This is my 503rd concert.
This is my 15th concert at The Visulite.
This is my 108th concert in Charlotte.
This is my 130th concert in North Carolina.
This is my 304th concert in the USA.
Allgood are the 580th band I've seen.
So while I love a good Primus show, I actually came tonight so that Tuesday's Mudhoney show would be my 500th. Having said that, I liked Claypool Lennon Delirium when I saw them open for The Flaming Lips 4 years ago.
Except for The Beat's cover of Mirror In the Bathroom, the first 5 songs were long jam-bandy, and not really what I was hoping for. I was pretty surprised when the band walked off stage then. It didn't take long before they were back on stage and broke into Pink Floyd's Pigs On The Wing Part I. Not only was that amazing, but they then proceeded to play the whole Animal's album. Suddenly I knew some songs and the show picked up. It wasn;'t till the finished Pigs II, and had a short break, they I found out the guitar player with his face partially hidden by hat and hair, has Sean Lennon. I didn't know he played in this band as well. 5 more songs from Claypools' other incarnations of bands finished off the set. Finally the night finished off with only Cosmic Highway as the encore. For me this show didn't carry the joy that a Primus show would, but to hear Pink Floyd's Animals being played live was pretty special in the gamut of concert experiences.
Les Claypool's Frog Brigade SetlistA last minute call from the Ryans saw the boys and I head almost around the corner to Bojangles Arena for another Checkers game. Bean's soccer team were having an outing, so while the boys were hanging out, Steve and I watched from seats nearby.
A quiet start to the game just needed a goal from the Checkers in the 8th minute to heat things up. After that it was hard to keep with who was actually on the ice. 20 fouls meant during the whole game 10 players from each team ended up in the box. No love was lost out there. The Checkers finished the scoring in the 19th minute of the first period and from there on out, it was a slugfest. Not a particularly pretty game to watch, but a victory for the Checkers kept the home crowd happy.
The highlight probably went to some of the kids from Bean's soccer families. They all went down to the players entrance for the starrt of the 2nd period to high five the players. Some of them then got to ride in a car on the ice at the end of that period. They have a competition where if you can throw a puck into a whole in the sunroof, you win some money. The kids sat in the car as it got pelted with pucks from the crowd. No one hit the target. Then in the 3rd period, when most of the kids lost interest, they went over to where Greasy Keys (the Checkers organist and musical hype-man) was and danced around until they got on the big screen.
Always a good night out at the Checkers