Summerfest '05 - Night III

Headed back to work today, yes. Weekend over, not quite yet.

By 5 p.m., me and my colleagues all but abandoned the entertainment department and headed up to Summerfest another night to catch our respective bands. For me, it was the Gin Blossoms. … I hadn’t thought about seeing them until about a week ago when one of the features reporters (whose age would trick you into thinking she‘s a bigger fan of ‘50s classics) mentioned her affection for the Gin Blossoms and wrote a story about them. The brief conversation made me start to recall all the Gin Blossoms songs I so loved years ago and how their “New Miserable Experience” album was the first CD I ever bought. It would be a mistake, I thought, to pass up a chance of seeing them …


So I boarded the bus ONE MORE TIME and rode it up to the Summerfest gates ….I bought the worst, dried up Culver’s ButterBurger I’ve ever tasted ….and walked to the Potawatomi Pavilion to grab a seat. About 7 p.m. now (Gin Blossoms would be on at 9:30 p.m.), I was somewhat surprised to see maybe only a dozen people sprinkled throughout the long rows of benches …. After all, Styx was playing one of the larger stages at 8. I had walked past it on my way here and the space was already jammed with people, and you could hear the buzz throughout the grounds for that performance. Even I thought about maybe going to catch a little bit of Styx before returning for Gin Blossoms. ….Still, I held on to the seat I had -- fourth row, center stage -- and took in yet another cover band, The Johnsons, although this one seemed to put more of a rock spin on the songs I’d been hearing all weekend ….

BUT THIS, I must tell you, presented probably my favorite moment of the entire Summerfest weekend, when the Johnsons played their version of “Hey Ya.” … Picture: I’m sitting with a group of 20-something white guys and girls in front of me and a group of middle-aged white men behind me. To our right is two full rows of white, teenage girls in skimpy outfits standing on the benches and dancing to each song. But THE MOMENT the opening notes and drum beats of “Hey Ya” come out, suddenly a rush of black guys in baggy clothes and girls in skimpy outfits are overflowing the aisle and seats to the left of us, jumping, bouncing, clapping and shaking “it like a Polaroid picture” like you’d never seen before. …For those of us watching, huge smiles erupted on our faces, enamored at this fun scene playing out in front of us. To watch these white girls to the right of us and then an entirely separate crew of black culture on the left shake it all out was something that could hardly be put into words, and you almost didn’t want it to end …but then, as quickly as the group appeared, song ended and all of the energy was gone. …

Until …

The Gin Blossoms entered the stage. I rediscovered my love for the Gin Blossoms on this night ...

With every song, the memories flood back. “Follow You Down” equals sitting at DCI in the summer of ‘96, testing liquid crystal displays with my headphones on and hearing Mix 93 play the song over and over every couple hours. … “Until I Fall Away” equals laying on our basement floor in the summer of ‘94 and waiting for VH1 to play the music video because I so loved the song…. “Til I Hear It From You” equals standing in the Olathe South parking lot during band camp in the summer of ‘95 and singing to the song on a car radio with Erin Jenkins. … I popped “New Miserable Experience” into my car stereo on the way up and to see these guys playing the songs live was far better than I had imagined -- and I adoringly sang to every song, even the ones I’d forgotten I knew, enjoying every second of it. The guitarists were so fun to watch and the lead singer walked among the first couple rows of people on almost every song, grabbing hands, interacting with the crowd and over and over accepting people’s cell phones to sing into them. “Alison Road” and “Found About You” were mixed in with a couple new songs from their upcoming album and then the one that this particular crowd had been waiting for -- “Hey Jealousy.”

….the encore: a one song jam of dueling guitarists standing on either side of the stage. Awesome.


Home at about 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday. My ears numb. Barely a voice to speak. My throat burning and chalked full of a weekend’s worth of second-hand cigar, marijuana and cigarette smoke. Yet still bursting with energy. … My weekend is over.