Guster at Higher Ground - 11.07.09

GUSTER - HIGHER GROUND

November 7, 2009 - Burlington, VT

My first online diary entry I ever wrote, on April 7, 2000, mentioned that I had purchased Guster's "Lost and Gone Forever" album the day before. I had known of Guster before then - I'd heard them when I went to Woodstock '99 and then saw them again in September at a radio station concert in Connecticut. But I didn't really know them until Zach sent me a few mp3s. I remember he sent me "So Long", "Happier", and "Rocketship" and I was in love and I bought "Lost and Gone Forever" almost immediately afterwards. My first diary title was "Two Points for Honesty", which to this day remains my favorite Guster song, and I've seen them a bunch since, and I've spoken to Adam Gardener on the phone and I've seen their bare asses and Zach and I have a bet going that if I'm not married within three years from Anna and Alan's wedding (which was in June 2008 . . . I'm so going to win) he's going to fly me anywhere in the world I want to see them . . . GOD I love Guster. So severely.

I first learned about this while I was in London, and tickets sold out before I could get them for the New York show, but Liz agreed to go with me up to Vermont, and to Vermont we went.

The show was pretty friggin awesome. What can I say. It was a LOT of driving . . . I left my house at 9:40 yesterday and we didn't get up to Burlington until after 6 and then today, I didn't get home until 8:30, and we barely did ANYTHING other than go to the concert, but it was so worth it.

The first set was a bunch of random stuff . . . awesome. Setlist:

First Set

1. The Captain
2. Backyard
3. Satellite
4. Red Oyster Cult
5. Don't Fear the Reaper
6. [New Song]
7. Demons
8. Keep It Together
9. [New Song]
10. Rocketship
11. Manifest Destiny
12. The Beginning of the End
13. Airport Song
    

Second Set - Lost and Gone Forever

1. What You Wish For
2. Barrel of a Gun
3. Either Way
4. Fa Fa
5. I Spy
6. Center of Attention
7. All The Way Up To Heaven
8. Happier
9. So Long
10. Two Points for Honesty
11. Rainy Day

All of my favorites come from "Lost and Gone Forever" . . . I still maintain that "Happier"/"So Long"/"Two Points for Honesty" may be one of the best 1-2-3 punches of any album ever. So much brilliance in so few songs. I didn't realize until Ryan said it that "Barrel of a Gun" is about masturbation. But then he sang another little song along with it "The gun is a penis . . . the penis is a gun. The bullets are my semen, who will be the special one . . . that I will impregnate?" He explained "The tour's almost over, we're getting a little punchy. . . " Haha. I love them. 


Encore

1. Hang On
2. Come Downstairs and Say Hello
3. Jesus on the Radio (acoustic)

For "Jesus on the Radio", they didn't just do it "acoustic", they literally unplugged all the guitars, Brian used a tambourine instead of drums, no microphones . . . you could hear a pin drop in the crowd. It was awesome. Just . . . awesome.