Wednesday Night: Kite Flying Society & Grand Ole Party @ House of Blues Sidestage, 2/14/07

I don't know if I've mentioned, but I am slinging swag for Filter Magazine around town just for the measly pittance of a magazine subscription, occasional concert tickets and CDs. So after hanging Aqualung posters all around downtown at lunchtime, and stopping by M-Theory after work, I was a little pooped. Plus, it was the Season! Finale! of Beauty and The Geek, which was awesome because nice guy Nate got to show off his Cambridge based band, So Long Princess, which is a punk band whose songs are all about Star Wars. TV rocks, sometimes.

I finally motivated and by 9:30 I was in front of the Casbah trying to sell my one ticket to Rob Crow. Being Valentine's Day and all, not many people were flying solo, so it was challenging, but with the assistance of Ben the door guy being AWE.SOME., I sold the ticket and was headed to the House of Blues by 9:53.

Having stopped by after work to investigate the Pepper thing, I knew the show would start later than scheduled because the restaurant overbooked for Valentine's Day and the side stage shows cannot start until the dinner guests are gone.

Many of my friends were there, but it quickly occurred to me, why was I so eager to dump a Rob Crow ticket? I love Kite Flying Society and I love Grand Ole Party but man, the House of Blues kills me. Happy hour being an exception ($2 pints of Peroni!), it is freakin ridiculous there. There are a couple of bartenders that I've become friends with (in that patron/bartender way) and they were busting their asses but getting a drink was still a wait. (You don't get to complain about the wait if you're one of the jerks ordering goddamn martinis, by the way) A draft pint is $6 and after 10 pm they switch from glasses to plastic cups. If you want to serve my beer in a clear plastic cup then I expect to pay $5 for all I can drink and I'll write my name on the side of my cup in a black sharpie. Otherwise, I'll take a glass, thank you. Or even one of those heavy plastic pint glasses. But a keg cup? I don't think so. Should I drink my beer with a straw, too?

More than all that, though, is the sound quality. The concert hall blows. People who show up don't shut up. The sound is only good if you're within 4 feet of the stage and dead center. The SideStage is equally as ridiculous and made a lot of people hate the Silversun Pickups before they loved them. If you went to the bathroom at any time during the sidestage show back then or last night you wonder how any band could be considered good because the speakers isolate and distort only the lead vocals. God awful is an understatement.

Kite Flying Society took to the stage just before 11 pm. They played a good set of old and new stuff and a cover of the Cure which defintely took me back to the Valentine's Day dances in junior high. The House of Blues is so on it that before they finished their set, the house music came on throughout the restaurant and bar. Ricockulous. Anyway, here's the set list and some photos:










In between bands I was so inappropriately hit on by a man that I know that I probably should've just left because it made me grumpy. A 70 something year old man telling you he wants to make love to you would make you kinda vomit in your own mouth, too. Especially when that's your best Valentine's Day offer. ew.

But I stayed. The sound made Kristin sound pitchy but as good as it could be for that venue, I suppose. The hipsters have adopted GOP, so pretty much everyone was wearing stripes or polka dots and apparently the hipsters are now allowed to dance, so they were all groovin on the music. One guy yelled out "pure rock chaos" and this girl behind me was all excited. "'Turn On, Burn On', man, that's my jam," she told her friend. Here's their set list and some photos.









Don't misunderstand...like I said, I love both bands, but maybe I should've stayed for Rob Crow.