Rhett, Murray, Ken and Philip

Honestly, it's crazy that in my 10 months or so of blogging I haven't talked more about these four boys. As far as I can remember, there's only been one post in all that time pertaining to my Old 97's. In that particular post last November, I mentioned that the next time they toured anywhere near here I would be bugging everyone I know to go see them. Well that time has finally come! They will finally be in KC on July 11--less than 3 weeks from today!

Let me first tell you how I came to love this rather obscure alt-country band from Dallas. In the year 2000, our friend Jason sent Chad a couple of CDs that he'd burned, either from one of their studio albums or from a bootleg of a concert of theirs he'd been to--I don't even remember. I listened to it a little bit along with Chad and thought it was kind of fun and catchy; I was definitely drawn to the toe-tapping beats and slightly goofy lyrics. So when Jason subsequently asked Chad to go see them at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, I decided to tag along.

Even though we sat like old people the entire concert and I only knew a few of the songs, I still had a terrific time. The band (well, mostly Rhett) was amazingly energetic and so much fun to watch. In a live setting, they seemed more like a rockin' punk/country group than their alternative country label implied. The venue was so small you felt like you were almost a part of the action. I was amazed at how the young, crazy crowd knew the words of every song of a band I'd never heard of until a few months before. It only took this one concert for me to become a die-hard fan. I was hooked.

So for the next few years the 97's toured, coming back to Lawrence twice during that time. The second year we saw them, again at The Bottleneck, we stood on the floor much nearer to the stage, and being up close made the concert even more amazing! For my third concert, which was at the Granada (since the band had outgrown the tiny Bottleneck), I stood in the front row with Jason's sisters who'd driven in for the concert, and it was absolutely incredible! We could see the stain on Ken's pants, the bulging veins in Murray's neck, and Rhett's every eye roll. My heart stopped every time Rhett jumped up and down on the stage and I thought he was going to trip over the cord to his amp that was wrapped around his foot!

When the tour dates came out in 2004, I was devastated that the boys weren't coming to Lawrence--or even the KC area! Apparently they'd outgrown the Granada too! Thankfully, my wonderful husband took me on a birthday trip to St. Louis, where we saw them the opening night of their tour at the now closed Mississippi Nights and spent the weekend seeing the sights and sounds of the area. We stood on the floor during that show as well, and it was a blast! This time I was smart enough to bring my camera, so I could actually document some of the awesomeness! We were so close to the stage that Chad started getting embarrassed at how many times I was flashing the camera in the band's face, so I switched to video mode after a short while to be a little less conspicuous.

So today over the lunch hour I uploaded the pictures from that trip to our Picasa page, excited to share them in the hope that my friends would get an idea of how cool the upcoming concert would be. What I didn't realize was that Picasa automatically loads all of the video clips in the folder as well (I didn't even know you could share video on Picasa), which would be great for showing off the energy of the concert if it wasn't that I'm a terrible videographer. When I switched the camera from picture to video mode, without even thinking I continued to hold the camera vertically as if I were taking pictures. Let me just say that you'll get a kink in your neck if you watch them. It's really embarrassing that I'm so completely dense. Many moons ago I downloaded some software that enabled me to rotate the video images, but it distorted them so badly that all of the band members looked about 50 pounds overweight, so I just left them as is. I could have just deleted them from my Picasa page, but I wanted everyone to at least get a sense, albeit a crooked one, of the experience!

So please enjoy my pictures if you get chance, and check out the videos too if you're interested (make sure your sound is turned down if you're at work!). Hopefully some of you will find them entertaining and want to check out the 97's for yourself next month! They're playing at a new venue called The Crossroads, and tickets are only $16 each. I know it will be a late night for a Wednesday, but I'm still hoping I can drag a few people along to enjoy the show. I mean come on, people, we're not that old yet! :)