Owl City in Anaheim, part 2
by V.E. on November 15th, 2009
filed under entertainment, recap/review
Owl City in Anaheim, part 1
by V.E. on November 15th, 2009
filed under entertainment, recap/review
Owl City headlining; Brooke Waggoner & The Scene Aesthetic opening
@ the House of Blues, Anaheim CA
on Thursday, 22 October 2009, 7 PM
I’ve finally gotten around to reviewing the Owl City concert I went to in October with my sister, Bunny. I’m not the hardcore fan she is, but over all, I had a really good time. Good company, good music, good venue (mostly). [NOTE: All photographs, unless otherwise noted, are of Owl City, Adam Young, and/or Owl City band members. All pictures were taken by my sister and me.]
Bunny’s late to everything, par for the course, and this was no exception. Our tickets said “6 PM doors open; 7 PM curtain” so I wanted to get there early-ish to be able to get a good spot in line and a good place at the House of Blues. It was standing room only, so we could’ve been stuck behind a pillar or something, which I, at least, didn’t want. She didn’t want it, either, of course, but she’s… well, she’s Bunny. What can you do, right?
She was a half hour late picking me up. We live around an hour and fifteen minutes away from Anaheim, and that’s not counting traffic. Heading out there at 4:30, we were bound to hit rush hour, and we did. Well, no matter, really. We were in good company, and she’s not so crazy about the guy (Adam Young, the force behind Owl City) that she made it a bad time for both of us getting there, though she wasn’t above speeding to get there faster.
When we got there, we at first couldn’t find a place to park until I finally said, “Just park in one of the Disneyland lots.” She did (Pinocchio section) and we got out of the car and headed up the walk to the House of Blues. Unfortunately, we got lost walking, too, but at least walking it’s harder to go long distances before realizing our losthood. We went into The Great Californian, the Disney hotel connected to California Adventure and asked for directions. After winding through a couple of halls in which the correct direction was not immediately obvious, we emerged at Downtown Disney.
She had the GPS in her hands and was following it religiously until I poked her, pointed to the venue, and said, “Bunny, it’s right there.”
She looked up and sheepishly said, “Good that you’re here looking around us. Sometimes I get so caught up in making the thing in front of me work that I don’t realize I’ve already arrived.” I laughed, and we found the end of the line. The line wasn’t too long, considering, but we were near the end of it by the time we made it through the doors, regardless.
As we stood there, we talked of random things, and finally I said, “We have to eat when after the concert. I haven’t had anything all day.”
“Of course. I haven’t eaten much, either,” she said.
A man holding one-use-only wristbands came by and asked, “Are you ladies over twenty-one?”
I said, “Yes!” at the same time Bunny said, “No.”
I looked at her. “You’re twenty-two, baka.”
“Oh, right,” she was sheepish again, but the guy wasn’t going to take our word for it.
“I’ll need to see your IDs, please,” he said.
She pulled out her driver’s license, saying, “Well, I just haven’t been carded in such a long time, that’s all!”
I was digging around in my purse for my ID, and the guy said to her, “You still have a red stripe [indicating year the card holder turns 21]; you haven’t not been carded in that long.”
It was all in good humor, though, and we both got “we’re over 21 so we can drink” yellow wristbands. (We later learned that even the bands had to wear them. Who knew, right?) Green wristbands indicated someone under 21, not allowed to buy drinks from the bar.
Then, we were inside and trying to navigate the craziness that is an indoor rock concert. We passed the merchandise table with a “Do you want any of this?” on my part and a “I’ll get some afterward” on her part.
We worked our way around to a decently close position on the left hand side of the stage (from the point of view of standing in the audience) between some railing and the bar behind us. It was packed. The concert had out-sold it’s original venue and had moved to the House of Blues, but it looked like it may’ve out-sold that, too. Capacity was somewhere around 1600 people and let me tell you—there were at least 1600 people there. If you’ve been to any other rock-type concerts, it’s like the entire place was the pit. It was crazy; no such thing as personal space, that’s for sure.
Brooke Waggoner, the first opening act for Owl City
When the curtains finally opened at 8 PM (not 7, as was written on the ticket… guess being late wasn’t that bad), Brooke Waggoner took the stage and played a few piano-based pieces, including one called “Dueling Pianos” (I think that’s what it’s called, anyway) based on dueling banjos, probably, but it was really good. I don’t remember how many songs she played, only that the stage was set up for a future band… like she’d been added in at the last moment. That was sorta weird. Give the openers a little credit, y’know?
The Scene Aesthetic, the second opening act for Owl City
I liked Brooke better than The Scene Aesthetic, but Bunny liked these three guys more, so that must speak for taste in music or something. I noticed the third guy, in the back, was able to play the piano and his guitar at the same time (out of necessity) for a couple of the pieces.
