Stream of Gogol In Oakland

They pushed the meeting again? I hope that it doesn’t end too late. Ok, we are the shit yes I know. Global take over. Check. North America is pioneering. Got it. And…another question! Doh! Ooh…good one actually. OK. We’re done. Duck out before the boss asks me to stay late and…elevator! Howdy coworker! Going to the east bay? You commute from Concord? Ouch!

Hit the street. Gotta make this Bart train to get to the restaurant on time. Don’t want to lose the reservation. Half a cigarette done and I’m headed underground. Going to a concert in Oakland tonight. It is one of my favorite live acts. Gogol Bordello. Never heard of them? Check them out. This is my stop. See ya!

I never remember which exit is fastest here. Oh well, it is only an extra block. Downtown Oakland is so quiet compared to San Francisco. It’s only 6pm. Ok there is the restaurant. I need a cigarette to decompress. There you guys are. No I haven’t checked in yet. Ok table is reserved. Nice! They have Trumer. Bonus. Everything is good here. Yes I’ll have another smoke. Here comes the rest of the crew. They are all wearing t-shirts with something on them. We really look like we are going to a concert. Food was great…let’s get to the show!

The opener is pretty good. Lots of white guys up there but they have great rhythm. What’s up with that? Oh, they are Brazilian. That explains it. Time for a cigarette and a beer. There are Russians out here. Dean would like that. Why are they looking for Parliaments? Weird. Back inside. The show hasn’t started yet? Oh ok. Here they are. What is up with the sound? Seriously. Jesus this is bad. Like being on the lawn at Shoreline. Wow. Just plain aweful. Pot smoke. You can only hear the really hi highs and the bass is really distorted. You can’t hear the lead singer or the violin at all! Jesus! That is funny you are emailing the venue about it! I wonder if they follow the twitter feed for issues. Yes, Gogol’s new songs are way better live.

Smoke break. So the creepy old guy in the band is a perv? Some young girls were really digging him at Oustide Lands and he said what’s up to them after the show. It was funny. Not a bad spot if I do say so myself. That is the key here. Not on the floor but the next level up. Close to the beer.

Ok we are going to follow you to the front. Doesn’t seem that crowded. We are really close. I smell sweaty white people. Oh you are Russian. Hi Sergei I’m Chris. Pretty tame pit. My hat didn’t get knocked off once! No, they’ll do an encore. Wait this is pretty early! It sucks that the Fox is ending shows a little earlier now. Encore is ok. Lots of dancing. Third encore song is ‘Alcohol’? Awesome! Really cool with only three of the band up there.

Let’s just go. It is a school night. We’ll all meet tomorrow for Manu Chao at the Warfield.