It’s kind of a running joke in our house that Chris and I tend to be the youngest people wherever we go. Our favorite restaurants tend not to be the places where the young and trendy go, but rather hotspots for retirees. The two shows we saw at Red Rocks this summer were Lyle Lovett and Prairie Home Companion. (When the performers are 55 and 70, the audience tends to skew that way as well.) We tailgated with friends who have kids almost our age.
So we sort of marveled this weekend when we ended up being very out of place at two shows filled with Very Young People.
Friday night we saw He’s My Brother She’s My Sister play in Boulder at the Fox theater. So, first of all, this show didn’t even start until 9 and there were two openers. We made dinner reservations for 9 at Brasserie Ten Ten. (I literally don’t think I’ve ever made dinner reservations for 9 pm ever in my life before.) (By the way that place was amazing!) (Also I know I overuse parentheses.)
Even doing our darndest to not be crazy early, we made it into the theater in time to see most of the second opener, The Outfit (with special guest Neyla Pekarek on one song, love her). I had forgotten it was an all ages show, and there were kiddos with black Xs on their hands.
The theater was maybe…two thirds full? We could have made our way down to the front, but instead Chris and I decided the (completely empty) area behind the sound booth was our own private VIP area so we enjoyed singing loudly and dancing our faces off with plenty of room and no worries about accidentally elbowing a teenager.
Now, He’s My Brother, Shes My Sister is one of my favorites lately. I’m not really a music buff. Chris plays DJ in our house and I alternate between sometimes tapping my foot and sometimes making a face, “What is this?” but most of the time it’s just background. So for me to know all the words to every song on the album and shlep up to Boulder for a show so late is kind of a big deal for me.
They’re a perfect ensemble cast, and I just find Rachel Kolar mesmerizing. She’s gorgeous, she has a killer voice, and she jumps around the stage like a jack rabbit.
I’m meandering. What I wanted to say was that while they are one of my favorites, they’re not super well known (yet!) and so as Chris and I stood in the back and I sang along loudly sometimes…I could hear myself. And the sound guys could hear me and gave us some funny looks. Hey, giant fan girl, go rock out in the front where you don’t look like a weirdo. Definitely during this song:
I love this song. It’s such an anthem. It just sounds like the kind of classic rock song that everyone knows the words to.
I had three drinks (a glass of wine with dinner and two whiskey and cokes at the theater. We got home close to 1 am, and I woke up at 6 am and spent all day with a headache and a tummy ache. #oldladyproblems
So anyways. The next night we went to see Danielle Ate The Sandwich at The Walnut Room. Not quite such a young crowd, but we ended up chatting up two girls hanging out in the front with us. They were both 21 and just…they were just so 21. An actual exchange:
21 year old: So, what do you do?
Me: I work for a software company.
21 year old: Oh, cool! My brother is technical, too. He’s studying computers in school.
Me: Oh, that’s his…major?
21 year old: No, in high school.
Me: Right. Okay.
They talked about going camping and doing mushrooms and the tragedy of a new love moving to a different city. So excited to meet the band there were nearly tears. I wanted to scratch them behind the ears, they were like earnest little puppies.
And once again the band we were there to see didn’t start until 10. (Maxwell Hughes opened. He is very, very talented, really a pleasure to watch, and has, truly, the most awkward stage banter I have ever witnessed.)
Determined to catch up on sleep, I came home and set myself up for a successful sleep in. I pulled all our blinds closed tight, put in earplugs, tied a bandana around my eyes to block out the light, and turned off all our alarms. You guys, I slept for eleven hours.
Back to more age appropriate activities today. Grocery shopping, cooking for the week, and hopefully early to bed after catching up on work emails in front of the tv. (well, the old iMac playing torrented downloads, same thing).
Winners Wear Yellow 