Flashback Friday: Metaphors For...Whatever

This post was originally written on December 11, 2006 for my now defunct Movie Geek Boy blog.

Stream of conscious observations from the Trey Anastasio show at the Wiltern last night:

I noticed that the crowd seemed older and more polished than the usual Trey Anastasio/Phish crowd. Maybe it's because it was an LA crowd. Or maybe we're all just grown up now. I usually have trouble wrangling anyone to go with me to a show, so I'm there by myself. It can be a cool experience going to a concert by yourself. It's pretty easy to meet people and strike up conversation at these kinds of shows. If not, the people-watching is always fascinating. Sure enough, I start talking to a vaguely Winona Ryder-ish woman, whom I immediately pegged as an aspiring actress even before she told me so, and a graying man who was none so subtle in his attempts to pick up this woman. They proved to be a constant source of entertainment for me. At one point, she leans over to me and says, "The music is, like, a metaphor for...whatever" in a way that suggested that she really, really meant it.

The show was killer. One of the best I've seen in a long time. It ended when each member of the band grabbed a cowbell and along with the horn section, began to march and play their way up the aisle through the theater. I was standing on the aisle and soon enough, Trey and the band marched up beside me. When they passed, we followed the band through the lobby of the theater, outside into the street and up the block where they finally disappeared into their tour bus. They never stopped playing the whole time. For a minute it reminded me of a musical like Fame, where everyone pours out into the streets, dancing together. It was a very cool thing to be a part of.