First time out to Merriweather tonight

miss p and i were 3 or 4 seats to the right of dead-center, second row. some of the best seats i've had in a while. and what a perfect show to have them at - the reserved space to dance in was amazing! once the seats were folded up, there was plenty of room to get your groove on.

Originally posted by sweetcell:
dang, sorry we missed you. yes, we left before the show ended - we were both exhausted, and wanted to beat the rush (not that there is much to beat, apparently).

Heh heh – I too was surprised by this! I hadn't been to a pavilion-type show since Lollapalooza (in Raleigh) circa 1995, and I remember it always taking forever to get out afterward.

I couldn't believe it when I got out of Merriweather in about 5 minutes.

Originally posted by mrpee:
Ah, yessss….I remember my first time at Merriweather: The Cars, 1984.

great read, thanks

Originally posted by lancha:
anyone have a setlist or remember any tracks for thievery corporation?

<img src="http://a889.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/35/l_2ec04e60a1b6249bf9ab9b416f1d6210.jpg" alt=" - " />

Originally posted by mrpee:
Ah, yessss….I remember my first time at Merriweather: The Cars, 1984. What a show. "Heartbeat City" had just hit the racks and the venue was packed to the gills. On the drive up, me and my special lady friend jammed to Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters," which was tearing up the airwaves that season. We split a six of Mickey's Big Mouths, tossing the pull tabs into the moist summer wind. The shackles were off alright, the gimp was released and a primordial tension unfolded in front of me. I was on my way to see THE CARS!!! I donâ??t think I was aware of it, I was so jacked. They have that ability to draw you inâ?¦through the often hypnotic pulse of the music, or just the compelling interaction of Okasek and his subordinates (don't kid yerself, Ben Orr was just a hired hand). Anyway, we had to park in a distant corn field, where we enjoyed a brief tussle in the tassles. We pushed our way through the teeming throngs to the Post. Back then, everything was made of wood at M-Weather and wow, it smelled fantastic after the sweet summer rains. The opening act, who was, I shit you not, Wang Chung, were just exiting the stage. My lady and I downed a couple of stadium sized Millers and grooved to the summer's other big smash â?? "Owner of A Lonely Heart"â?? over the soundsystem for what seemed like an enternity until suddenly…the lights went out, the roar went up and the anticipation was like the moment before your lover drops his or her last remaining shred of decency in the boudoirâ?¦simple aweâ?¦dangerous, completely on the edge of the cliff, dangling over the precipice, in fact teasing the precipice and even letting go but never completely falling into the void. Hovering about it and giving it the middle finger and farting in its face. I never understood until much later how important tension was to the creative processâ?¦pisses you off, makes you chip your teeth as you grit, pulls back the layer and exposes the anger but then relieves you of it. Yes, it was the Cars, live and in person. The hits flowed, Okasek bobbed his head as if feigning attention, the drums plodded in a singsong rhythm and I felt as if I was indeed getting a delicious, stolen handjob from my best friend's girl. One after the other the songs knocked me back down, like trying to survive in a rough sea, gasping, swimming and pulling toward the surface, the sheer force of pop genius would not let me up. I think it was during "Candy-O" when I finally passed out for good. When I came to, my special lady friend and Greg Hawkes were engaged in a white-hot game of Parchessi (my gal down to her Jordache and a pair of elbow-length gloves), while Okasek tried to bring me around by blasting the first Suicide album and drooling in my ear. I tell 'ya, seeing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds debut later that year paled in comparison. Drive…

you know that episode of "seinfeld" where peterman wants to buy kramer's memories/stories and have them as his own? i wouldn't mind doing that with mrpee.

wow mrpee makes a Car's show sound actually interesting… they rank up there as being one of the most BORING live acts ever! then again i didn't have the enhancements mrpee was working with..

was that the tour with all the cars and crap hanging over the stage?

BEN ORR WAS NOT JUST A HIRED HAND MY FRIEND! he was co founder of the band and wrote AND sang their breakthrough hit just what i needed..

don't kid YOURself!

Originally posted by 2Tuff:

Originally posted by lancha:
anyone have a setlist or remember any tracks for thievery corporation?

&lt;img src="http://a889.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/35/l_2ec04e60a1b6249bf9ab9b416f1d6210.jpg" alt=" - " /&gt;

Did they in fact perform "Marching the Hate Machines Into the Sun"?? I remember the house lights going on around 11:03, just after they finished "Coming from the Top" and left the stage.

Maybe it was in their set list but they ran out of time – I vaguely remember hearing something about Merriweather being strict with their cutoff times.

Originally posted by sweetcell:
[QB] merriweather is my new favorite outdoor venue. loved everything about it - great sound, amazing sight-lines, not too big, nice staff, no traffic hassles, the 932, good food and drink selection, and a million little touches like the art, the trees, etc.

Same here. I was very impressed. No problems parking (and free), little security presence except when they were needed, and good beer taboot (Hoegarden).

- i thought it was a classy move to let some of the lawn folk occupy the side loges. previously they were empty, obviously no loge tickets had been sold. that move brought a few people in from the rain and also filled up the pavilion - i'm sure the artists appreciated it.

Very classy and very much appreciated. It goes to show that even a (larger) venue can deal with a situation like that very easily even though you rarely see such smooth logistics.

We'll definitely be heading back for RTF in August.

Also, thanks to whoever posted the setlist.

Originally posted by Christine Moritz:
Did they in fact perform "Marching the Hate Machines Into the Sun"?? I remember the house lights going on around 11:03, just after they finished "Coming from the Top" and left the stage.

Maybe it was in their set list but they ran out of time – I vaguely remember hearing something about Merriweather being strict with their cutoff times.

yeah, i dont think they made it til the very end of the set list either. you are correct.

merriweatehr being strict? Columbia is the strict one, they give HUGE fines to both merriweather & the artist for going past the 11pm curfew. i kept checking my phone and thinking, oh shit, this is gonna be bad.

and then, the lights just came on like you said - and that was it. they certainly pushed it though.

if someone on here could inform us as to the fines, you would be shocked. they are massive fines for real.

I grew up living about 1 1/2 miles from Merriweather. It used to be much worse. I remember hearing shows in my bedroom, windows closed. Amazingly loud. Now not nearly as bad (though I am on the other side of the city). Still now that they have a fixed lawn PA, it is not that bad for the levels.

Weird thing is now I work across the street from Merriweather, and sometimes you can hear the sound checks.

Although I enjoyed the show overall, I have to say that Ladytron's early-evening set reminded me of when Nine Inch Nails played Lollapalooza.

NIN's set time was something like 3 p.m. or 5 p.m., nd it seemed a bit ridiculous to be pumping the dry ice on stage – and trying to pull off the dark, industrial vibe – in broad daylight, and in the middle of summer to boot.

I felt a little bad for Ladytron; I think they are much better suited to an indoor venue and a nighttime timeslot.