Saturday, July 28, 2018

A Long Day, But a Great Day

Fenway Park, Boston
From Chez Sarge to Fenway Park is roughly 60 miles by road. Should take about an hour if we were located in the wilds of Iowa. Seeing as how we are actually located in southeast New England, that trip could take up to two and a half hours on a weekend.

And it did.

But what a day, what a great day.

Now I've had some great adventures with my kids, when they were young and now when they're adults. I've got great kids, like the man said, "No brag, just fact." (A reference to an old TV show, the quote was one by Walter Brennan's character. Who can tell me the show and find me a clip?)

Anyhoo, I had expressed an interest in attending a Foo Fighters concert some time ago. The WSO, who shares my enthusiasm in such things, thought it was a capital idea. And wouldn't you know it, she would be home right about the time the band was going to be in Boston.

Fortuitous, neh?

Plans were made, options were examined, meanwhile real life stepped in and we kind of forgot about it.

Then a couple of days after she and the bairns arrived, she brought it up, "So Dad, still interested in seeing the Foo Fighters?"

"Why yes, yes, I am!"

So online we went, seats were chosen, tickets were purchased, for which The WSO paid I might add, and then parking was discussed.

I mentioned to her that her uncle, my kid brother The Musician, lives in not-too-far-away-from-Boston - Somerville actually. My plan was to visit him before the concert, go out for lunch, then he'd give us directions on the best way to get there, leaving my vehicle at his place.

"Dad, why don't we just see what's available for parking near the stadium?"

"Um sure, we could do that too."

We acquired parking within a stone's throw of Fenway for a very reasonable price.

The circle at 55 Jersey St. (ex-Yawkey Way) is where we parked.
The yellow line is the path we took to the stadium.
The yellow circle inside Fenway is where we sat.
I thought our seats were pretty fire trucking awesome.

The view of the stage from Right Field Box 97, Seat 13. Yes, that IS my lucky number.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Like I mentioned above, with no traffic and with fine weather, we could have gotten to Fenway in like an hour. When does that ever happen you might ask, why never would be my answer.

Okay, my brother's place is only four miles farther than Fenway, same deal right. Yeah, right. It took us roughly two and a half hours to get to my brother's crib. The direct path to Boston would have taken about the same amount of time but a big chunk of that would be sitting in traffic, like, you know, not moving.

So we opted for a longer route (it skirted Boston to the west so we entered the city from the west, rather than the south, which would have been the direct route), which while time consuming had the benefit of constant movement at normal highway speeds.

So yeah, it took a while to get there. But as I have a couple of Foo Fighters CDs, we listened to those, ya know, to warm up. One thing I'll tell you right now, the front man of the Foo Fighters expects the crowd to sing along. They, and we, did. Foo Fighter's concerts are very interactive!

We did get to my brother's place without much ado, though he's lived there 14 years, it was my first visit to his place. Liked it I did. Oddly enough, he lives not far from where the previous President lived while attending Harvard Law. Odder still is that there is a marker in front of that building with that fact and a picture of the former President contained therein. The odd bit is that this marker is painted on the sidewalk.

Think about that. Painted on the sidewalk. Where people can walk on the former President's face, have they a mind to. Though I'm not a fan, I assiduously avoided stepping on the former President's face. May not like the man, but you have to respect the office.

And this in what is arguably one of the most liberal bastions in a very liberal state! Go figure. (What, they couldn't afford a plaque or something?)

Anyhoo, we had a very nice lunch, then it was time to climb aboard Big Girl and navigate down to Fenway. About two miles I think it was, took close to half an hour. City traffic dontcha know?

But we got there per my plan, which was to be in place no later than one hour prior to the official concert start time, which was 1730, local. Mind you, the Foo Fighters weren't going to play at that time. Often there are one or two opening acts to get the crowd riled up, or something. Often it's to give bands a bit of exposure by opening for a major act like the Foo Fighters.

Not to worry, we had our seats, we had beverages, and the day itself was drop dead gorgeous. Warm with a nice breeze, a bit of cloud to keep the sun out of our faces now and again, like I said, gorgeous weather.

