Pittsburgh Or Bust!

June salutes you! Sorry for the absence, my crappy laptop at home randomly decided to stop connecting to the internet until late last night. Gotta love computers...

Alas, it is confirmed! On June 23rd, I will be seeing Robert Pollard and the Ascended Masters open for the all-powerful Pearl Jam at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh! Arena rock in an actual arena! The everlasting big kick on the big stage! Woo-hoo!

Thanks to the most awesome fellow fan ever, Luke Zing on Disarm The Settlers, I have 2 tickets to the show. And the seats should be right up front, which is the only way to see an arena concert if you ask me. If I wanted to watch TV, I could just stay home if you know what I'm saying.

So I am flying back to the Motherland (New Jersey) a couple days before. Then me and my younger brother Dave are road tripping out in his car to the Mellon Arena for the show (hear that it is a craptastic 70's hockey arena- ah well). Should be big fun!

Dave and his wife Jenn are expecting the first baby Szostak of our generation a mere month from the show (He's The Uncle, meaning me. If I ever have a kid, my bro will be Uncle Dave, heh). Hopefully, he wont have to race back home before the concert starts- you never know when the kid will decide that enough is enough. The cool thing is that I will be a part of his last hoorah, the last dig at freedom before 18 plus years of servitude to the bald and chubby one (that sounds icky).

And it's perfect. Dave is an old school Pearl Jam fan. And I, of course, am an even older school Bob/GBV fan. He is done with school just before the show (high school teacher). I need a summer break from my job (missing 3 days... it's something). And if it were even a weekend later, it would've been too close to the baby's due date. So the whole thing seems fated to be!

Rumor has it from DTS that Bob and the boys will be playing 15 songs- 14 new and 1 old GBV tune, prolly Don't Stop Now. Some brand new stuff from Normal Happiness should be in the mix as well. Sweet! A show report will definitely follow at this very spot- same Bat-time, same Bat-channel. Should I try to sneak in my camera, maybe take some video? Hmmm...


(Bob photo courtesy of Tim Bugbee and robertpollard.net)