Ah, the first of my two-day Dismemberment Plan Farewell Tour experience. Would it live up to my high expectations? Let's hope so. This show was all ages, which of course, left me feeling pretty old. Lots of young boys with curly blond fros. The first opening band was Paris Texas, with a lead singer with yet another huge fro. Is that the look these days? Overall, they were pretty enjoyable, energetic rock fitting for an opening band. One of their songs reminded me a lot of that one Sugarcult song that got on MTV.

Up next was Lake Trout. After the longest sound check ever, which continued well after the lights turned off, I thought this band had better be damn good for this long of a wait. You could tell everyone was getting extremely impatient. But they came out, and they were better than good, they were AWESOME. The first song, which was purely instrumental, absolutely blew me away- really dark, with a great guitar line and lots of building sound. You could almost hear the amazement in the crowd. You know that feeling that runs through your body when you hear an absolutely awesome song for the first time? I got that feeling. A review I read before the show called Lake Trout a "jam band," which gave me extremely low expectations. I suppose they were a jam band, with lots of extended instrumentals, but they were like- a jam band of evil. And I mean that in the best possible way of course. Most of their songs were extremely dark, and the ones with vocals were even, well, creepy. One song had this random scream running through it, and it was cool as hell. There were a couple points when the creepiness was a little excessive, but overall I was extremely impressed; the instrumental songs were by far the best part, though the last "jam" went a bit too long.

Finally though, the Dismemberment Plan. I love how they do their own sound checks. Here's my spiel about lead singer Travis Morrison, who I've had a love/hate relationship with due to several rude IM conversations. Upon looking at him, he's a short (5'9 apparently, but looks smaller on stage) guy with a cute face, but a head that's too big for his body. He was also wearing the exact same outfit I saw him wearing in November (was it the same outfit, or does he just have lots of gray pants and black shirts?) But when he sings, he is the sexiest musician out there. The body gyrations, the facial expressions, his voice and the way he sings, you can't get that anywhere else. He is fantastic on stage.

But on to the show. I always say all good bands need a bassist who plays extremely weirdly; the Plan's bassist Eric is no exception. You can't not laugh when watching him play. Actually, the drummer is pretty amusing to watch as well, always with huge earmuffs and athletic shorts on. They really are a pretty nerdy band. The D Plan opened up with What Do You Want Me to Say, the first song of theirs that I ever liked. Travis even threw in a little Christina Aguilera's Dirrty in there, which I don't think half the crowd even noticed. After Doing the Standing Still and Sentimental Man (with Travis on the smallest keyboard ever), here was the fun surprise of the evening: all audience requests for the rest of the night ("due to massive head injurys, the band seems to have forgotten all our of the names to our songs. Why don't you all remind us"). This of course meant everyone wanted to hear the old shit they never play anymore, including: Onward, Fat Girl(which I distinctly remember they refused to play last time I saw them),First Anniversary of Your Last Phone Call, Bra, and Academy Award. This also meant people had to find innovative ways to get called on, since pretty much everyone is raising their hand. Tomorrow in Chicago, I'm going to take a cue from the girl who had a pre-made sign. I think the best line of the night was when one guy kept trying to climb on the stage to make his request, and Travis goes, "Hey dude, this isn't a Bright Eyes show." HA. Of course it came the time for someone to request The Ice of Boston, which meant it was time for all the indie kids under 18 to rush up to the stage and jump around with the band. How did that start? Do you think they ever get sick of it? And will they do it at the 18+ show I'll be seeing tomorrow? We'll see. All this part needed was the giant chicken that came onstage last time I saw them. For the most part, all my favorite songs got played, including Gyroscope and Time Bomb. The encore was also excellent, including an especially rocking Girl O'Clock (If I d-d-d-don't have s-s-s-sex by the end of the week I'm g-g-going to die) and the glorious Following Through and the final song and request of the evening, Superpowers.

My only complaint for the show was that Travis' mike wasn't turned up enough, so sometimes the sound wasn't perfect. But overall, the show was absolutely fantastic, and I have one more night to enjoy my favorite band before they breakup, or at least until the reunion tour I wouldn't be surprised if they are going to have.

-Nicole