVORS OF ENTANGELMENT (which I am ashamed to say is great). This admission is, of course, a private joke I have with Leah's sister--but nonetheless true.

We got home around 4:30AM, I was crazy-tired. But the 10 hours driving was worth it, because the concert was great.

The End.