GUSTER

So Saturday night, I went to see Guster at In the Venue in Salt Lake City with my friend Sam. She had never been to a concert before, so I invited her to this one. I've loved Guster ever since my friend introduced me to their music my freshman year of high school. They're originally from the Boston area; the members met at Tufts. Their latest album came out late last year. I got the CD for Christmas, so I made sure I knew all the lyrics. Here's how the concert went.

Set list:

- Barrel of a Gun

- What You Call Love

- Demons

- Center of Attention (one of my personal favorites)

- Stay With Me Jesus

- Do You Love Me

- Then the audience called for Bury Me, and then Ryan was like "Okay, but Luke has to sing it". Luke is their new addition, and has neither played nor heard the song. so he was just screaming "BURY MEEEEEE"

- Beginning of the End

- I Spy

- Satellite

- Airport Song (disco version) - At the end of this track, the only sound is a ping pong ball bouncing back and forth, so a lot of fans bring ping pong balls and throw them at the band at the end of the song. The fans were prepared.

- Manifest Destiny (another favorite)

- At this point Ryan said that they had just had the best effing tacos in their entire lives just half a mile from the venue. I'm gonna have to go check out them tacos.

- Hang On, combined with Billy Joel's "My Life." and he started crawling onto the audience's shoulders. He came back to the stage and was like, "well. that was weird."

- Backyard

- On the Ocean

- Come Downstairs and Say Hello

- Bad Bad World

- Homecoming King (with Chariots of Fire outro)

- This Could All Be Yours

Encore 1:

- Diane (two cute boys from Ogden we were standing next to asked us to dance ^_^)

- Architects and Engineers

- The Captain

- Happier (another favorite of mine)

Encore 2:

- The band came out again, Brian the drummer was like "I got this" and they started playing "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. His voice was totally shot, and hoarse, and cracked several times, much to our amusement.

Encore 3:

- Their final offering to appease the ravenous fans was a lovely acoustic version of Jesus on the Radio, with the audience harmonizing quite well. Then we finally let the band go rest.

Amazing fans, amazing band, amazing atmosphere. One of the best concerts I've ever been to.

So This Is the New Year...

I actually do have some resolutions. Each New Year's, our family has a tradition where we give each other goals and resolutions. Here are mine:

- study in the library at least 5 times a week, and keep in contact with academic advising (from Mom)

- get more organized (from Gramma)

- call when I need motivation (from Dad)

- go to bed at 11 PM on weekdays, 1 AM on weekends (from Lise)

- turn off the internet when doing homework (from Sasha)

and

- break one boy's heart every week, at least (from Dad of course)

Pretty serious stuff from my family, no fun ones this year. For myself, I aim to blog at least once a week, and eat breakfast every day. The thing about all these resolutions is that they'll undoubtedly make me a happier and healthier person.

Today was the first day of school. I've been running around trying to make my schedule fit, always a stressful process. I can't wait to have it set in stone so I can schedule other things. The break was very much needed, and it was really wonderful. Pictures and stories coming soon.