Final Foo Finale @ The Foobadour

This is where we left off on Valentine's Day eve --->

Foo Fighters @ The Troubadour 02/15/11

Foo Fighters w/ Mariachi el Bronx

When: Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Venue: The Troubadour, LA

Accompanied by: Megan, Colleen, Sarah
Genre: Rock 

Tuesday morning (2/15), bright and early we were gifted with this tantalizing tidbit of a tweet:

Later on, a follow up tweet directed followers to FOO FM 90.8 which looped Donna Summer's disco hit "Last Dance"...a secret message? Is this our last chance at love with the Foos? I wasn't entirely sure they would even have a last dance since the "secret" weekend show had been cancelled.

Holding tightly to Dave's joking references to Echoplex and Troubadour as places they hadn't played "yet", I connected with a friend of a friend, who I can now say is my friend too, and made arrangements to meet up by The Troubadour. Why the Troub and not Echoplex? It seemed to be the consensus location that most everyone was speculating upon...and after last weeks near miss of the wristband location (NOT Garage Pizza, go figure), I was going to follow the majority lead.  As it turns out, my new friend...we'll call her Megan (but that's only because it's her name), lived a few minutes away from The Troubadour, so when she drove by and saw the line already forming by 1:30, she grabbed her "mom kit" complete with iPad, snacks, and a blanket and set up camp. I arrived about 40 minutes later and got comfortable on the blankie ready to people watch and await more Twitter clues.

Technically, Megan was 50th in line when she got there, putting me at #51...so we felt pretty secure that we'd have no problem obtaining wristbands. But there were a few factors that we had lingering in our heads:

1. What if they pull the old "wristband/venue switch-a-roo" again like last Tuesday?
2. What if each of the 49 people in front of us are holding spots for above and beyond the unspoken +1/no more than 2 rule?
3. Why are they not unloading the truck that appears to have equipment in it? Is it a decoy?
4. At this point, there had been NO confirmation/tweets of this being the place to be, what is our exit strategy if they tell us "psych, this ain't the place"?
5. Why are we stressing ourselves out with such thoughts??

We determined that the venue had approximately a 500 person capacity...so we fairly confident we were golden, and pretty sure that the majority of those behind us would also score. Unfortunately, that was not the case...but we'll come back to that.  As the afternoon passed by, the line continued to grow, nearly to where the end wrapped all the way around to where it began. Eventually the Twitter chirp alerts went wild and four yfrog photos appeared.  Can't say the photo clues made a whole lot of sense to me...but then I am completely Los Angeles illiterate. Honestly, at this point, if the show was going to be at any other venue than the Troubadour, all holy hell would be sure to break loose.

Not sure what time this tweet appeared, but this finally confirmed that we were indeed at the right place, along with the latest Foo FM radio annoucement at 102.7. Sadly, it wasn't too long before the "that was quick. troub is totally sold out" tweet appeared.

By the time 5pm rolled around, security and Troubadour staff made their way over to the line and started with wristband distribution.  Now, remember, when Megan first got there at 1:30, she had secured us spots #50 & 51. What happened next merely solidifies why I am a bitch about how many people I will personally "hold" a spot for in line for gigs such as these.  As they made their way down the line, we had become #108 and 109. Then we heard whispers of "they are only selling 150 wristbands"...that just seemed impossible. Once we paid our $20 and had our wrists wrapped with the pretty blue band, we stepped back to see where the line would get cut. I can't say for sure, but it looked like they went about 50 - 75 more beyond us. We were floored!!  Surely there wasn't going to be a 300 something guest list?  But hell, it is rock and roll, and we are talking the mother effin' Foo Fighters....so sure, might could very well be!!

Megan, Sara, Tai & Colleen

At this point, we had less than an hour to kill. Megan, Colleen, Sarah, and I synchronized a plan between moving cars, juicing up cell phone batteries, and then meeting up to grab a bite. We ended up at some burger shack to wolf down some LA grease and I was over the moon discovering they had Ms. Pac Man!! Being the multi-task master that I am (not really), I ordered a cup of chili and tossed a quarter in the machine. Good times before more good times followed by even more good times.

Tiffany & Tai

Got back over to The Troubadour to get in line. Heard there were quite a few people who were really disturbed that they didn't get in. "How did everyone know to come here so early"...The police were brought in to make sure things stayed sane, but the number of unhappy fans ran high. And the fact is, no one had the inside track. Many of us had inside speculation based upon random music blogs and various Internet searches, but no 100% guarantees of anything. And let's not forget that damn LA Weekly Blog article that circulated the week prior, right? The difference for the first 150-200 people in line is that they were able to beeline their way to LA at the right time and willing to wait for hours upon hours on the off chance that they were right.


