Saturday, January 22, 2011

Yo No Soy Un Perdedor

Let me preface this post by saying this kind of thing never happens to me. This story makes my life seem way cooler than it is. I do not win things, and I am not a “cool” girl. Also, I know you are waiting for pics from our Blue Mountains adventure. They are coming, I promise. Anyway, back to my story.

So, I heard this band Matt and Kim were coming to town and I really wanted to go see them. I originally found out about them on Operation Pink Herring, in a post strikingly similar to this one. Anyway, they seemed pretty cool, but I put off buying tickets. Ethan wasn’t really into them, and I didn’t know who else to go with. The night before the concert, I decided not to go. Like I said, I didn’t really have anyone to go with, and I’d been feeling kind of crappy all week, so I thought, well maybe I should just go another time.



Then mid-afternoon Friday, I got a text message saying that I had won two free VIP passes to the show! I had forgotten that I had actually entered to win these passes a couple weeks earlier. After all, I never win contests, so there was no way, right? But here this message was. So I replied that yes, I would pick them up, and called Ethan, who was out kite surfing, with the good news.

Ethan didn’t get back to me until almost 9 o’clock, and he was wiped, so he didn’t want to go. I still had no one to go with, but I was not giving up these tickets. So I decided to go, even though I was in my work clothes and a bit hesitant about going to a rock concert in my button down shirt and nice pants.

Matt and Kim from the VIP section.
And you know what? It was AWESOME. First of all, VIP passes come with 2 free beers. Even though they were Beck’s and our homebrew is totally superior, they were free! Secondly, the venue was sweet. It was this temporary festival tent set up for the Sydney Festival outside Hyde Park Barracks. The VIP section had nice cushiony chairs underneath the trees, and some nice tables and chairs and ottoman seats in the back. But even the regular schmoe section was nice, with lots of tables and bars. It was small enough to be a small venue, but big enough to be fun and not too loud.
Kim dancing literally on the crowd.  As in, they were holding her up.

Most importantly, Matt and Kim were so much fun! They’re a pretty simple band – a guy on a synth and a girl on drums, so don’t expect Mozart here. But they are high, high energy, and both they and the small venue made it very personal. It was great to stand there and dance and sing along watching Matt play his synth standing on one leg, with Kim grinning as she beat away on the drums.

My only complaint is that in my work clothes, I couldn’t get into it as much as I wanted. I had my purse with me, and although it’s like the Mary Poppins bag, in that I can put a ginormous amount of things in it – including my crappy camera and a 32oz water bottle – it was also a giant albatross around my shoulder. I kept knocking into other ladies with giant purses (although I suspect theirs were giant out of a devotion to fashion, not a need to carry every last thing in the universe) and thinking “Damn purse!”

But I had a great time, even by myself, and I’m so glad I won those tickets! I wouldn’t have gone otherwise, and I would have really missed out. And now I can say I’ve rocked out to a concert all by myself in a foreign country. I feel much cooler than I really am.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Glad you went.

-D

Anonymous said...

When there's a performance where the participants are obviously enjoying themselves, it's sooo much more for the audience!

The pix are pretty good too, even if with your "crappy" camera.

Glad you went and enjoyed!

~M

craftosaurus said...

I'm super impressed! I don't know if I'd be brave enough to go to a concert by myself.

L said...

Craftosaurus, never underestimate the power of "free". ;)

Carlw4514 said...

I absolutely protest the idea that you are anything less than Totally Cool!

L said...

Thanks, Carl! I always knew you were my favorite uncle. ;)