Weekly Roundup 3/30 - 4/5

Hi, I'm back. Going to level with you guys here, this entire post was written at the end of the week. I meant to write as it went along but I was pretty busy this week and just didn't feel like updating it, nothing super exciting has happened, really. I did end up working more than I was scheduled to, the schedule I gave you last week ended up being only half of what I worked. Anyway, here's what happened this past week.

3/30/26 - Tigers Jaw

I have really not a lot to say about this show, I was up front doing IDs the entire night and did not see any of the bands that played. Some lights (don't know if they'd be high- or low-) were that a guy came up with a crushed beer can in his hand, and when I asked what it was he told me "coffee". I said, "Ok, let me just take a look and make sure that that's what that was." He jerks his hand away as I go to take it to look at it (suspicious if it's just coffee), and sure enough it was some kind of beer. Here's the plot twist, I'd seen him drinking it as I was going in for work, but I wasn't on the clock yet so as far as I was concerned it wasn't my problem yet, and I wanted to give him the opportunity to be smart and throw the can away at a trash can before he came in. He obviously did not do that. Had faith in him, last time I do that! There was an older couple later in the night that seemed a little intoxicated, but just from the observation of putting their wristbands on I didn't get the impression that they were problematically drunk, so I let them in. However, what felt like 5 minutes later, they're being escorted out because they're just too drunk to be left in there among 500 people in a venue with a broken AC.

That's the other thing, our AC is busted right now and it doesn't seem like it's going to get fixed anytime soon. Apparently the HVAC guy came in and said there was nothing wrong with it, but obviously there's something wrong with it; it's not working! So, the make-up air has been on: been pumping in air from the outside to try and cool it down at least a little bit. Unfortunately, it's been getting warmer recently, so that wasn't doing too much. Casualties included one person fainting and another throwing up. Unfortunate scenes. Beyond the previously mentioned, not a lot of issues. I did get stuck doing late person, basically just sitting at the load out door to let bands back in while they load out, and it took them soooo long to load out my goodness. They got all their gear out pretty quickly but then the trickle of people just dilly dallying in there myyyy gooooddddd. I didn't clock out until like 12:17AM! But whatever they were all nice enough.

3/31/26 - Hunter Hayes

I wasn't originally scheduled to work this one, but I picked it up because someone needed coverage. Complete clusterfuck of a shift. Was coming in early (5:15 vs the usual 6:15) for the meet and greet and was expecting to have some time to myself, usually the call time is 45 minutes before doors, so I had gotten myself a burrito from El Jefe's (I prefer Felipe's flavor-wise, but Jefe's just gives you a bigger burrito) and was going to eat it before the start of my shift. However, upon arrival I was informed that, actually, we were going to open doors at 5:30 and we would have to be ready to let in the first of 2 VIP tiers in. Well, shit. This goes smoothly enough, but the meet and greet that was happening took forever, so much so that we ended up having to push General Admission doors (which were at 7PM) about 30 minutes, because the meet and greet ran long, which meant the exclusive soundcheck that the first and second tiers of VIP had access to started late and also ran a bit long between the songs and questions. So, because of this, the show that was already supposed to end at 10:30, ended up finishing at 11. I didn't clock out until 11:47. A second day where I wasn't supposed to work at all, but ended up working more than expected (First was a while ago when I had taken the day off to see Miki Berenyi, but ended up working the load in, show, and load out. Check was crazy, though).

Music itself wasn't anything amazing, pretty unremarkable to be honest. I remember the opener more than I remember the main act. But, again, it wasn't anything remarkable. Very milquetoast "girl with guitar" music, she mentioned Taylor Swift multiple times and even segued into a brief cover of "Cruel Summer" at the end of one of her songs. Really insane levels of cringe. Nothing offensive, though, just seems like someone trying to play the industry game (which to me is offensive, but I'm also a hardheaded asshole). Hunter Hayes was just whatever, I genuinely cannot remember any of the songs. He apparently has won a Grammy (or multiple?) but I just cannot see what category it would have been under. The people that loved him LOVED him. But also, weirdly, it was one of the most sedate crowds I've seen. Like, people were singing along, I could hear it, but then wherever I looked it was blank faces. Strange stuff.

