Alright, here is a recap of my bad concert experience last night. This is going to be long winded so stick with me.
First, a couple of things to remember. The bar/club was supposed to open the doors at 8:00 pm. The bar has to legally close up at 2:00 am, yes this is a stupid law, but this is a stupid state. Travis (Days of the New) has played at this exact club before and states he has been living in SLC for the past 3 years, there is no way I am going to believe he did not know about this stupid law.
OK, well I left my house at 6:30 pm knowing that the doors are opening at 8:00 pm and that it would take about a half hour to get to the club with traffic from my house. I get to the club at about 7:00 pm and it looks like there is nobody there. We (me and the girlfriend) go and get a quick bite to eat and come back about 15 mins later. A few people start to trickle in and at about 7:30 pm we go start the line to get in. Same as last time we were the first ones in line because we want to get a seat and not have to stand the entire time.
Well, at about 8:00 pm the "security" guys come out and tell us that the band is late to show and we are going to have to wait in line a little longer before they can open the doors. No problem, I thought, it must be one of the opening bands.
WRONG, it turns out it was Days of the New that was late. I have no idea who or what was late, but they were late. So, about 8:15 or so they open the doors and we all shuffle in.
For the next 2 or 2 1/2 hours Travis does his sound check. During this time some people get a little impatient and start "heckling" Travis to get off stage and get on with the show. Travis returns the favor and tells everyone to calm the fuck down and don't be a dick because he can be just as big of a dick! This happened about three times IIRC. At the end of sound check Travis apologizes to everyone and the other bands for taking so much time and the show goes on.
So, after the 2+ hour sound check and right around 10:00 pm the first of two opening (local) bands finally goes on stage and does their thing. After that the second band goes on and does their thing. Personally I didn't care for either of them because they had loud music confused with good music. I could not understand one damn thing they sang and everything just blended together. Also, both of these bands did take a shot at Travis for taking so long and somewhere in there the owner of the club got on stage and made an apology as well.
Anywho, at right around 12:00 am the opening bands get done and start to clean off their stuff off of the stage. Cool, I'm thinking, even if it take a half hour for the Days guys to set up they can still do an hour and a half set.
WRONG!!! It would be at least 40 mins before there is any activity on stage. They were not even setting up!! Keep in mind I was still on Travis' side up until this point. I can understand that it takes a while to do sound check and that shit happens.
So, now it's about 12:40 and for the next let's say 30 mins or so there are glimpses of people setting up on stage and even Travis and Ray are wandering around the club. Time is just tickin away here!! Even Ray is walking around just shaking his head! So, somewhere in there I see the club owner and ask him what the fuck man? He sits down and tells me how he has been waiting at the club since 4:00 pm for Travis because he knows he likes to take his time with the sound check. We were talking about stuff and one of his "security" guys comes up to him and they start talking. They get done and he turns to me, "well?" I asked him. He tells me that Travis is outside with people insulting them if they try to talk to him.
WTF?? Time is tickin away and Travis is outside insulting people!!?? Fuck man, what the hell is going on??
Well, at about 1:10 am Travis finally takes the stage and tells everyone how he is getting fucked tonight. He tells the club owner that he does not want to get paid for tonight and that he is doing this show tonight because he is an "artist". He then says that he did not know that there was a curfew. Ya know, even if he did not know about the curfew and that the bar had to close at 2:00 am what is the point of making all of us wait 40 mins or so before you even begin to set up??
After that condescending little speech I was pretty pissed off. He started into Orch and I was fuming mad. I asked the girlfriend what she thought and we were on the same page. I found the club owner, thanked him for trying and I left. Yep, that's right, I didn't even stick around to listen to Travis. I was that pissed.
So, there you have it, one long shitty night for me. Now that I have had a little bit of time away from the situation I'm still upset. I keep trying to see things from Travis' point of view, but all I can think is that he was acting like a spoiled baby. IMHO all of this could have been avoided if he would have been on time for sound check. Even with him (or whoever) being late I feel he should have been a professional and dealt with the situation. I understand that doing the sound check with people in the room is not ideal, but if your late that is what you have to deal with. I understand the he wants to be an artist and not a musician, but if he is going to do gigs like this he is going to have to deal with stuff like a musician. What a damn baby!!
That was bad ass!