So we did some pre-concert photo ops...

The obligatory "normal" selfie.
The equally obligatory goofy selfie.
Why yes, I did want to show off my concert going attire!
Prior to the show, The WSO, true to her aviation roots, had to have an adult beverage

The WSO is all smiles...
Whereas the pilot, the vehicle commander if you will, is beer-less. And is signalling his distress...
(Well, I was driving and didn't want to spend a portion of the show seeking the lavatory. Which someone else did...)
The first act, The Monsieurs, consisted of a rather odd chap wearing what appeared to be a leather hat, leather trousers, no shirt, and wearing (brace yourselves) a cape.

Yes, a cape.

Oh, two blonde ladies wearing identical dresses made up the other two thirds of The Monsieurs. One on drums (oddly enough, she played while standing up) and t'other on guitar. (Really, two chicks and a guy and they call themselves The Monsieurs?)

The Amazing Andy California, and his cape. No, seriously, he's wearing a cape.
As the chap kept making "pouty face" or "duck lips" I think it's called as well, The WSO and I felt that we should follow suit, just so that folks knew we were paying attention.

Yeah, we bad...
While The Monsieurs weren't that bad, The WSO found them très amusant, I found them to be painfully loud. It struck me that there had been no sound check prior to them blasting away. I felt rather like I was in the midst of an artillery barrage, I felt the need to plug my ears and scream. Well, I did plug my ears.

For the grande finale, the Amazing Andy shoved the microphone down his pants, threw his cape up over his head and wandered rather blindly off stage. You cannot make this stuff up, no one would believe you, but I swear it's true. The WSO and I laughed until I thought we were gonna die.

The second act? Much, much better. They did do a sound check and as a result their music (for such it was, unlike the first act) was much more enjoyable. I had checked these guys out on YouTube, pre-concert like, and felt that "they didn't suck." Hearing them live, they didn't suck at all, pretty good actually. Chase them down on YouTube if you've a mind to, they're really pretty good.

The Struts, from the UK. Not bad at all. Pretty damn good actually.
But none of that was why we paid so much and drove so far. Finally, at 1930 local, the Foo Fighters took the stage.

I was torn between recording stuff and actually watching the show. I opted for the show, I have a bunch of pictures but only four short clips of the band. Someone else recorded the first song, All My Life...

That guy got the whole thing.

The Foo Fighters are magnificent in concert, the energy is unbelievable. And you might have noticed in that video that Dave Grohl likes to say "fire truck." A lot. My kinda guy. It might surprise you that Your Humble Scribe has been cautioned once or twice at his place of employment for his use of certain Anglo-Saxon epithets. Especially the one that rhymes with fire truck.


Anyhoo. Here's the other three clips I shot.

It was an amazing experience, I guess I can claim to have been a back-up singer for the Foo Fighters. Yeah, me and 35,000 other people.

It was amazing. Even fighting traffic and again going way out of our way to get home (round about 0100 I think it was), I would do it again in a heartbeat.

A buddy of mine went to the show on Sunday. It rained like crazy. I had sent him this picture from during the show...

His response?

"You bastard."

"It's gonna fire trucking pour tomorrow..."

No, he didn't say fire trucking, but close. (He's a co-worker, he likes his Anglo-Saxon epithets nearly as much as Your Humble Scribe.)


Will I go see them again?

Oh yeah, in a heartbeat.

I can't wait.

Happy now Beans? 😁


  1. Ooooo......visuals! Lotsa visuals......... exxxceeellent (Monty Burns steepling fingers). Lucked out on the weather and had fun with the progeny, quite the experience Sarge. BTW what's the cost of the pale ale the WSO had at such an event in your neck of the woods?

    1. A stunning $12.50. Staggered me it did.

    2. Oh my...... that's a lotta ducats. Thanks for the reply Sarge. I'll echo the Flugelman comments, get the heebie-jeebies around that many people not to mention having to keep the shooting iron at home for an event like that.

