October 19, 2002
My New Life, Four Minute Mile, and Riddled With Guilt
Cafe Eclectica 1309 Solano Ave. Albany 8pm $5
oxoxxxoxo
Ok, so I suck and I only watched My New Life.. But I will explain why. First let me tell you about my trip to the show. So my friend Katy and I were driving from Hayward to Albany (right outside of Berkeley) and this guy in a big truck was driving next to us and smiling and saying hi and stuff. We really don`t think anything of it, so we pass him and just drive. Then around Oakland Katy says "I think he`s trying to catch up to us!" I was like "no way!" But sure enough, he was. Then he continued to follow us... I took a picture with the digital camera (picture will be posted later... stranger danger!) Then we exit and low and behold, "stalker boyfriend" is exiting too. So we try him, and change lanes... He followed... Changed back.. He followed.. He followed us all the way to Albany. Then we got lost (which I am well known for) and started taking weird streets and U-turns and all the while "stalker boyfriend" tries to catch up to us and talk to us. For a while we laughed and played along. Then about 30 minutes later we got a bit worried. So in all the crazy driving since we got lost we concluded "stalker boyfriend" thought we were trying to lose him and he turned around and got back on the freeway. Weirdo.
So we arrived to the show about 20 minutes early (from the schedualed time) so we waited... and waited... and waited... Then we went in and hung out with some friends... I evaluated the venue and concluded it sucks. I walked in and I was like "what kind of place is this?" It was a "cafe" but didn`t serve a lot of coffee, which i was saddend about. There wasn`t really a stage, it was just a corner. There were some chairs and a couch. But this place was just so fucking whack. It was run by kids who I don`t think promoted the show, there wasn`t a large turnout, but sufficient. It was just fucking weird, it had a weird vibe.
My New Life hit the floor. The sound was pretty much terrible, muffled and you couldn`t hear Tim clearly, it was sad. Considering the atmosphere and the lack of participation of the crowd MNL played awesome. It was as if people were afraid of them, everyone stood far away from the band... It was just shitty. But the highlight of my night was the new song.... Doesn`t really have a title yet but it was awesome! A different tune for MNL, a little more fast pace, and just fantastic! I really enjoy how the band is more consistant with their live show and entertaining the crowd. So, that being said they played well and the new song was just an awesome treat for everyone. Although, I think it would have been a little more fulfilling if they would have played it at a place where you generally see more MNL fans. They don`t travel too much to the East Bay so there weren`t a lot of "regulars" there.. But I think everyone appreciated hearing something new. I think, had the crowd now have been so distant the show would have been a lot better. The band can only do so much to entertain a bunch of people, it works two ways, and people feed off of one another. So I should stop meandering on and just say I was satisfied with MNL`s performance but now the venue. Damn, I`m hard to please.
xJenx