"I'm spinning round the room in awe" ryan adams

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

dancing slow in time to the song inside

The evening is documented here

So if you know me, you know that one of my favorite bands (among many, but this one is in the forefront) is Vertical Horizon. On Wednesday June 9, 2004 they played a free show down in Dewey, DE. Of course i was there.

Yeeeeaaaarrsss ago through some PMB folks, I heard about Vertical Horizon. Naturally I went on Napster and downloaded a few tracks and immediately liked this band. The first song I downloaded was "Sunrays and Saturdays" because I thought the title sounded interesting and it remains still as one of my favorite songs by them. I downloaded all of the live and studio stuff I could find and bought their release "Running On Ice". Still, one of my favorite albums. I think I had more of their stuff on my computer than any other band (aside from complete PMB shows). Oddly enough, I can count on two hands the amount of times I have seen them, and you know for me that's rare for a band I have liked for years!

Because Vertical was in Dewey I was reminded of a certain night in July 2 years ago. Mark Williams and I were in my car covered in sand talking about music around 5am as we searched for a missing tour van. I mentioned how I loved VH and didn't beleive him that Matt Scannell is one of his good friends until he showed me his phone. The rest is history.

So I was superpsyched for the Dewey show. I picked up Tim and Andre and we set off for McDonalds then the beach. Andre bought me a strawberry banana milkshake and it was fantastic. they also gave Andre and I balloons. Poor Tim missed out on the balloon action. We made the customary beach stop at Wawa and couldn't tell if our cashier was a man or a woman. For real. Then we took a picture of the marquee outside of Wawa. Classic. While making the u-turn to go back south, we saw the Crabby Dicks sign. Those two signs alone was worth the drive!

There wasn't any mention of show time or doors on any website, so we milled around for a few hours at the Cork. People are scary. I don't mean to be mean, but seriously. Someone was wearing shortalls. Shortalls. Remember those?!?! And there was an elephant toe spotting. Use your imagination because I think if I write it out, I will get sick. It was like an epidemic, you couldn't help but stare. And guys, seriously, tank tops don't look good on you. Honestly. The lights get low and I drag the boys up front with me.

Inside, You're A God, When You Cry, I'm Still Here, Japan, Best I Ever Had, Shackled, Forever, Comfortably Numb, Send It Up, Everything You Want
Encore: Wash Away, We Are

As you can see it was a short set, but I still had fun. Some annoying drunk girl was really obnoxious and so to alleviate the situation I parked myself in between her and her boyfriend. Tim and Andre gave me props on that one and i think Andre blocked her friends. It was a team effort. Tim said it best when he stated that free shows allow the casual fans to infilterate the venue. Yeah, ugh. A group of girls to the side of Tim talked about how they were gonna get backstage after the show. Oh geez.

But matt Scannell kicked ass! I swear he is one of the best guitarists I have seen. Seriously, the guy is wicked talented and shreds on stage. And Sean Hurley, their bassist, again, one of the best bassists I have seen live. Granted I have seen VH live before, but never as close. The last time i saw them was in North Carolina and I was backstage so I only got the see the side view, not the in your face rock that must be experienced. I was absolutely floored by the performance. Keith definitely got some mic time and Japan was a welcomed treat. They did a fantastic cover of Comfortably Numb and even threw in some Eleanor Rigby during the encore. Fabulous :-).