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We arrived with an hour to spare before the doors even opened. Emo's, an unprepossessing little facade, had Ol' Blue and the White Knight parked across the street from it, and an empty van-sized spot right in front of the door. Boy, did we park there and roll the windows down, playing the album and eating roadtrip snacks. A line started forming, couple by couple and little clump by clump, but we weren't worried.
And then one of the clumps that walked by was Tony and Jason chatting animatedly, with Mike trailing behind them. We waved out the open window and Mike saw us and waved back and said "hi, you made it", looking surprised.
As the line lengthened, and I recalled my similar car-or-line dilemma with Julie at the Starland Ballroom, I spotted a dark-haired woman pulling up the cuff of her jeans and showing her ankle to an interested couple standing by her. I thought, "that must be Margie" and it was. Her Crash Kings tattoo apparently doesn't like the lotion she gave it, but it's getting over itself. It was cool to meet her, and we talked in line for awhile, once we realized the Will Call and cash lines were all one, and the doors opened pretty soon.
Rarely has an hour gone by at such varying speeds, full of anticipation and impatience. Jason, who is much more accessible than the brothers Beliveau, showed up through the door with about half an hour to spare before the openers took the stage, and recognized me, in my haircut, from 20 feet away behind people he was talking to and obviously knew. I walked over and he amiably said hi, gave me a hug that seemed genuinely glad to see me, and remarked on how he liked my new 'do (which I explained used to be an annual event) and my awesome modified Crash Kings shirt.
I asked him what happened to his hand, since he tweeted a worrying photo awhile ago of a gigantic hole in two of his fingers. Apparently it was a kitchen knife accident. I asked him how the other two Texas gigs, the two days before, had gone; there was a tweet about how the Dallas crowd was great for Edgefest, but Jason said it wasn't a great time, and some things went weirdly. Houston, apparently, was better. I don't think he was saying that just because he was from Houston, either. I mentioned how much I regretted not getting to either of those two shows, but he was glad I made it to this one. So am I. Oh, man, so am I.
I was even excited to wait knowing it was not yet for our boys but for the opening band. Their name, as we discovered later, is Smoke and Feathers, and I was quite taken with their sound. It doesn't vary much, but it's the kind of amorphous, haunting guitar chromatics, and skillfully handled effects on the second lead, and bassy goodness, that I like in the more nebulous Led Zeppelin breaks. Also, the second-lead guitarist/singer played a theremin in one song. There's almost nothing in rock that wins me over faster than a well-played theremin.
Their set was enjoyable, and I decided if they had an album I'd buy it. However, I can't help but be glad when whoever's opening for Crash Kings finishes, and their quite-good-looking crew sets up. I was in my usual spot, right on the edge stage right, but everyone in the front backed up for the loading. Jason walked back and forth with drums, a skinny blond plugged in all the clav/piano pedals, a bearded brunet connected Mike's amps and tuned the basses. Everybody was climbing around the Yamaha fold-up piano on the edge of the rather small stage to test things, and walking in front of me and the rest of the stage-hugging row.
At long last, the boys climbed onto the tomato carpet, to absolutely deafening screams. The place had become packed between the sets, and from what I heard later I'm given to understand it sold out. Tony opened with a rumble that swarmed up the piano into the ringing arrival of 1985, and thus began the rockingest-ever show of the 11 Crash Kings shows I've seen.
Non Believer was next and it started with a suspenseful rumble, too. 14 Arms, following, was so clearly the train to be on, sometimes the screams overpowered the piano pickups. You Got Me was balanced exactly exactly right for the grungiest, nastiest, grindingest bass line ever to be screamed over; I would not be surprised if a few people swooned. The contrast with Come Away, which had a little twinkly segue and an opening in a higher octave than usual, made it even sweeter than it is in its place on the album, and Mike's backups were right on. It's Only Wednesday came after, in which I may have sprained an ankle rocking out, and then Raincoat, which was similarly rapturous (everyone sang the chorus and it wanted your yellow raincoat SO BAD). The dissenting fulmination of 2nd Rate Citizen made a gutsy succession, and they screamed extra hard for it even though it was obviously less familiar. My Love, which they did know, brought the house back into the palms of Tony's hands, so he could smash us into tiny rocking pieces with the opening riff of Carry On after a wandering, time-stretching clav solo to open. I was worried those would be the only two off-record songs, but I rejoiced to hear the deceptively slow but supercharged opening chords of All Along next. Back up-tempo to the piece I had in my very hand while dancing and singing harmony to it, Saving Grace, before the obligatory ender, Mountain Man. He even did the little faux-teaching of the audience participation part; it was clear everyone there knew the score. The cheering after the end of the set was overwhelming even through earplugs, and the audience clearly knew better than to get out from in front of the stage so the boys could leave (though they looked like they were going to try). The crowd was so high (but never dry) that there was an impromptu but clearly inexorable exchange between the brothers and the consensus was reached. They announced the backstory of their cover, Tony took the little three-Postit lyric sheet out of the clav and taped it to the piano, and they launched into War Pigs. I'd thought the roar couldn't get any higher. I was wrong. Several times during the set, Tony had informed the crowd incredulously that it was the best and loudest they'd ever played for. He even told us to give ourselves a "Fuck, YEAH". And this was the second time a show of theirs had ever sold out. Tony spent several minutes shaking and high-fiving and just touching everyone's hand that was raised at his side of the stage, with the biggest smile I'd ever seen on his face. They barely made it off the stage into the recesses of the venue.
