January 9, 1998
Berkeley, CA
The show was the opening night of the Lookout Records 10th anniversary weekend, and was at Gilman St. I had only a rough notion of how to get there, but luckily I ran into some people that knew the way. It was a rather long walk, but finally I got to the club. I said hello to everyone one from Mr. T and then went to talk to Gary from the Hi-Fives. Next, Jym introduced me to the incredible Dallas Denery. He's just as awesome as I imagined, if not more (which is saying a lot!). Forgive me if I sound a bit star struck (I swear I'm not usually this bad!), but he's one of the greatest song writers of all time, so I can't help it.Right before the Bomb Bassets hit the stage Joel and Kevin Army were busy teaching Frank the songs. He had just flown in from England six hours before, and there fore hadn't been able to practice with the band.
While I was waiting for them to play, I couldn't help observing one of the boys near by showing off his rare 7" collection. Why he was carrying it around I have no idea, but I was horribly jealous. I'm not usually much of a collector nerd, EXCEPT when it comes to MTX. This guy had an original copy or the Sex Offender 7" (the one on sky blue vinyl)!!! Then he and the kid next to him proceeded to tell me that they both had original copies of "Everyone's Entitled to Their Own Opinion." AHHHHH!!! They weren't willing to sell them to me either... pfft...
Finally, the Bomb Bassets played, and oh what an amazing set it was!! It was truely a magical experience for me. I don't even know how to describe it. Seeing that many awesome musicians on one stage was almost more than I could handle. And as if that weren't wonderful enough, they played three Sweet Baby songs and a Brent's TV song!! I was slightly dissappointed that Dallas didn't play an accoustic encore as promised, but not too much. After all, how dissappointed can you be after seeing one of the best shows of your life?
The rest of the show until the Hi-Fives played was a little less exciting. The club was so packed!! I know that Gilman is supposed to be a big legend and all that, part of Lookout's history blah blah blah (all my punk points are flying out the window for even thinking that, but oh well), but they really needed that show to be at a bigger club. I spent a high percentage of my time wandering around looking for anyone I knew, and not being very successful at it. It was rather frustrating. So I spent most of the time outside.
After a while it was the Hi-Fives turn to play. They made what was already an unbelievable show even better! I had made them a set list of the songs I wanted to hear (YES, I have too much time on my hands, what of it?) and they used it as their set list!! They also made some really great additions, and even played a new song! Then, during the set, John announced how I had made them a set list, and that they were playing from that. He also said some other stuff about me, but I couldn't really hear it. Needless to say, I felt very special.
This show was definately one of the highlights of my life, despite the overcrowdedness. I got to see lots of awesome people who I hadn't seen for a while, and meet some new ones. Not to mention seeing two of my absolute favorite bands! After the Hi-Fives played I lingered around for a while until my ride was ready to go, at which point this fabulous night drew to a close.