Some things about the show...
1. Though I had a good time, I\'m a little peaved i spent 18 dollars with charges on the ticket and I could\'ve just walked in for free. I know once I bought the ticket online you can\'t refund it, and I obviously want to support the band any way I can, but I don\'t make a lot of money and I\'d rather have 18 bucks more right now! When I got in I was walking around looking for any human being who was going to take my ticket, and then I found a security guard. Only because I\'m an honest person did I ask her "who do you give your tickets to" because I didn\'t want trouble (and I did BUY a ticket!). Then she pointed me in the right direction. Common sense says don\'t have the doors wide open and nobody checking for tickets at a performance venue. I realize there was this free ticket giveaway thing, but having nobody around was pretty unprofessional if you ask me. Shit, they even spelled them "The Breakfest" on the ticket!
2. What people have been saying about the beer situation is just straight up silly. I\'m not a "drink a thousand beers" at a show guy, but I\'ve been known to throw some down at a show before. I didn\'t know you couldn\'t bring a beer to the front part. That\'s redonkulous. It\'s 2007 guys, let\'s get a clue here, who the hell cares...
3. The show shouldn\'t revolve around beer sales. Just because the bar isn\'t making a lot of $ doesn\'t mean you should cut a show short. I know that wasn\'t the only factor but it was a contributing one if what people are saying are true. People look forward to shows. They spend the money they work for on the shit they like. Plus the insane prices of gas to get to the shows. Business shit like that should be thrown to the side when a group of fans come together for a concert IMO. I know that\'s the hippie-dippie attitude but it would be cool if more people felt that way. Business-smizzness. I\'m not at all concerned with how much the webster makes on beer. I just wanna see the breakfast for as long as possible. I\'m sure the webster will be doing just fine financially if I have 1 or 9 beers. I know that type of thing won\'t change but I wish it would.
4. The sound was eh. I noticed this in the nye 05 dvd so atleast I knew going in it wasn\'t gonna be SPAC sound quality! But man. The venue has to do something about this. Maybe more people would come if it sounded better? I guess nothing can be done... I don\'t know anything about sound shit, but props as always to the sound guy for doing the best with what they got.... I know it\'s not his or the band\'s fault. It\'s not like it sounded bad, just very "boomy." And again, the lights were sick.
5. It seems like the band gets very little respect from the venue. I don\'t wanna rant here, but I mean what more does a band have to do? They\'ve played over 1000 shows and this is basically a hometown venue on a friday night, and they cut em short at 1 am? What\'s up with that? No encore? What assholes are in charge here? Can\'t people be cool? I remember listening to a bisco amsterdam show from 05 where Browny said something like, "We\'re supposed to only have 5 more minutes but I spoke with ____ and he\'s giving us 15 because he\'s a cool motherfucker." And the crowd goes nuts of course. That\'s who we need in charge there! I mean, if I was actually the guy who makes the decision whether to let the band keep playing or stop them, I would say there\'s two ways to look at it: 1. There\'s hardly anyone here, the beer sales suck, fuck these people, let\'s cut it short. OR 2. There\'s not many people here, but these are the hardcore folks who really want to be here, they seem to be having a great time, let\'s let the band keep playing for them. I would pick #2 of course!
I know they\'ve played in front of small crowds before in the 2 years I\'ve seen them (actually 2 years ago today) and that has never stopped them from playing insane shows, and god bless them for it. I mean, there weren\'t a lot of people at the 11/2/98 phish show, but that didn\'t stop the band from playing an insane show, and god knows nobody was giving them the "wrap it up" shit. How come places like mezzanotte in syracuse (a bar with a performance stage) let them play till 2 but an actual performance venue with a bar in the back makes em stop at 1? Good god, it\'s a friday night, and for everything they\'ve done they should say to them "play till 3 you hippie fucks and have fun." Don\'t get me started on having 25 bands on before them. That obviously takes away from breakfast time. If they came on 9 and had till 1 that\'s a lot different! I don\'t know what the curfew situation is like there. Is it always 1 or can it be altered depending on how the night\'s going?
I guess that\'s it. Bottom line is, I had a good time, but as always I would prefer to hear more breakfast on any given night than less. I know you all would agree. I say come back to the puppet house. Is that place still functional? That show i saw there on 8/19/05 was insane. You all know it. 3 sets, epicness, no issues, no nothing. There wasn\'t time for an encore that night but there was already 3 great sets (including the cover of Morrison Hotel!) so I\'d say everyone got their fill and was in no position to complain! Friday was very different...
