This was another show featuring the Hi-Fives along with MTX, which made it extra exciting. It was even better than the one in Bakersfield too! There were a couple reasons for that. One was that the club was a lot nicer. The other was of course that there wasn't a lot of stress involved in getting there. In fact, before the show, Kel and I were having quite a good time in downtown Santa Barbara. They had one of those "made for tv" stores, and this cool toy store and stuff. But back to the show...
After we'd been at the show for a while, Kel and I got accused of "sneaking in" and were promptly thrown out. I tried to explain to the stupid security gaurd that we were allowed to be inside, and Frank was about 10 feet away saying the same thing. The guy didn't listen though, as usual. So Kel and I had to go around front and get properly stamped. They made us sign this paper saying we wouldn't drink or do drugs in the show too, which I thought was weird. Guess that keeps the ne'er do wells out or something.
Mark and Megan were there again, so during the first band Kel and I went outside to talk to them. At around 9:30 we got suspicious because the first band was long over, yet the second band hadn't started playing yet. Kel went in and checked, and low and behold, Gary (from the Hi-Fives)'s drums were set up. We all went inside and waited for them to start playing. Frank told me that they were going on any second, but when they hadn't come out in several minutes, I went to check. They said they'd be out in a minute, so I went back and reclaimed my spot in the front.
They played a fabulous set again, as always. You have to go see this band! They're such a fun band to watch play. Gary is just a totally amazing drummer. And Steve, John and Chris are good dancers and stuff. If you haven't already, check them out!
It was a really cool set, and the kids were really into it. People were dancing and stuff, which is always great. Even to the new songs, which made me happy.
After their set, MTX set up. I was kinda mad 'cause this kid edged me out of my spot, but I still had a good view. I didn't bug Joel about the set list at all that night, so I was amazed when the songs I planned on requesting were on there! That guy just knows me too well I guess. They played Adjectives, which I hadn't heard live in AGES, and one of my favorite covers of theirs, Sonic Reducer. They also played She's No Rocket Scientist, which they hadn't played in a while.
For whatever reason, I enjoyed the set even more than usual (which is saying a lot). Kel took lots of pictures, which I was excited about, because I'm always excited to get more pictures of them. Plus it looked like she got a lot of cool ones. They finished playing, and the kids cheered for an encore. MTX obliged, and did one of the cutest things I've seen them do ever. The name of the city the show was in was Goleta. So they played Velveeta and said, "this song is called Goleta," and replaced "Velveeta" with "Goleta." I thought it was pretty neat.
After the set, everyone was pretty much rushed out of the building. Kel and I were driving back that night (a 4 and a half hour drive or so), so we didn't stick around too long outside with everyone. We said our goodbyes, and headed out on the open road.
Before we left, Gary told us to be careful, and didn't believe us when we said of course we would be. Apparently he knew something we didnt, because at around 4am, I got pulled over. I was SO scared. Particularly because I was going 90, and thouroughly deseved a ticket, and figured no way in hell would the cop let me out of it. After a while he finally said, "Do you know how much this would cost you?" I told him no in the most pathetic and scared sounding voice I could muster, and he told me it would run about 300 dollars. But fortunately for me, he then said, "I'm not going to give you a ticket though, I'll just give you a warning. But you're going to drive 65 the rest of the way home, right?" Um, suuuuuuure officer. (Of course I didn't say that though, I just agreed and thanked him a bunch). At this point I let Kelley take over driving, because I was rather shaken up by the whole thing. Getting pulled over is NOT fun.
About an hour or so later we made it back to Kel's house, fortunately without any further disaster.