A new tradition

Last night Guster played the State Theater in Mpls. I, being the great Guster fan I am, had no idea they were even going to be in town. I found out on Wed. that Nick had a friend with tickets to sell. Of course I wanted to go!

This was my first Guster show sans "Asia Minor" (the two gals that I did my Gustering with back in the day). This was also the first concert that Nick and I went to together, and Nicks first time seeing Guster. I was a little sad about not seeing them with Courtney, but super excited about introducing Nick to the Guster experience.

The opening bad was Good Old War. They were decent. I have no idea what their lyrics were, but the music was catchy. They did have pretty awesome 3-part harmonies.

Guster did not disappoint. They played a fair amount of their older stuff, including their "updated" Airport song. Its updated because it has more of a disco feel. It was different, but still good.

I was a little concerned before it started. Joe, who had be come a favorite of mine, had left Guster in October. Who is gonna play banjo now? Well, they had found Luke. I was very cautious about Luke. I wasn't sure if I could/should like Luke. I really liked Joe. I miss Joe. Luke was pretty awesome. He rocked the harmonica as Joe had. He has some pretty serious instrument skillzzzz.

For the second time of the 16 I have seen them, they did a true encore. Of course Ryan talked about the "last song of the regular set, before the encore." He decided to an anti-encore. Adam wanted it to be silence rather than booing, so that's what was decided. They left the stage, the crowd grew quiet and Guster returned to the stage. They proceeded to do 4 more songs. They left the stage. The lights came up and the roadies were starting to take things down. The fans wanted more. Guster obliged. We got the awesome unplugged version of Jesus on the Radio. Luke totally owned the banjo. I have much love for Luke. I still miss Joe, but I will accept Luke.

So, the show was awesome and Nick and I loved it. We did realize there was an abundance of Chadbags there. (Let me know if you need a definition of the term) The group of 40-somethings in front of us was rather obnoxious. There were 4 couples. They were chadbags. They were disruptive and annoying. One of them kept doing air guitar moves. Now, I love Guster, but Guster is not really an air guitar type band. The other kept yelling "It's THAT song!" and proceeded to "rock out" head banging-esque to most of their songs. The gal he was with apparently knows one way to dance. That is how she danced to every song. She did the 40 year old white chick at a club, crossed with jazzercise moves. She danced like this to EVERY song. Um, i don't recall Guster being played at the clubs, and there are a few more laid back, slower numbers. This dancing just isn't ok with me.

Aside from the Chadbags, the crowed was about what I expected. The "North Face" jacket demographic and the belt-less demographic. Most of the fans were a tad older than the last few times I saw them. Makes sense though, Guster has aged a few years, so has the fan base.

When seeing Guster with Asia Minor, going to Perkins was always the traditional way to end the evening. Nick and I did not. Apparently as Guster has aged (according to Ryan, a bunch of old guys making music) so have I.

Looking forward to their next MN show.