Concert Review

So last night I had the amazing ability to go to the Rock the Garden concert at the Walker museum for FREE! (people connections come in handy, don't forget that.) Four bands were playing: Retribution Gospel Choir, who was kind of a classic rock-ish band. I'd never heard of them and really liked their music. I managed to get right up front at the foot of the stage for the whole shebang, so it was nice to really be able to hear the bass and see the expression on the goofy guitarist's face. :) The next group was OK Go, and they have a slightly Prince-esque sound, extremely danceable, and extremely uplifting! Went I get my hands on some money, I'll be looking to buy these guy's album. After OK Go, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings were up. They had a longer set by about a half hour, and Sharon Jones was as strong voiced and jolly as ever. I already have a bit of their music, and was happy to sing along as I danced in the hot afternoon sun. I unfortunately forgot sunblock, so as well as sore feet, I've also got some pink cheeks. Oh well, it was definitely worth it! The Dap Kings, who back Sharon Jones as well as write their material, have also backed Amy Winehouse on one of her albums. I loooove Amy Winehouse's music, and especially love the horns she has in her songs. The coolio part is that those same horns are backing Sharon Jones! When I figured that out about a year ago I was all smiles. After a Haagen Dazs dulce de leche in a waffle cone break, my brother and I squeezed our way up to the front again to hear one of the biggest bands lately, MGMT. One of their songs was featured on an apple ad, (so if you don't recognize the band name, you DEFINITELY recognize the song.)They also had a fairly large spread in Rolling Stone magazine a couple of months ago. Their music is a little electronic, a little dance-y, a little falsetto, and a little acoustic! It has a great, happy-go-lucky feeling to it, and I was glad they had the longest set out of the other bands. When it got dark, everyone suddenly started dancing like no one was watching, and some slightly (or not so slightly) tipsy people decided it was the right time to go crowd surfing. Fortunately, I had no beer spilled on me, but the guy who was consistently smoking cigarettes next to me kindly puffed his smoke right in my face every two seconds, so I'll be doing some laundry of the homemade tie-dye shirt I decided to wear. Don't smoke, kids. It makes you stink like a monkey, turns your teeth yellow, makes a everyone around you annoyed when you blow your smoke everywhere, and not to mention the biggest winner, LUNG CANCER! But as long as I didn't have sticky beer-feet, I was a happy camper. Plus, I got to dance my heart out at the foot of MGMT's yummy-ness, so 'twas alllll good. This was the third year I've gotten to go to Rock the Garden, (which is put on by the radio station 89.3 The Current) and it's well worth buying the tickets. Or going for free, in my case! I wonder who's in the lineup for next year?

Food for Thought:if you've never listened to 89.3 FM, give it a try!