4/1/26 + 4/2/26 - [Attended] Wednesday + Nothing

Didn't work these days, but I went to see Wednesday and went to the Nothing show. Wednesday were absolutely fantastic, I loved their set. Been waiting, like, three years to see them (since around the release of Rat Saw God) so I'm very happy I finally got to see them. Karly was wearing a Swirlies tank top, so that was a very cool little connection to the city. Then on Thursday I went to the Nothing show. I went mainly for Full Body 2, but I was also interested in seeing Violent Magic Orchestra and Cryogeyser. I did not care about seeing Nothing at all, that new album was so goddamn boring. Rehashing old shoegaze tropes (people were doing shoegaze with dance beats in the 90s, guys) in an entirely uninteresting way. I missed my one chance to see them when I would care (had to leave Slide Away 2024 early to catch my bus back to Boston, when they were doing Guilty of Everything 10th anniversary) and now I simply do not care. I'm being forced to see them in May because they've decided to sandwich themselves between Chapterhouse and Hum, and to top it all off they're doing 10 years of Tired of Tomorrow (and that album suuuuckkkksssuhhhh ughhhh). Also not a fan of they hypermasculine way they present themselves. They were playing, like, ring camera home invasion footage for the first one or two songs, why? We get it you guys are tough and scary, who cares, you're singing sad music. I left about 25 min in because my friends also wanted to leave, but I did hear "Hymn to the Pillory", which did sound good live VMO were pretty dope, very different vibe from the other bands but I enjoyed the vibe they were very cute, especially when one of the guys asked very politely for the room to move in. And they did! Very nice. Cryogeyser were cool, indie slowcore-y vibe. Full Body 2 sounded fantastic, though. At the beginning of the set the guitars were too quiet, but I think they got bumped up as the set went on. "2g Ether" might genuinely be a top 5 shoegaze song of all time, cannot believe that fucking song.

4/3/26 - Glitterboys

Another Glitterboys shift. This one was pretty good, flew by a lot more quickly than others have done, because there was a show happening on the venue side (1tbsp) going later than usual and so I was able to talk with my coworkers for a while, made the 9:30 - 11:30ish block go by a lot quicker. Had my friends at Glitterboys too so I was talking with people all through the night. Pretty good one, flew by, and to throw a cherry on top I was able to catch the last 66 bus so I didn't have to walk all the way home.

4/4/26 - Dirty Three

Ok, I wasn't supposed to work this one, either. I was originally planning to try to attend this one because John said they were really good, but then I saw that one of the scanners was trying to get their shift covered, so I thought, "hey, I'll pick it up, work it, get cut, and watch the show." Nope! I show up to work and apparently there's already someone else, who usually scans, there to work the scanning shift. However, someone on security had called out, so I ended up slotting in there. Whatever. My paycheck will be nice at least. Nothing crazy, super easy in, older crowd. Had one guy faint or something, but he ended up being ok. Later I heard about a woman puking all over the bathroom. Thank god I wasn't there.

The band were simply amazing. The main guy came out in an inside out Columbia jacket so the shiny was on the outside, and really was acting like a rock star, which is hilarious because the music itself was very much moody, atmospheric post-rock. Which is EXACTLY my shit. Violin, guitar, and drums (drummer looked a good bit like Ray Wise) combined to really play with the textures that each instrument were able to create, and was just amazing to watch. They had a 2 1/2 hour set that was punctuated by a good amount of storytelling (one particularly nice tribute to Steve Albini) which was really enjoyable. I would have really liked to have been there to watch it as a patron, but oh well. I ended up buying a CD afterwards because I liked their set so much. Not super often that I do that for a first-time watching/hearing band. Great stuff, hope to see them again.

Next Week

4/6 - Angel Dust w/ Outta Pocket, Jivebomb, Recollection

4/9 - Hannah Cohen

4/10 - Whitney

4/12 - Club D'Elf

Got this out a little late, sorry (I've already worked the Angel Dust show at the time of publication lolll) but I'm trying to be consistent with it. This is an exercise in consistency of output as much as anything else. Besides Angel Dust, don't know any of the bands playing. Was going to work the 11th, too, but I have a friend's birthday part to go to so I got that covered. Ok, see you next week.