Three dollars and 63 cents

Yeah, it was pretty mind-blowing. I felt lucky to be there. I posted a video of Nels and Norton on Youtube last night. If you can't find it by searching for Stained Radiance, my username over there is writergeek313 (as it is most other places online).

That Holiday Inn is ridiculously overpriced because it's the only hotel near the sports complex, and when I was there a few years ago it was really run-down. There's a subway stop relatively close by, so you can get back downtown after the show fairly easily. I've always had really good luck with Philadelphia hotels on Hotwire. I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express for $75 a night a few years ago, and I was at a hotel right at Penn's Landing a few weeks ago for only about $100. I think we're staying at the Sheraton near the airport. It's suites, and it's pretty reasonably priced (with AAA disco

I did GA for U2's last tour in Buffalo in December. I showed up at maybe 9:30 in the morning with two pairs of long underwear and those hand warmers that hunters put in their gloves and boots (which you can get at outdoor/sporting goods stores). Thankfully they opened the lobby and let us wait inside, but there were plenty of people already there ahead of me. I'm not sure if this show will attract that same diehard crowd, but we decided to buy seats because I knew I won't be able to get down there until a little later in the day, and we didn't want to be stuck in the back.

I saw the Hold Steady a few weeks ago when they opened for Sonic Youth. They were a lot of fun and very high-energy. Add vodka, stir, and I'm sure you'll have a great time!

A nice review in the Times yesterday. Nice to see "Mr. Cline" get the only quote of the article! I posted my thoughts about the show in the thread in Just a Fan before this thread was started. My pictures are there, too. I have a two-minute video I need to put on YouTube. I'll try to do that tonight.

Nels told me when I saw him in New York last weekend that they're playing "a short set," since there's another band on before them. There's no way they'll play for 90 minutes. I think 45 minutes to an hour is more realistic. I'd guess the first band will play until 7:30, Wilco will go on at 8, and Neil Young will be on by 9:15.

poppydawn got four mid-priced seats for us right at 10. We're in section 203. She held them while I looked to see if we could pull up anything better, but everything was gone in a few minutes. The best high-priced seats I pulled up were in section 214, which wasn't that much closer. I figured the mid-priced ones would be on the 300 level, so I'm glad we're one level down. We're on Nels's side, no less The whole floor is GA. We would've gotten GAs if they were doing what they did at MSG, where the first half of the floor is GA with seats in the back. It's a relief that we got tickets!

Does this really merit its own thread when there's another KOL thread that's fairly recent?

What I saw of his set was awesome...just really, really loud.

It was so insanely loud, louder than any other live music I've ever heard. I could only handle about half the set, and my ears were sore the next morning. None of the other sets were half that loud, thankfully. I was talking to some people in a room off the balcony during J. Mascis's set, and the whole room was moving, and every time somebody opened the door, this huge tidal wave of sound poured in.

My pictures are here. That review on Brooklyn Vegan doesn't shock me. I think a lot of people went to this thinking it was going to be a rock show, and if they stuck around long enough for J. Mascis's set, that's what they got. People who weren't open-minded enough to appreciate experimentation were probably disappointed, and there seemed to be some confusion in the crowd at times. I only caught the last five or ten minutes of Tom Verlaine and Jimmy Ripp's set, but I liked what I heard. I was disappointed that Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo only played for about 15 minutes. I couldn't se

I had a blast. It was definitely worth the trip. I was talking to a reporter from the New York Times who said his story is supposed to run I think Monday. Nels and Norton were mind-blowing and gracious, as always. I'll try to get my pictures posted tomorrow.

Anybody else going to this? Lee Ranaldo was added to the lineup a few weeks ago. It's going to be an amazing show

I thought you were calling us names

I found out today that they're going to be opening for the Decemberists when they're here in November, so I'll be seeing them.

I'm about 50 pages into it. I'm hoping to get enough read this weekend that I can jump into the discussion when it gets started.

For some reason I didn't think was coming out until next month. I'm looking forward to picking it up. I bought both of his other albums at the same time and listened to them incessantly for a few months, then I kind of burned out on him. I was just thinking the other day as I was scrolling through my iTunes that I might be ready to listen to him again. Jolene is such a gorgeous, haunting song. I was really hoping I Won't Be Around would be on the new album, but I guess it didn't make the cut. Hopefully he still performs it once in awhile.

The fact that their last two albums were released in late fall and their last two tours started the following March made me worry that they were going to fall into a formula. The three new remasters and (it's about damned time) release of Under A Blood Red Sky on DVD will be enough to hold me over awhile longer. I know a lot of people are itching for a new U2 album, but I'm glad to wait if it means a better album. I think U2 is still capable of much more than their last two albums showed us, so I'm cautiously optimistic that they're thinking of what they're doing now as another sort of reinven

Nope.

My album of the year by a mile They're playing in NYC tomorrow night, and the only way I can go is if I stay up all night so I can make it back in time to teach at 9 on Wednesday. I'm probably going to have to miss their last east coast show for quite awhile

damn, it's September 1 already, isn't it?

Just finished: Next up:

I'm glad to see Jeff, John, and Pat using the trip as a chance to play more shows. Nels, due to some scheduling snafu, is slated to play a set at the Angel City Jazz Festival in L.A. tonight with Scott Amendola, Ben Goldberg, Becca Michalek, and Joel Hamilton. I have a feeling they may open with a new 20-minute improvisational piece called Jet Lag.