2002 Flashback

For my Christmas present this year, my friend Chelsea treated me to the Dashboard concert. We got home from St. George Thursday night, and the concert was Friday night, so I had all day to try and catch up before the fun. Chels said it was a selfish present because she didn't want to go alone, and I'll take as many selfish gifts as she wants :)

We have a fun history with Dashboard. First of Chelsea and I are childhood friends from California and later college roommates. We got into Dashboard and decided to go to their concert when they came in 2002. We loved them so much we came back to their show the following night with our other two roommates and the next summer also. We stayed late and had to meet them with lots of pictures. Since then it's a fun bond all four of us share. I can't listen to them with out thinking back to that time in my life and remembering the days of roommates, work and school.

It was so fun to have a night off. Usually when I have a girls night I wait until Sophie is asleep catch a late movie and come home. Which I love doing, but this was all night. We left at 5:00 p.m., grabbed some dinner at Chipotle (delicious) and headed over. I haven't been back to this particular venue in a while and it is so different. But the memories still came flooding back. This is us Friday night.

And us in 2002...what do think? Have we aged well? I look like a baby! Weird.
This time we were actually over 21 so we were able to go up to the bar area to have a bird's eye view. You obviously can't get as close but the view and sound are awesome. New Found Glory opened and it was an acoustic set so needless to say they struggled. But they were still fun. They played "Brick" by Ben Folds Five and got more cheers for that song than any of their own. Sad.

This was our view. It looks a lot farther away then actually being there. It was a fun spot because we were right behind the sound guy and we could see the set list, so we knew what was coming up. We used this to our advantage and shouted out the song he was about to sing during a lull in the crowd...he then played a totally different song and after said to the crowd that they were only following the set list loosely. He was on to us...

We were right under a spotlight and during the second or third song (Chels?) Chris looked up right at us and smiled...It was pretty cool. Over all he did amazing. He also did an acoustic set, and the set list was amazing. He played 3-4 songs from the early albums and 2 song from all the rest. It was a good mix, but I love that he played more old school. During one song (that wasn't on his set list) he forgot the words and played around on the guitar and was saying to give him a minuet to find it again. It reminded me of my Dad. If he hasn't practiced a certain song, he forgets too, and I have always though that is funny...

He played "bitter pill" which is one of our all time favorites and he NEVER plays it live. We felt pretty special :) During the whole concert we were trying to get buddy buddy with a security guard and waitress to find an "in" but it didn't happen :( Although we caught a peek at the security guard's phone and he had taken a picture of Chelsea. Weird. Kinda creepy.
This was our view in 2002! We were front and center. I have to say that I do enjoy both places for different reasons, and being up in the bar was perfect for this show.
We didn't stay to try to meet them. We've done enough of that in the past. And it's a little different now being married with kids, I'm not the star stuck fan I once was. Just an admirer of amazing music. So this is from one of the previous shows. They all run together for me.
We were a bit obsessed back then and had to get the number 1 ticket. I mad sure I had the morning off work and got the number 1 ticket for both nights (and the #2, 3, 4, etc I bought a lot for a bunch of friends and roommates.) So Chels and I both ended up with a #1 and #2 ticket. Of course we had to get them signed....
A cool thing that Chelsea does at every show is write down the set list (and version of each song) and then goes home a burns a c.d. so she has a copy of every show she's been too. Luckily I benefit from this also. This was from one of the many shows. My memory is horrible but Chels probably knows.
After the show we went out to Spoon Me. My first experience and it was SO good. I crave it. (But not more than Froyo) I had such a fun time. And loved getting back into that part of my life that gets lost in the day to day stresses. Thanks Chels. Best present ever.