Seeing Beck

Once again, another exciting night in Portland. But this time my trip had more of a point. So we left for Portland 4 and a half hours before the Beck concert started at 7:30, we had hoped to get good seats for my parents, before my brother and I went down to the floor. So up we drove on the longer prettier road, listening to Bruce Springsteen's, Nebraska. It was a very pleasant drive, as always, listening to the soft doleful songs, and looking out at the empty fields of stripped green and brown grass, mountainous forests, and clouds in the blue sky that seemed to line up with the freshly mowed fields. Our drive was not interrupted until we reached Tigard, where we stoped to buy corn cushions for my dad's feet, and eat dinner at a small Chinese buffet. After our meal, we drove off into Portland, and after taking many wrong turns, and my father, yelling obscenities, unneedingly, we had reached the parking structure, only to find that the doors did not open until 7:00. So we had about an hour to fiddle around Portland. Of coarse we all opted for Powells. After another fun game of getting really lost, and watch dad yell, we were in another parking structure. Into the store we dashed with only a few minutes to browse. First off, I ran to the music section to see if the Mix Tape book was still in it's spot, it was not. Then to the Russian language section, where I had a good idea. My idea was this, I could carry around, in a front pocket, a small Russian dictionary, and if the case arrived that I would be shot at, then my tiny little Russian dictionary would stop a bullet directly to the heart, good idea right? So after looking at some more books, and things that one might find at Powells, back in the car, and back to the first parking structure. This time we were on time, and we parked among the other two cars. As we walked in past the food stands and "Cool Stuff" table, I remembered the last time I had been to the Memorial Coliseum, for a robot competition. As we soon found out, we could not go on the floor, without a "Floor ticket", and how one comes across one of those is beyond me. So we found a place to sit, broken up into odd groupings, my mom and dad, and my brother and I about 4 rows back on the opposite side of the isle, putting me in between my brother, and a very creepy 20 something guy. Before I sat down to enjoy the show, I wanted to buy a ridiculously over-priced shirt. Over at the "Cool Stuff" table there were a bunch of cool shirts, but in the end I opted for this, $25 one (that's crazy!) When I got back to my seat, the guy next to me, already had a $7.50 beer, one of 4 that night. After a bit of aimless chatter, the lights went down, and with a cheer from the crowd, McRorie took the stage. For those not in the know, McRorie is a one man band, in which a man with two keyboards and four drum pads strapped to himself, some type of drum pads connected to his shoes, and some other way of playing other instruments with just his fingers, somehow mixes them into a song. McRorie sings mainly old 80's covers, songs about cowboy Drugie's, and partying after "they" drop the bomb, all things that the gentlemen next to me felt he had to yell, and raise his beer to. When McRorie had finished up his set, the lights came on for a short break. And then came Le Tigre. I had heard of the band before, and had a few songs, but really never heard a lot of their stuff, and I liked it. The fun, up beat, feminist Rock/Disco/Pop, got the whole crowd ready for Beck. After the longest of the 3 breaks, the band all came on. One by one they got on stage, last, of course, was Beck, who then led right into the first song, Clap Hands from the deluxe version of Guaro. The first couple of songs were either from Guero or Odelay, but he never played Jack-ass, which kind of upset me. But what he did play, was a cover of the Flaming Lips song, Do You Relize?, which I am told, he plays live quite often, but rare or not, I enjoyed it. This song was played during a little Medley he did half way through the show, when he played some old favorites, and covers. The whole time this was going on, his band was eating dinner, and playing percussion on a little table provided on the corner of the stage. This was also around the time the drunk guy next to me, became the really drunk guy next to me. He felt it necessary to point out when ever their was a picture of Beck on the large screen on stage "oh, there he is" and "their he is, that cock sucker", I don't think he even knew what he was talking about. When Beck started playing faster songs again, everyone was up and dancing, and that meant, I was stuck holding drinks for the guy next to me. The last song (before the encore) was Clap Hands (also the first song). After the usually clapping and cheering, he came back for an encore, and asked for people to get up on stage with him. The really drunk guy next to me anxiously asked if I wanted to go on stage, which was imposable from our seats, but anything is possible to a drunk. Maybe if I could have got one of the coveted floor tickets, I could have gone on stage and danced with Beck, but I was stuck with the drunk guy. Sadly, Beck left the stage, holding up a megaphone as if to say something, but just walking calmly off stage. It was a great time, I'm gonna have to see him again if he ever comes back. I don't remember the play list that well, or what he played during the encore. Maybe I could have remembered better if I did not have a drunk guy next to me, talking about stuff that made no sense, singing in my ear, telling me about corporations and how he wanted to pour beer on the "chick" in front of him, but MTV is cool (I don't get it either), and how he had a "French mustache", having me holding his beer, being offered snuff and booze, hearing him yell obscenities about the band, and having been close to sexually harassed, but who knows. The importent thing is, I saw Beck, in all his glory, and he was great!