long post coming
OK, I have had three hours of sleep...enough to post about the show. Mind you, I have heard stories about BRMC being a bit pretentious, and went into the show with an aittitude of "do they really care about their fans?"
It was the second of two shows that evening (Bouncing Souls and some other band..all ages) at the Metro in Chicago...two blocks from Wrigley Field.
Tickets said 11:30pm but we were out there in line at 10:30, JUST as teh wind picked up and the celebrating Cubs fans had hit their alcohol limits. Always makes for an interesting street scene.
Well, after an hour in line, a car accident, and a cubs fan who passed out on Clark and just about became a speed bump for the ambulance that came to take him away...the bouncers informed the line (no going around the block), that BRMC was going to play first, at 12:30am. We continued to wait outside in the cold until 12:15, after our ids had been searched twice and and our pockets had been dumped. They also told us that BRMC would be playing first, instead of the opening band, Strattford 4. Weird.
We got in around 12:30 and watched as this pretentious roadie checked every piece of equiptment twice (as if the two hours they had while we were outside wasn't long enough to set up was enough). People were getting pissed.
ten minutes to 1AM...BRMC takes the stage. they play about five songs before even speaking a word to the audience..and all they said was Thank you then.
Deeper into the set, they mentioned "something about congratulations to Chicago about some baseball victory." Crowd could care less. As did the band.
Final song comes on...and Robert the bassist/guitarist jumped into the crowd while playing "Heart and Soul." They were amazing up until that point, just not very sociable. After finishing the song...Robert thanked the crowd for a great show, apologized for the wait outside, and begged the crowd to stay around for the Strattford 4. He told everyone "I realize it is 2:45am, but stick around...these guys are great, and we (BRMC) will meet everyone at the back of the bar to get liquored up."
Can't miss an opportunity like that....sorta. The friend I went with was ready to jump Robert
. I asked hime about "jumping off stage...and how Bono used to do that.
"
So, they redeamed themselves as a "fan friendly band" in my eyes. If nothing else, they were AMAZING live. Go see them.