A real live rock show.

Dear 28,
No vacation is complete without a rock show. After feasting on Nick's famous "tacos*" and sharing a moment of tequila, we took a cab through the ghettos of Uptown to the Aragon.

(Thank you for all the photos Tim.)

So the tickets said 7pm. And they meant it. It was about 7:38pm when we made it to the ballroom, which looked an awful lot like a Dario Robleto piece, and the Local Natives were already ON STAGE. (gasp. noooo. gasp. watch checking. twitter search. gasp.) We missed the opening opener, Wye Oak, which was an unfortunate surprise, especially after reading what the AV Club has to say about their album. They must have played a short little set but heard that they "rocked quite hard." 

I have a thing for the Local Natives. We've bonded on many Muscatine road trips. So seeing them was the highlight of the evening for me. Especially hearing this one. We witnessed about 8 songs (I think we may have missed one or two) and then waited for The National to emerge.

Pointing at something and accidentally making a mustache.

A man was crazy body dancing next to us. So that was awesome. It was a little like a sauna in the star-covered Aragon.

(my blackberry took this picture. which is not good.)

I wasn't completely sold on the National pre-show (Like I said- I came to see the Local Natives) but damn they put on a real live rock show. The stage video stuff was pretty awesome. The lead singer carried himself like a bigtimer. I was enjoying the light show, the vests, the inaudible banter.

And then-- oh then there came the encore. I should first admit I don't really care for encores. It's become so standard that there's no "ok-we'll-play-just-one-more-song-because-you-love-us-that-much" magic. But then the National encored. and WHOA.

Overall- impressive. And I added another outta state concert to the list. Thanks JEN for coming with me. And the Paluchs, my new vacation buddies, that book run from the bus was so exciting.
xo-LP