The most memorable Guster concert?

I saw Guster last Friday, 4/6, at Stubb’s. I admit it was probably one of the most, if not the most, memorable Guster concerts for me. Not because of how awesome it was, or how ecstatic I was to see them. In fact, the evening was mostly UNenjoyable (but not entirely).

Than and I headed out around 7:45pm to Stubb’s to get there early. I was pretty excited to see Guster - my only favorite band from early college until recent days (when I discovered bands like Spoon, Wilco, and What Made Milwaukee Famous) - even though I saw them at ACL just seven months ago. Seeing them at ACL was awesome, but the sheer size of the festival made the experience not quite the same as other Guster shows I had been to. I wanted to get to Stubb’s early to get a decent, close spot relative to the stage.

As we were heading north over Town Lake on the Mopac bridge toward the Cesar Chavez exit, a terrible sound radiated from the front right side of Than’s Volvo. And then it continued, as we slowed down to a stop on the non-existent shoulder of the Mopac bridge, with cars dangerously whizzing by us at 70mph. It sounded just like a flat tire, or a tire blowing out. We had to get off that bridge, so Than force-drove the car off the bridge and onto the shoulder of the exit ramp.

So I knew at that point that we weren’t going to get to the concert early. Whatever, as long as we don’t get hit by crazy Austin drivers, right? And it was early enough that I was confident we’d at least make it for Guster’s set. We called AAA to get the car towed, and then we waited. We still had to figure out where we were going to get the car towed and how we would get from wherever-that-was to wherever-we-wanted-to-go (we’re still new-to-Austin, so all these things were more difficult than one would normally think). Were we going to straight to the concert after towing the car, or were we going to go home first to get my car so we wouldn’t have to cab it back home later? We didn’t know any cab numbers, and the people that we did know in Austin weren’t in town (conveniently).

The tow truck showed up an hour later, and after some help from the driver we had the car dropped off at the BrakeCheck on South Lamar (the driver deduced that it was a brake problem related to a brake job that Than had done to his car a couple months ago). I was about to call a cab number (which I had texted to me from my coworker Ryan), when we see a bus approaching us going north. Without even thinking, we sprint as fast as we can to the nearest bus stop to catch it (the bus driver was kind enough to wait for us). So now we’re on a bus, heading in the right direction - good thing, right? Well, we ended up getting off at Lamar and Barton Springs because 1) the bus we were on wouldn’t take us very near the concert and 2) we still thought we might go home first to get a car.

So now the plan is to catch the 30 (the bus I ride to and from work and home everyday) to go home. It’s around 9:30pm at this point. I’m trying to use Google Transit on my phone and Than’s attempting to call Capital Metro’s incompetent phone system for to find out the bus schedules. About 15-20 min later a bus 30 shows up… going the wrong direction on the other side of the street. But hey, that bus is going downtown and would take us near the concert! We should get on it, right? Of course, for unknown reasons we do not (argh…..). Turns out that we would have to wait for that very bus to loop around downtown and come BACK to take us to our apartment. This means that it’s 10:25pm before we get on a bus.

At this point I’m pretty upset and have lost all faith that the concert is worth trying to go to (I thought I had missed it all already). But Than convinces me that we should still try to go - even if I catch just one or two songs, that’ll be better than nothing. So we get in my car, Than driving, and this time we make it all the way to Stubb’s (of course, we didn’t make it without battling some downtown traffic first!). He drops me off, and I am pleased to hear that Guster is still playing. I’m finally in the venue at 10:45pm.

They had just started Lightning Rod when I got in, which was a sign of better things to come since I had been thinking earlier in the day that I wanted to hear that very song live. Plus, they ended with Brian singing “You’re Always on my Mind”. In the previous 17 times that I had seen them, I hadn’t yet seen Brian sing live, believe it or not (only heard recordings and stories of such a thing). Definitely the highlight of the show I saw, and a great way to end it overall. I ended up catching the last seven songs (eight if you count the dedication-to-Andy-from-Austin-Texas song) of their set, which was way better than I expected going in:

Lightning Rod
Amsterdam
Andy-from-Austin-Texas
Airport Song
(start encore)
Ruby Falls
C’mon
Happier
Always on My Mind

So there it was. The first Guster concert I’ve been to where I’ve missed any part of the set. I’m glad I ended up going though, even if it was just a part of it. On another note, I was impressed by the crowd. Not just the size - it was a sold out show - but how many people there *knew* Guster. Even near the back of the crowd where I was, most everyone around me were belting out all the lyrics to the songs. It made me think of how different things were from back in 1999 when they became my favorite band - the shows were smaller then, they weren’t as well-known, and I could easily get near the front of the stage every time. They sure have come a long way, haven’t they?

Time to add the show to my growing list of Guster shows:

October 1999: TRAX, Charlottesville VA
April 2000: Newcomb Hall, Charlottesville VA
Summer 2000: Norva Theatre, Norfolk VA
April 2001: The Tabernacle, Atlanta GA
April 2002: Mad Bowl, Charlottesville VA
September 2002: Browns Island, Richmond VA
May 2003: Rutgers University, Piscataway NJ
August 2003: Recher Theatre, Towson MD
September 2003: Performing Arts Center, Charlottesville VA
October 2003: 930 Club, Washington DC
December 2003: Starland Ballroom, Sayreville NJ
December 31 2003: House of Blues, Chicago IL
April 2004: Univ of Richmond, Richmond VA
May 2005: Univ of Maryland, College Park MD
November 2005: Sonar Lounge, Baltimore MD
September 2006: Austin City Limits Festival
April 2007: Stubb’s BBQ, Austin TX