Belew in Urbana

You can add another concert to the list. Roy and I drove out to Urbana, IL to see one of our favorite performers, Adrian Belew. I say "performer" because he's a singer, guitarist, songwriter, etc., but he's so entertaining to watch in concert. He was the opening act for Umphrey's McGee and also joined them for a few songs.

I worked a half-day on Wednesday, and then we had a calm, uneventful journey to the concert. No bad weather, no traffic problems. We checked into the hotel, got dinner at a chain, and got in line by 6. It was a general admission concert, so the first people in line grab the front row. I love this concept - with a little patience you can grab the best seats in the house. Much more fair than big concerts and Ticketmaster. Roy doesn't like waiting in lines or standing for ages waiting for the show to start, but the payoff is worth it.

We met some fun people waiting in line, all Umphrey's fans. All younger than me, that's a feeling I don't get at most Adrian shows. The guy in front, also named Roy, said he'd let us right in front for the opening act, in case we couldn't get there on our own. Hell getting in though. We bought our tickets through the Umphrey's website, and we were supposed to pick them up at will-call. The club would not let us pick up the tickets until the doors opened. There was one line of people waiting, and of course, they were going to let people walk through while we had to wait to pick up our tickets. Arrgghh! I complained loudly, but politely, about how long I waited in line, good thing I read all those etiquette forums, and they held the other ticket line until Roy and I walked through.

We grabbed a spot in the front row, a little to the right of center. Adrian came out and played for about a half hour, and then joined Umphrey's for a couple songs. Opening set included: Dinosaur, Three of a Perfect Pair, Young Lions, Lone Rhino, and some instrumentals. With Umphrey's, he played I Am the Walrus, Red, and Thela Hun Ginjeet. Adrian definitely saw us and recognized us. Lots of eye contact. Umphrey's was alright, but I was tired and not really enjoying it except for when Adrian was on stage.

It was a long day. I worked that morning, and the show wasn't over til 1am. I'd already been up over 20 hours, but we decided to hang out and try to talk to Adrian. Roy found out where the stage door was. We saw a couple of the Umphrey's guys come out. The other fans left and we were the only two people hanging out by the stage door. This is so cool - the camera guy who we met earlier actually went into the club to tell Adrian there were fans waiting for him.

Adrian came out minutes later. He apologized to us, that if he knew we were waiting for him, he would have come out sooner. Then he said he was glad to see us in the audience(!), because he thought the crowd would be all Umphrey's McGee fans. I told him that I thought that was the first time I've seen him play Lone Rhino live. He said that he had to figure out what songs would work with him playing them solo on electric guitar. Also, the Bears are going back on tour. "When?!When?!When?!" I asked. In April and May. And they're coming to St. Louis, playing three blocks from us. This was probably the longest conversation I've had with him, because there weren't any other fans around.

When we got home on Thursday, I saw that tickets were already on sale. We got ours! Wednesday, May 2nd, I plan to be in the front row again.