Ok, Stuart, I get it. You win!

I'm exhausted and I should be asleep since I'm working tomorrow (On a Saturday? Yes, I volunteered). I just got back from the most amazing show ever, though, so I want to write about it.

Seriously, Belle & Sebastian was so good that I had forgotten that I saw the New Pornographers by the end of the second set. I mean, the New Pornographers were good; I even commented, "They are just a great band. How could anyone not like them?" They were pretty top-notch; even fake-Neko Case was pretty good (if I knew her actual name I would surely use it there). But seriously, they couldn't hold a candle to Belle & Sebastian.

I've never been to a show before where something crazy and unexpected happens. You always hear about them from friends. For example, at the Feist show in DC, Jenny Lewis just showed up on stage. Crazy!

Well, tonight was memorable. In the middle of B&S's set, Stuart introduced a song by saying, "So we got this email from a guy in Chicago who wanted us to play this song and he suggested that his wife get up on stage and sing with us. We haven't played it in a while so we'll give it a shot. Are you guys here?" Four hands pop up right in front of him and he says, "Oh. That's you? That's convenient." So then this large gal gets up on stage dressed in what looks like Renaissance regalia and everyone gets nervous. You can feel it. "They're going to play a song and this bitch is going to fuck it up." Then they played "Lazy Line Painter Jane" and, I swear to God, the girl nailed it. I was so surprised and excited for her. Not only did she get to sing on stage with Belle & Sebastian, but she was fucking amazing, as well!

Because it was such a big venue and sold out, I got to mix with all of the concert goers that are at every single concert I've ever been to. Seriously, you know the type. I'm always stuck next to the annoying girl with pigtails who insanely dances to everything and, when people get pissed because she's pushing them out of her way to flail about, starts to loudly ponder, "Why the fuck are these people at a show if they're not going to DANCE?!??!?!" Yes, I was next to her the entire night. She also happened to the that girl who is the opening act's BIGGEST FAN EVERRRRR. She's the type of girl who extends her arms to the opening act's lead singer, as if to somehow magically pull his energy out of his body and into hers. She also is prone to screaming, "AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO LIKES THIS BAND?" My guess is that she didn't even know that the girl singing with the New Pornographers was not Neko Case.

Then there are the dudes - yes, dudes - who look like they showed up at the wrong concert. Right before B&S went on I was pushed forward by this guy who was trying to get closer to the stage. He was wearing a pre-worn baseball cap and had that chin-strap type of facial hair. (It should have been an arab strap. Zing!) I was convinced that he was there to see U2, but when I noticed later that he looked up to the ceiling "with arms wide open" whenever B&S made a reference to God or any higher power, I realized that he was just a drunk Creed fan.

Then there are the hilariously ironic guys who yell out "Freebird" at indie-rock shows. Shut the fuck up.

Also, I love the type of people who are about twenty feet from the stage yet are sure that the band is going to take their requests. They even say please! "Play something from Sinister! Pleeeease, just one song! Pleeeeeeease???" I thought I was going to start yelling out with them just so they would play something from that album and get the girl behind me to quiet down.

Ah, I guess it's just been a while since I've been to a large-venue concert (the last was in October when I saw Broken Social Scene). It was a good night out, however, I had fun. I danced a bit, doing impressions of what our friend Megan (our resident B&S fanatic) must have looked like dancing at her fourth - yes, fourth - consecutive B&S show in five days. I'm sure I couldn't do her dancing justice. (As I'm writing this I'm hoping that Megan has a sense of humor and shares Kristin's and my feelings of nostalgia when we think of B&S videos of random girls playing recorders and dancing sloppily to "The Boy With the Arab Strap". I hope she does!) I would most definitely see them again.