Dave Matthews Band live at Xcel

I hadn't been out to a show since 5/5, and my friend Jason at work (with whom I saw Har Mar Superstar) asked me last week if I knew about any shows coming up. I told him the Dave Matthews Band was going to be here next Wednesday, and he got really excited. The plan was he was to get tickets that night and then text me where they were. 

A text came that night, but it was him saying that he'd forgotten about a prior engagement and couldn't go. I was all jazzed for the show, and decided that I was going to go anyways. The show wasn't close to selling out on Ticketmaster, so I planned on getting a ticket at he box office and avoiding the fees. My plan worked like a charm. I got the cheapest ticket they had. It was in the upper deck on the side of the stage. 

I made it up, up, up to my seat, and it was in the very last row of the section. The last row of the arena. I wasn't too worried about it as I knew it wouldn't sell out, and I'd creep closer once the show started. Dave Matthews took the stage at 7:26 for the 7:00 show. He was all alone and started with two acoustic covers; A Whiter Shade of Pale and The Needle and the Damage Done. He then brought out Tim Reynolds and they did a couple of songs together, and then the whole band joined, and it was a rock and roll party. 

View from the seat I bought

Around the fifth song I noticed that my section was nearly empty. The whole arena was about 3/4 full. I went down to the second row, where there were plenty of open seats, and took the one on the isle. I couldn't sit in the front row because it was pretty full, with an obviously drunk brunette dancing and holding her beer up during every song. Her blonde friend was sitting in the seat next to her and kept trying to get her to sit down. Brunette finally got her friend to stand up and join her. The blonde would turn around and high five me often.

View when I moved closer

There was another gal they were with sitting on the isle who was nursing a beer, but sober. The blonde offered me her beer at one point. When I declined she slurred "are you driving?" I told her I was. "Good for you for not drinking and driving." Back she went to rousing the audience to stand up and dance, which was unsuccessful.

Matthews announced that they were going to do one more song and take an intermission. I went to the bathroom toward the end of the song to miss the rush. By the time I got back it was intermission. I went back to my second row seat, and the house lights were up. I finally had a chance to see the drunken dancers. The way they were behaving I pegged them in their 20's. When the show was going on I couldn't make out their faces with the stage lights behind them...
They were 50 if they were a day. 

Their sober friend, Debbie, told me that they were going to try to go downstairs and get better seats for the 2nd half. She asked if I'd I like to join them. I did want to see if I could get closer, and I knew it would be a story either way, so I tagged along. Deb told the brunette (whose name I never got) to look up Minneapolis St Paul Magazine's editor on her iPhone as it would help her story to get us closer. 

Out in the hallway I learned that the blonde high-fiver was Brenda. She was the drunkest of the three. She asked me what I did working at the Xcel Energy Center. I told her I worked at Target and she didn't believe me. The four of us walked around the whole perimeter upstairs looking for the escalator down while Brenda would ask me "so, what do you do here?' I'd reply "I don't work here." "You don't? You do too." She also asked me again why I wasn't drinking. "Is it because you're driving?"

Debbie found an elevator, and walked on it like she owned the place. I followed, and they had to hold the door for the drunken (I learned) sisters. Debbie was a friend of the brunette. We got off on the first floor, and Debbie told the sisters to keep their mouths shut and just follow her. She marched all the way down to the main floor. We got to the general admission floor, and Debbie told us to wait on the first step. We did, and she went to talk to the usher who was letting people onto the floor. 

It was good that she did the talking rather than Brenda. If Brenda had tried to sweet talk the usher, it would have come out like this: "Bray. Leth ush on va ploor. Pleeeeshe." Debbie spoke to the usher for a few minutes, and finally turned to us and gave us a flick of a finger. "Follow me."

And we were on the floor.

I bought the cheapest ticket, and spent the second, rocking, half of the show where the tickets were about $100. 

View from the floor

You have to expect some pot smoking at a concert. Maybe a little more at a DMB concert. I didn't notice it upstairs at all, but as soon as the lights went out for the second half, it smelled like a skunk was running around the floor spraying. You might think you'd see a puff of smoke here and there. There were billows. It gave me a headache and stomach ache. 

Brenda eventually a got in an argument with someone, and her sister snaked her way up closer to the stage. They were out of the picture by the second song of the set. Debbie was still around, and she was actually pretty cool. We didn't talk much, but I felt like I was at the show with one of my cool aunts. Every so often she'd slap my shoulder and say "what do you think, huh?" or "can you believe it? Aren't you glad you came with us?" 

After Too Much she shook my hand and said "nice to meet you" as she was going to try to find the sisters in the sea of people and clouds of fog. I was starting to feel wobbly from standing too long and knew that I better find a seat before it was too late. I waded through the crowd to the first deck, and got a seat about halfway up where I watched the remainder of the 4-hour show (including the brief intermission). 

Dave Matthews Band are professionals. The show was great, and the story greater. I'd forgotten how much I like their music. Maybe I should work at Xcel so I can see these shows for free. The next show will be Motley Crue and Alice Cooper with Megan in August. Our seats are in the upper deck for that too. At least the first part of the show will be.