They did make it away, though. The boys disappeared into the back room, though Jason was out in a jiffy, greeting a gaggle of girls who materialized out of thin air at the front of the stage. I waited for the throng to dissipate and congratulated him on the best show ever, and not just because the crowd was great (though they were). He immediately hugged me and we talked about the show and the awesomeness of the night for a little while, and he insisted we do a proper picture since my mom was taking a couple anyway (I'd given her the camera and said "take a picture if something interesting happens). So I flailed all over the conversation, but it was the kind of enthusiastic flail that works, and soon enough some more enthusiastic conversants requested his autograph and a word and a photo, so mama and I retreated to the merch table.
I did indeed buy the Smoke and Feathers CD, though it's a demo with just four songs rather than a proper album. Since I also bought a gray Crash Kings shirt, it came with a pretty sweet Smoke and Feathers poster, too. And a small chat with the theremin player selling it to me was an added bonus.
We waited around on the bench for awhile, watching the lovely crew load out, till about 1am mama decided to wait in the car. I migrated towards the most plausible area the boys might show up in, and indeed Mike passed through. I talked to a couple of the older guys Tony had been talking to before he went back through the door, and they were very sweet. Hugs all around. Apparently they all play Austin all over the place, and also are in a band the three of them together. There was an Alex, and a Mike G, and another one... but it all sort of disappeared when they did. And then Tony came back out.
I was feeling magnanimous and shyish enough to wait till I was the last on the queue, so I was extra delighted when he saw me and walked around the 4 or 5 people chatting where he'd been before to get to me and say hi. Somebody asked him something, but it was more a circle of conversation than a demand for exclusivity for awhile. And then I gave him the newest sheets and said, "you're probably tired of these by now, but here's another try; is this one right?" and started asking him transcription questions, straight up and no small talk. He found one more thing missing from the intro to Saving Grace, which was unfortunate. I asked him if he still wanted that one, which he did, even though I was going to fix him another one and bring it to Earthfest, and we talked about that and playing piano and he excused us to the rest of the circle for geeking out and explained what I was doing and showed it to them. They were impressed and gave me high-fives, and one girl said laughingly that she was now my number one fan. I thanked her with exaggerated grace, and asked Tony some more counting questions, this time for Non Believer, in advance of trying a transcription, which I will hopefully have in time for Earthfest, and ending up with the wrong choice.
6-6-6-5 held the floor for awhile, sort-of-excluding but sort-of-fascinating the other people hanging around, and he talked to them and I listened, and it was an affable, low-key talking circle. I also, in a sort of incidental manner, congratulated him on the best show out of the 11 I've seen (he smiled widely at that and repeated it to the impressed onlookers). The joke twitter contest, the crew, the drive to Boston from SF, the flight from SF to LA and how they no longer have to drive, were discussed. Eventually everyone drifted off but me, and I got to asking him about the tweets he'd made in LA, mentioning writing for a new album. It's apparently about half written, though they're going to do Asian and Australian tours before they drop another single, which they'll do before they cut another album. All Along will probably be that single, which makes me happy, as it's my favorite off-album song (he was glad to hear that, as well as the fact that Saving Grace was my favorite song from the record; it's his, too).
Jason showed up at some point and was still glad to see me, and pointed my shirt and my haircut out to Tony, who also liked them. We talked some more, and though I can barely remember the subject, I know it was easy and sweet and full of music, rather than squirming and tolerant and foolish. The lead from the opening band came over to invite Tony and the boys to a club a few doors down that he was head of security for and apparently could get them into even though it was closed. They seemed into it, so I edged away, telling them "have fun guys, I have to drive back to Houston", and they both, Tony and Jason, both immediately focused back on me and repeated my statement incredulously. "Yeah," I said, "actually, to catch a 6:30am plane." They sympathized mightily and both moved at the same time to hug me; Jason was closer, so he got the first one, and Tony got the last one. He insisted again on thanking me for the sheets and said he really appreciated them, so I thanked him and Jason for existing again (which made them laugh) and bid them goodnight.
Roadtrip snacks home are just as good, but also flavored with epic win.
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Julie