LolaGeek

I saw Tally Hall live last night! They were at The Note in West Chester, Bam Margera’s club. GG and I headed down as soon as I got home from work and changed, and lucked out with a free parking spot on the street. (Well, the meters stopped at 5 PM and it was like 4:50, so I think he threw in a quarter.) Then we walked over to the Iron Hill Brewery for dinner. GG had a beer sampler. That was a mistake! I finally realized, the reason he acts like a jerk sometimes when we’re out is because he had beer beforehand. Not that he’s drunk, but even just one beer turns him from amusing and weird to mean and rude. Sigh.

After dinner we walked a few blocks to The Note. I just had a big sweater on because I didn’t want to be dealing with a jacket in there, and luckily it wasn’t too bitter cold, because we had to stand outside for like 45 minutes until 7 PM, when the doors were supposed to open. But they didn’t actually open until like 7:20. While we were waiting outside, GG struck up conversations with a group of girls standing in front of us, and two girls with a set of parents – the dad was as weird and embarrassing as GG, so the mom and I commiserated and I was like, “Do I have a lifetime of this to look forward to?” Also, every time someone came in or out of the club (especially a Tally Hall member), GG would shout, “Tally Hall! You guys should be the headliners! We’re walking out after you!” etc.

When we finally got inside, as I predicted, most people headed to one of the two bars, so there was lots of room to get up close to the stage. We were one layer of people away. The girls with the embarrassing parents were actually right in front of us, and GG tried to talk to them between acts. The opening act was a band called Crash Kings, they just kept saying, “We’re Crash Kings, we’re from Los Angeles.” Their bass was so strong, it made my sternum and hair vibrate. It was seriously uncomfortable. In a different situation I might have enjoyed them, but not there. GG was really interested in this keyboard instrument they used, which had sort of a whammy bar on it. I was distracted by the barefoot drummer.

Finally Tally Hall came on and took their time setting up. Right before they started playing, one of the guys from the previous band stuck his head out from backstage and from GG’s lip-reading, asked, “Has anybody seen my bass?” Uh oh. (It later turned up – it had been leaning right against the front of the stage in its case!) Here’s all the songs I remember them playing, not in any particular order:

• Good Day
• Welcome to Tally Hall
• Spring and a Storm
• The Whole World and You
• Turn the Lights Off
• Never Meant to Know
• Sacred Beast
• A Lady
• Cannibal
• &
• You and Me

I’m pretty sure they started with “Never Meant to Know,” and I know for sure they ended with “The Whole World and You,” but besides that I have no idea of the order or if that’s even a complete list. Anyway, they were really good and put on a great show. It made up for any suckiness of the earlier events of the evening. They had some good audience banter, too. Andrew confessed he was afraid he wouldn’t hit his high note. Zubin apologized in advance to the people standing in front of him in case he coughed on them because he was sick. (Side note: wouldn’t it suck to be sick while touring the country with your band? Ugh.) Rob had a little conversation with some girl in the audience in which he said she’d been raised in an “idea barn” because she just shouted out her comment rather than raising her hand. And Ross sat quietly behind his drum set where I couldn’t see him the whole time because Joe’s crotch blocked my view. (Speaking of Joe’s crotch, why were his pants so much tighter than the other guys’? I think if they’re going to go matchy-matchy with the shirts, vests, and ties, they should also wear the same style of pants.)

All my pictures from last night, as well as links to two videos (“Good Day” and “Spring and a Storm” – incomplete recordings) are on flickr.

We got out of there as soon as TH was finished – they weren’t even off the stage yet. So yeah, obviously we didn’t stay for the headliner, Rooney. But hey, we were home by 10 PM!