After driving around Camden for a good 45 minutes trying to figure out where in the world I was supposed to park (There was also a Riversharks game tonight, and WARPED tour, so parking was scarce) I finally, with the help of a few officers' directions, figured out where I needed to go and got myself a spot. (Here's hoping I can get back to that lot for the next two days.) After asking one more officer where in the heck i needed to walk from the lot, I went uphill a bit and found myself at the gate to the festival.
I picked up my tickets and headed inside. I briefly thought about wandering around a bit to get a feel for the place, but large crowds and unfamiliar areas intimidate me, so I opted to follow the main walkway down to the River Stage and set up camp in front of the stage for the evening's festivities.
While waiting for Dawes to come onstage, I found myself talking to a very nice lady who lives nearby. She was with her husband and another couple and they were a bit older than I am, but still were all about the music. Talking to Barb and her friends made me realize that growing up doesn't have to mean sacrificing my love of live music. I didn't really think I had too, but I find myself saying, "I'm too old for rock and roll" quite often these days. Standing still for a few hours in one spot with an arthritis-riddled body can be less than comfortable, to say the least, but I love the environment and energy of a show enough to press on through the aches and pains of being 32.
I did find myself remarking, however, to Barb and company that, "the way I know that I am an adult is that I was walking past all of the kids going to and from Warped tour (and possibly making faces at some of their questionable clothing choices) to head to the XPoNential Festival." I used to be a Warped tour kid. I used to make questionable clothing choices. I guess sometimes I still do, but I wouldn't be caught dead in some of the "outfits" I saw on those kids.
Dawes took the stage promptly at 8:35 and played a good set. Admittedly, I haven't been a fan for very long at all, so I didn't know all of the songs that they played, but I was surprised at how much I did know. I guess listening to them non-stop for the last week has paid off. It was pretty awesome to see how packed the River stage area was for their show. There were more people there for Dawes than there were for The Hold Steady, by my best guess, at least.
Dawes set list looked like this (thanks to xpn.org, where you can also go to hear the set in its entirety, if you are interested):
My Girl To Me
The Way You Laugh
If I Wanted Someone
Fire Away
Western Skyline
When My Time Comes
Coming Back To A Man
From A Window Seat
Peace In The Valley
Little Bit Of Everything
Time Spent In Los Angeles
As I said, it was a good set.
When they were done, I had some time to kill so I went to try and find a restroom, but the lines for the portapotties were ridiculously long, and I didn't really want to miss a second of The Hold Steady's set, so I decided to wait it out, which turned out in the long run to be a less-than-wise choice, but I am not disclosing why publicly. If you really want to know what happened when I had to make a pit stop on the way home, feel free to ask. I will tell you, Id just rather not put it on blast. Its kind of...well, ask and you will find out.
I wish I could give you the set list for The Hold Steady, but unfortunately I did not keep track tonight. Honestly, I was so stinking excited to be there and to see the band its amazing I even remembered to take pictures. Craig Finn is such an entertaining entertainer; while watching him perform it becomes hard to think of anything else.
I did manage to take a video, though. I am working on uploading that and will edit it into this entry once its fully up on YouTube.
If you are ever offered the chance to see The Hold Steady, you would be a moron to say no. They are such a good live band, and their sound is so straight up rock and roll that nearly anyone can find themselves bobbing along and singing and dancing. Why this band isn't huge is beyond me, but I will tell you this much, they are huge among those that are huge. People that know music love The Hold Steady.
It is 3:30 in the morning and I have another full day of Festival festivities to attend to, so I really should get some sleep. Saturday's sure-to-please line-up consists of Good Old War, The Avett Brothers and Wilco. I am pretty excited.
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