Consider my ass rocked.

To paraphrase a line from an email I just sent, the WHY? show tonight was worth every penny of the $7 at the door, every mile driven, and every second of sleep lost. Just to see them perform "Gemini (Birthday Song)" in person made it worth it in my mind. I won't lie, the venue may have been a little dusty, my eyes got all watery during the song. They played just about every song I could have asked for, including "These Few Presidents," "Rubber Traits," "Fatalist Palmistry," and "Crushed Bones," among many others. There was one song that I didn't recognize, but for all the rest of them, I was belting out the lyrics. My throat hurts now. Worth it. Even if rules 1, 2, and 7 were bent. (Although, I don't think I've ever been to a show with as many tall dudes as there were tonight. It was like the KU basketball team was celebrating their championship by going to the Jackpot Saloon, and got there early enough to stand in front of everyone.)

The opening groups were alright. The first guy was DJ Blunt Object, or something like that. He just stood up there with his laptop or something, and played remixed songs, including "Sexy Back," and I think an Animal Collective song. There were a couple of good loops, but overall, I wasn't that impressed. Sorry dude. Good effort, though. The band that followed him, something about a sleepyhead (that's not their name, all I remember is that it had the word "Sleepyhead" in it), was a little better. It was kind of like indie frat rock, though. Like if (insert name of crappy frat rock band here) started using kind of tech guitar parts. And they kept talking about the Jayhawks. I'm sure they were excited about it, but at a show, you can get by with maybe mentioning it once. Not saying after every other song that "the next one is dedicated to Mario Chalmers."

WHY?, however, rocked me in a way that I haven't been rocked for months. (Lead singer) Yoni Wolf was funny, interacted with the crowd well, and kept the band sounding tight all night long. I think their show tonight catapulted them into my Top 5 performances I've seen in person (along with Jeff Tweedy, The Mountain Goats, Eric Johnson [of the Fruitbats], and Loney, Dear. Good company, indeed!). Hopefully they'll do another tour of the US after they head overseas in the early summer. If they come to your neck of the woods, I strongly encourage you to see them. And, if you like them, support them by picking up a shirt or a CD. I got one of each, the shirt is powder blue (2nd post in a row I've mentioned that color. I tell you, I look like the money in it), the CD is the "Rubber Traits" album, the only one they had there that I didn't already own. And at $5, it was a heckuva deal!

Well, it is quickly approaching 3 am. I need to be at work in 5 hours. Good night all, and have a splendid Friday!