revid | The Living End -- Live!

So Saturday night was the long-awaited concert by the Australian band (and Adeline Records recording artist) The Living End.

_somniac_ and I got ourselves all dolled up and headed out to Slim's in the SoMa area of San Francisco. It had crossed our minds once or twice how cool it would be if the owner of their record label showed up to see them, but we were planning on having a good time and enjoying the show whether that little fantasy came to pass or not.

I had asked on TLE's forum if cameras were allowed, and the band's manager said yes. Slim's website said they follow the band's policy. So imagine how pissed I was when a guy came out and said no cameras. So, I did what any self-respecting fan girl would do...crotched it. Fortunately I was wearing a long overshirt to hide that bulge where an adult woman shouldn't have one. Once inside, no one seemed to care that I and all the other smugglers were taking pics in the open, thank god.

It was kind of a drag that it was an all ages show...too many youngins for my taste. The opening band was I Hate Kate, from Huntington Beach, CA, whom I rather liked. The second band was a group from Seattle, WA called the Lashes, who are signed, and have a new CD out. They were OK...they didn't blow me away or anything.

We were standing to the side of the stage by the staircase leading to the stage, and saw Chris Cheney, the frontman for TLE standing there watching the opening bands. Audrey and I were both blown away by how gorgeous he was in person. I've seen a hundred pictures of him but none did him justice--sort of like Mike Dirnt...much better looking in real life than in photos.

TLE came on around midnight and just rocked! It was your basic high-energy, fun-as-hell, rock and roll show. Fun to watch, fun to listen to, fun to sing along with. It was Andy the drummer's birthday, so we all sang "Happy Birthday" and they did a shot on stage. I wish Chris had talked more; I can listen to cute boys with Australian accents all day long!

So no Green Day sightings unfortunately, but still a great time! They're going to be back in the US in November, and I highly recommend going to see them if the opportunity arises...I'm planning to!

Audrey's smoking habit came in handy once again, when she gave a cigarrette to a member of The Lashes, and got us invited to the bar where they would be after the show. We think TLE just crashed in preparation for the trip back to Australia the next day, sadly for us. We hung out at the bar with The Lashes, and one of The Donnas was there as well (not Tré's ex.) Around 3AM or so, I wore out and took a cab back to the hotel...that youngster Audrey stayed and partied longer with the crowd! Lemme tell you though...It was a damn fun night.

So the pics! the pics!

A minute long video of "Long Live The Weekend": The sound quality at the club was much better than in this clip! (You can download this song from the band's Myspace page.)

(If the video isn't loading in your browser, you can see it here.)

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