(Tell me, doctor, where are we going this time/Is this the 50's, or 1999/All I wanted to do - was play my guitar and sing/So take me away, I don't mind/But you better promise me, I'll be back in time/Gotta get back in time)
I was delighted to find out that I had three weeks of vacation this year, which afforded me the chance to take some extra time off. But after taking Monday to go down to New York (which, incidentally, was supposed to be to go to a show on Martha's Vineyard), Tuesday for the show, and Wednesday for the drive back, I was back in the office Thursday. Well, Thursday morning, anyway - because BT was playing a free show at the Paradise in Boston that night. The same Paradise they hadn't played for THIRTEEN YEARS. The same Paradise where they'd had their gear stolen the last time they played there (which probably explains why they hadn't come back...well, that and Clearchannel's virtual stranglehold on the Boston market...but let us not speak of such things). The only problem was, unlike the Knitting Factory show, tickets weren't given out ahead of time, so people had to line up to get a chance at getting tickets. So I left work at around 1pm and jaunted down into the city, just because I could, arming myself with a cooler of drinks, some snacks, a folding chair, and a pile of quarters to feed the meter. I got to the venue to find all of two people in line.
[Apparently I never finished this draft...I found this 3.5 years later. From what I remember, we hung out all afternoon, I took a walk down to the bookstore in Kenmore Square to get a book - that's a DAMN long walk in the scalding heat, and eventually the doors opened around 6ish. I met the local Pilsner Urquell promoter, who gave me access to the upstairs balcony so I could tape from there. The best place to tape at the Paradise is down on the floor near a HUGE pole in the front, but I'd never run there before, and I was a little gunshy about trying it solo without anyone else to protect my gear.
So up to the balcony I went, and was mostly surrounded by VIPs all show. The sound was fantastic, the band was still about 30 feet from me thanks to the 'Dise's layout, and we all got rocked in close proximity for a little over 90 minutes. A little disappointing to have the show be so short, but given that I was basically going to see three shows in five days (the 17th was in New Jersey) I was more than happy to see my favorite band in my favorite venue.]
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