I see four dudes hanging out near the corner, waiting for the bus. The bus comes in, but parks several yards away. I thought, OK, for crowd reasons it's going to drop off passengers here, move up several yards, pick up those guys, then leave. I make sure that my car is locked. I turn around, the bus is driving away, and it drives past the four dudes standing there. I wait another 15 minutes for the next bus to pick up me and the other people who get there later. Those four dudes don't walk over to get on the bus. They're just standing on the corner ... EVEN THOUGH THEY LOOK LIKE THEY'RE WAITING FOR THE BUS. I missed the bus because of those fuckers! And why in the hell are they just hanging out talking in a church parking lot? What dumbfucks do that?!
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I thought I had time, but I soon realized that I had about an hour before the 7 p.m. concert of Portugal. The Man, Manchester Orchestra and Bad Bad Hats. What's more, I had one other thing I was determined to do: Wait in line for the (and I should blog post about this soon) Minnesota State Fair New Food Of The Year at Union Hmong Kitchen. I was thinking the line was going to be long, and it was: A half-hour, to be exact; I set my watch. With me getting lied to about the bus and this line, I think I got my food at around 6:50. Bad Bad Hats is a local band who has a song, "Detroit Basketball," that I love and would hate to miss when they play it. But I had this food and drink that I really wanted to try last night. I can't walk with them, and I don't think I could bring them into the grandstand. So I made the decision to consume them right then and there, then walk to the Grandstand.
I'll review them later, but let's just say I really enjoyed them, for the most part. I wanted to get a beer from the far side of the Fair, but I was missing the opening act. In fact, by the time I got in, Bad Bad Hats were on their final song, and no, it was not "Detroit Basketball." I was bummed.
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Manchester Orchestra is either a five- or six-piece band, and the frontman wears a polo shirt and has a nebbishy vibe to him. Trying to get into their music, but they seem to be nice people and very good musicians. Unfortunately, they were warned late into their set that a storm was coming, and either at the end of their set or maybe with one song to go, they told us from the stage, "We were told that's the end of our show. Love ya." Manchester Orchestra has a song that I like, but they didn't play it. I am bummed. But now I feel obligated to see them next time they blow through here, and hopefully that'll be indoors, because we don't want no storms blowing through here.
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We still took shelter and waited half an hour before what I guess was the inevitable conclusion was announced by the ushers: The rest of the concert was cancelled, and Portugal. The Man weren't going on. And that sucks because it would've been the second time I saw them, and the second time I would have seen them this year; they opened up for Alt-J at the Armory in March.
So, no songs I recognize. (I should say that the song Bad Bad Hats played before their final song, one I would hear from outside the grandstand while I was buying my ticket, was another song I'm familiar with and that I like, so I kind of missed that song, too.) Got wet that night, especially after I was told the concert was cancelled and silly me walked out onto the State Fairground in the still rainy denouement to the violent storm that did rip through for about 20 minutes. (Credit to the fair: I complained that there wasn't any rain when they postponed/shut down the concert after Manchester Orchestra, but maybe ten or 15 minutes after we were told to seek shelter, the storm came with a vengeance.) I actually went west to get that beer I wanted before the concert, only to see the whole place closed early. And then, as I thought I should just call it a night, the rain pretty much stopped. Thought I'd take in a MinneBlueberry Pie with cinnamon ice cream before they closed.
And by the way, the Fair said that all tickets for the show will be refunded. Since I paid with a credit card, it should be refunded to my credit card straight away. So, there's that, at least.
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And that was my night at the Minnesota State Fair. Oh, for those of you who haven't heard the song, here's Bad Bad Hats with "Detroit Basketball":
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