The reality is this..."You can please all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot please all the people all the time."  And so we moved on and made our way inside to wait for the show to begin. 


Upside of my evening was being able to watch Mariachi el Bronx from the front side of the stage which made up for having to watch them street view in Santa Barbara a few weeks prior. Seriously, this band is more fun than I can even describe. Since I had been listening to their current CD over and over again for the past few weeks, I recognized every song performed and let my Latin groove go hips and all!

Foo Fighters took the stage around 9 o'clock.  3 hours and thirty something songs later they called it a night. Absolute perfection! Best moment ever was during These Days (click link and forward to around 3:40 to enjoy), some girl felt the need to scream out as loud as she could "I love you, Dave" and Dave's response "shut the fuck up".  It was truly a priceless moment (and no people, it sure as fuck was not ME that did the yelling...not my style. Never has been. Never will be).


Thanks to Erich from the FFPB, here is the closest thing to a set list that I can locate:
1. Bridges Burning; 2. Rope; 3. Dear Rosemary; 4. White Limo; 5. Arlandria; 6. These Days; 7. Back & Forth; 8. Matter of Time; 9. Miss the Miserly; 10. I Shoulda Known; 11. Walk
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12. Stacked Actors; 13. Pretender; 14. My Hero; 15. Generator; 16. I'll Stick Around;17. Enough Space; 18. Times Like These; 19. Cold Day in the Sun; 20. Big Me; 21. Watershed; 22. Long Road to Ruin; 23. Skin & Bones; 24. Aurora; 25. All My Life
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26. For All the Cows; 27. Monkey Wrench; 28. Hey JP; 29. Everlong; 30. Best of You; 31. Butterflies; 32. This is a Call

A few photos from our evening...

For any of you who have not been following the Foo Frenzy...and perhaps have missed this AWESOME video, please take a moment now to have your face rocked off!!  I present to you White Limo, bitches...

Wild Foo Chase

Foo Fighters @ Spaceland 02/08/11

Foo Fighters w/ Scream

When: Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Venue: Spaceland, Silverlake/LA

Accompanied by: Colleen, Sarah, Steve K. & friends
Genre: Rock 

It all started with the "secret" gig at the end of January in Santa Barbara. Dave said "see you next week" and most everyone wanted to believe that was true. And there was no disappointment as a 2nd secret show popped up on Friday 1/4 at Dragonfly in LA. I already had plans that night and truth be told, I was just not feeling it. I convinced myself that the SB show was enough for me. THEN, word was out that another show would happen in the very near future...  and rumors flew left and right: Monday 1/7 The Roxy. But it spread like wildfire and people were lining up as early as morning time. The cat was out of the bag and I had to let the idea go of even trying to head out with hopes of getting a spot in line. Hell, there wasn't even any need for Dave to send out "FooClues" via Twitter, that is how sure folks were of the venue. Wanting to believe that there would be at least one more time to catch another show that might be less of a clusterfuck, I chose not venture off to The Roxy.

Luck was on my side and all ended up working out. Tuesday afternoon, I read that someone had passed by Spaceland in Silverlake and there was a truck there unloading equipment. Figured WTF, I packed up my desk at work and hit the road around 1:30p.  Within 40 minutes I was out front of this tiny venue and told by staff that we had to leave. They asked how it was that we knew to come to Spaceland and I told them much in thanks to this little diddy that came out bright and early on Monday 2/7. There were five of us there and we discovered that the wristbands for the show would not be distributed at Spaceland, that the location would be divulged via Twitter and would be within a 5 mile radius of where we were at. Ummmm, okay. This is when the chaos, fun and brainstorming began!!  BAM...Five cell phones chirped simultaneously - Twitter alert!!  

Between the group of us, we chose to stick together and pile into one car to see what we could come up with. Those who knew the LA area, plugged "pizza" into their smartphones and we were off.  The first spot that seemed feasible was a place called Two Boots, which is directly next to The Echo, which is directly tied to Spaceland. So that was our first stop. Two from our posse hopped out of the car to inquire on the situation, but the folks at Two Boots honestly seemed stumped. Because we were the first to roll by, there were no other people to interrogate for information, so we thought maybe this spot was too obvious. 


Back into the car and off to pizza place guess #2...which just seem the perfect fit and had to be it: Garage Pizza!! Come on, right? Album #7 was created in Dave's garage, so of course the clue had to be directing us to Garage Pizza!!  It seemed so fitting.  It was still early and we had time to kill, kinda sorta, so we bought a slice and chilled. The guy working the counter would not tell us one way or the other if we were in the right place, but was so insanely cryptic that I personally believed we had nailed it.  10 minutes, 20 minutes, nearly 30 minutes go by. Everyone is calling various contacts to see what could be found out when it happened!!  I got a call from a Foo connection who had driven all the way out from Nevada that morning telling me that the location was indeed Two Boots!!  Holy crap!!   By the time we bolted back, we ended up about 100+ back. It was dizzingly exciting and if it wasn't for being with an awesome group of people that I had pretty much just met, I probably would have been a basket case.

