date night at bender arena

so last night was the snow patrol/okgo concert at bender arena. and apparently we didn't get the memo that you had to bring a date. no, really. basically bender arena is like a large high school gym. and with all the hand holding, etc. it really made us feel like we were back in high school. especially with the plastic covering over the floor.

sus and i started the night off at guapo's. luckily the rain held out so we could sit on the patio, drink margaritas and people watch. it was glorious. the we made the (shorter than expected) trek over to american. who knew there were so many crazy gated communities up on nebraska avenue? on our walk we passed the national presbyterian church (which has a freaky looking steeple, by the way), some sort of naval barracks, the swedish embassy and the embassy of japan. pretty wild.

we arrived at the arena and immediately felt like we were back in high school. well, except for the fact that we felt super old. the opening band was already playing (which we already knew since the sketchy "security guard" told us in passing). silversun pickups - they were ok. a little to screechy for me - but whatever. then some genius had the idea to turn the gym lights on in between sets. ugh. bad idea.

so we stood around, bought some snacks and waited for okgo to go on. and then the lights turned off. and the crowd went crazy. no, they really did. college students, ugh. so okgo was pretty good. not as amazing as i was expecting. and in case you were wondering - they didn't bring treadmills. instead they had a pretty trippy backdrop. with animated treadmills. oh and random cameras on the microphones looking up in the singer's face - it was creepy. and speaking of the lead singer - he looks about 25 but is really 32. weird.

someone must have told them how heinous it was when they put the lights on before okgo - because the lights stayed off before snow patrol took the stage. snow patrol was pretty good (and they're scottish/irish in case you didn't know). the lead singer told somewhat funny stories. actually i think they were just funny because of his accent (and the fact that he called bathing suits swimming costumes. ha.)

we peaced out during the last song to try to beat the mad rush and begin the trek back to the metro. i'm not complaining, because i really like to walk, but why bother calling the metro stop tenleytown/au? kind of like how they added marymount to the ballston stop. everyone knows marymount is miles down the road. whatever.

the metro ride was probably the best part of the night. we returned to our people watching from the beginning of the night. and let me tell you - people did not disappoint. there was the woman with the flowers and the girl with the god-awful voice talking to her about it. there was the girl with about every color imaginable in her ensemble. and no, it did not look good. and then there was guys w/ the mini bottles in the corner. luckily they got off at dupont.

so we made it to metro center. and i decided to frolic ahead to see if our train was there downstairs. and what do you know? it was. so i looked back and told them to run. after zigzagging around everyone on the escalator we made it to the platform but the doors were closing. bummer. oh - but then the doors opened again. and people were standing in the doors letting people on. so i snuck in the door. but then i turned around and no one else had made it on. oh no! (that really is the name of okgo's album, by the way. who knew?)

apparently everyone else had tried to run to another door to sneak on, but that door was closed. so they came back to my door and somehow shoved their way on. luckily. it would have been one lonely ride home otherwise. so we recapped our night and chatted about how fun tonight is going to be (just wait for those surprises!) and then before we knew it we were home, sweet home.

what a great way to close out the work week. can't wait for all the other upcoming concerts!