    3. Yeah, the adult beverages were a mite pricey.

  2. The Walter Brennan quote is from the tv series The Guns of Will Sonnet (67-69). Don't know how to imbed links, looked up "no brag just fact" on

  3. At that price I will wait, since I'm just converting it into waste anyway. Great post BTW, glad you can do it. I'm too much an ol' curmudgeon (according to SWMBO) to put up with the crowds and the inevitable idiots therein.

    1. I have to say that the folks at the concert, in their many thousands, were pretty well-behaved. All the people who sat near us were also downright friendly.

      We all had a great time.

  4. It was... okay. "E" for Effort and all that.

    Happy now, OAFS? :)

    An outdoor concert in summer? Are you kidding me? Beans Family Luck would have resulted in a circular storm of immense proportions just magically appearing and either cancelling the event or drowning everyone in the venue (which, let's see, checking notes, oh, yeah, when we went to see Sting (and not the Police) and Angry China lady, our first attempt was postponed due to a circular storm of immense proportions and the 'makeup' showing resulted in Beans and Mrs. Beans getting rained on. Bleh.)

    Leather pants and a cape? Seriously? What, was he trying to be some pretentious ex-Dub Step (the style) player? (look it up, good music, really, trust me, uh-huh.)

    And maybe the ex-president's picture being painted on the sidewalk is actually an art-piece, reflecting the intransigent nature of life and politics... Or even the City has finally figured out that the Lightbringer isn't. (People in Chicongo are suing to stop the unpresidential library from being built using city funds in a city historical park etc. Good times, good times.)

    I am like Flugelman. Too large crowds are generally a no-go. Too large crowds and heights (heights being defined as more than 6" off the flat surface unless one is in an enclosed space like a car or a plane) are a really bad combo for Beans. Mrs. Andrew, on the other hand, is one of those sick people that like going to the top of a tall building and looking over the edge. Nope. No way.

    As to the adult beverage, hopefully you were able to obtain one at a better time and price than at $12.50 for 16 oz of something. Bladder aside, I refuse to pay that much for that little, unless it's Eiswein. Then it's worth it at twice the price.

    Always enjoyed the Foo Fighters. Their videos were some of the best ever, and they seem to have fun making music.

    Okay, I'll give you an "A" for Awesome report.

    1. Now. I'm happy.

      They do have fun in the studio and on the stage. Great band.

  5. I am glad the you enjoyed the experience. It is fun to read your reaction to all that went on. I'm more of a "hummable tune" kind of guy (apparently I'm old) so I can't really appreciate what's going on on the stage. I do love the technology of it all and the fact that there was little misbehaving is good news. I guess I am a loner. Which is OK, by the way. My instrument flying in the Deuce was spectacular, in the Phantom, with the GIB watching, somewhat less precise. He would generally tell me about it until the week his E.R. was due.

    1. I've always been something of an extrovert. ;)

      Can't imaging going from solo in the Deuce to having a GIB in the Phantom. My son-in-law would probably understand, he was an instructor pilot for a time. He mentioned that he preferred flying alone rather than sitting behind a student who was, and I quote, "Trying to kill me."

      Good times.

  6. Happy to read that you and the WSO had a good time. Good concerts are a great joy.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

  7. Sweet. Always a big kick to see a band you've always wanted to see and also have the experience inside a venue with some historic value. Great photos. I love the one of you and The WSO with duck lips, but most especially because of the face on the guy to the left (likely in reaction to Andy California?)

    1. Hahaha!

      Yeah, I mean what better venue than Fenway Park?

      The kid with the Nirvana tee-shirt? He was a cool guy, as were the older couple with him. Parents?

      Yeah, Andy California, very, uh, entertaining. Yeah, entertaining.

  8. Re. Walter Brennan tv shows... The Real McCoys iirc. With a journeyman actor from radio,tv and movies. Name of Richard Crenna (wonder what what else he did?).

    1. Well he was in The Real McCoys but the quote is from The Guns of Will Sonnet.

      But yeah, Richard Crenna, served in the infantry as a radioman in WWII, saw action in the Battle of the Bulge. Served briefly in the Pacific as well. Old school actor.