As we waited in line, still waiting on more clues as to what was going on...Twitter alert chirps are heard up and down the street...not just one, not two, not three...but SIX back to back "clues". All photos of the universe...Space!! Spaceland!! But then a 7th Tweet that made us all go "huh"?

"Okay you're listening to umm, Silverlake Pirate Radio, whatever, who cares....tonight at Echoplex umm, Foo Fighters are playing but I'm totally not going cuz they're total corporate sell out dicks and um I don't even care, so, whatever, forget everything I just said...who cares."  Listen Here.

Echoplex??  How is the show going to be at the Echoplex? All their gear is at Spaceland. We pondered it for a bit, but at the same time were just happy that we made it in time to get a wristband!! And then the "ha ha" moment came when as we were handed our wristband, we were also given a note "Psych. See you tonight at Spaceland...."  Oh, Dave. What a prankster you are!!

We made our way back to where we came from and to kill time grabbed a bit of Thai food, then wandered the streets for a bit. Really not too much to see or do in the Silverlake community - at least not in this particular area. But it was cool. We made do. Grabbed a cup of coffee at a little spot across the street from the venue. In walks Shifty. Easily exchanged hellos and pleasantries. I made a comment about how the band certainly found a way to put the secret back into secret show, and he honestly had no clue that there had been a switch-a-roo. Made me realize that the guys in the band really don't need to know what's going on other than where to be and what time. After we said goodbye, I slapped myself upside the head for not offering to buy his coffee order. I owed him from the Hotel Cafe gig he did a few month backs when promoting his Dead Peasants CD...not that he would remember, but he graciously gave me a CD because he wasn't able to break a twenty.


By 7:15 or so, we were allowed to line up in front of Spaceland. Doors were to open at 8p and Scream would be the opener. Wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but at this point just thrilled to be there!!  By the time we got inside, I pretty much lost track of time. Scream hit the stage and while they weren't my cup of tea, it wasn't the worst band I've ever seen. Personally, I would have preferred to see Mariachi el Bronx again...and in actuality, I've been listening to a CD my friend burned for me of their music and LOVE them!  But that wasn't the case tonight.


There isn't anything I can write about what came next that would even do it justice. Set list was: Bridge Burning, Rope, Dear Rosemary, White Limo, Arlandria, These Days, Back and Forth, Matter of Time, Miss the Misery, I should Have Known, Walk...All My Life, Times Like These, Enough Space, Generator, Up in Arms, Big Me, Cold Day in the Sun, Stacked Actors, I'll Stick Around, Learn to Fly, My Hero, Sine and Bones, Monkey Wrench, Hey Johnny Park, Everlong, Aurora, This is a Call.


Here's one review that I found online, for anyone who is looking for an actual review. I will certainly testify to the fact that it was sweaty as all hell in Spaceland that night! The energy was raw, as was the smell. I honestly don't know how those who chose to stand in front of the stage managed to hold out for the entire show. I've never thought of the Foos as a band to mosh to or crowd surf to, but this night was unlike the large venue shows I  had seen before. It was different from the December Paladino's show and even from the first 2011 secret gig in Santa Barbara. It was rough and as  long as I could stay to the sidelines, I liked it.


Nearly 3 hours later, the show ended. Wish I had had the strength to hang out inside the venue but I needed air! Spent a bit of time in front of Spaceland chatting up friends. Saw Kathy Griffin and Ron Jeremy...hell, even saw the "McLovin" kid from Superbad!! After cooling off and wondering how long the ringing in my ears was going to linger, I headed to my car and made my way home.


As I finally finish writing this up, a week has gone by. There had been more rumors of weekend shows. Speculation spreading like wildfire. Leaks via LA Weekly blogs that may or may not have effed things up. Or maybe the guys were burnt out. Add on top of all the madness of the Grammy's and it's anyones guess. But it was a dark weekend and no foo fun was to be found.


BUT...but...but...the Twitter taunts have begun as of tonight - Valentine's Day evening!!  And the boys are "feeling itchy again..." So it's back to one last final WILD FOO CHASE and I'm going to be ready. At least, I sure as hell hope so!

A few photos from Tuesday, 2/8/11- outside the venue. 
Miss Kathy Griffin
Mr. Ron "Hedgehog" Jeremy