Four Or Five Score.

On Friday, I ventured to the home of Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, for the Appetite For Construction Tour featuring Switchfoot, Relient K, and Ruth. I met up with fellow JSNAG-ers April and Kelly a little after noon and we proceeded to hang out the rest of the day. It wasn’t quite life altering, but it was pretty awesome. I’ll start with the pre show I suppose. Let’s see if I can get all the details right.

I spotted the girls while talking on the phone with April and they proceeded to rush at me ready for an explosion of love and Relient K-ness, but I fended them off with sweet karate moves. Chris Tucker can’t just rush into things. I had seen Tim, Drew, and Chad from Switchfoot heading toward Starbucks, so our first stop was there. I didn’t bother them then, though. It was more or less just watching them search for the mythical “Wi-fi hot spot.” Kelly got some kind of weird drink. April proceeded to spill it. We left.

Next we headed back up to the venue, where I first had the pleasure of seeing April’s “K-Car” for the first time. I was also shown the boys’ gifts that they’d be receiving a little later in the evening. We walked around the busses and saw a couple of the “Ruth’s” as Jon Foreman refers to them, but we kept going. It was at this point we walked to Starbucks and then into the Hilton hotel with which it was connected. I sat on a couch in between A&K chatting for awhile, and then April asked me some questions for her paper. “What is your name? How old are you? What color underwear are you wearing?” You know, the standard interview questions. Before we left, we talked to Drew from SF. He told me how he missed part of a Smashing Pumpkins show in L.A. I felt his pain.

Next we hit a record store, where we browsed, looking for possible gifts for Ethan Luck, but alas, the store was out of Clash records. Kelly contemplated buying Da Bears’ “Super Bowl Shuffle” but decided against it. So we headed back up to the venue for good. Outside we ran into Hoopes and Mr. Jonathan Schneck, who greeted up warmly. “April, Kelly, Chris, nice to see you guys.” We chatted with him for a few, informing him of the little gift exchange going down later, then we let him, Hoopes, and the other members of their party go on their way.

We went in the venue and got in the little line beginning to form. We decided to play UNO and I proceeded to dominate. April and Kelly might say differently, but we all know it’s true. It got to be 6 o’clock and doors opened, but where was Scott with the guest list? We ended up waiting a couple extra minutes before going in so the girls could get their tickets. Eventually someone brought the guest list up, and we headed in. We stood in front of Schneck and Hoopes and gradually moved toward the center as the show went on. Kelly got some girls angry by pushing them and throwing a few elbows. One girl even turned around and inquired, “ARE YOU GUYS RETARDED?” To which I replied, “Actually, yes. Yes I am.” On a happier note, I did meet a couple cool kids. There was Daniel, who wore a hellogoodbye shirt, a Relient K jacket, and generally resembled Kenny Vasoli of the Starting Line. Also, there was this girl wearing a dinosaur hoodie, who claimed to be a paleontologist. I didn’t catch her name, but she was pretty sweet I suppose. Finallly Ruth came out. They played a nice little set.

Relient K. Always good. It was definitely interesting seeing the show with the duo of Kelly and April. The hand motions. The guys smiling and laughing. The shout outs (i.e. “Pink tux to the prom…What’s that April and Kelly? Pink tux to the prom…”) 1! 2! 3! 4! Yeah. It was a good set. I could go on for hours, but I’ll spare you.

Switchfoot followed. They’re probably the best live act I’ve ever seen, and this show further confirmed that feeling. Jon Foreman is just the coolest guy in the world. His stage prescence, the energy, the clothes, the hair…I’ll leave it at that, but basically, the guy could hang with anyone. He’s awesome. He makes their live show. I loved it when Jon ventures out into the crowd. He ended up standing on top of me twice during the set. The first time, he took my camera and took 2 pictures of the crowd. It was amazing. My heart probably skipped a beat, as silly as that sounds. Later, during meant to live he ended up standing over me again, and I was shooting a video through the whole thing. He sang right into the camera. It was so cool. The show ended and I soon after decided that this was probably the best one I’ve ever attended. Then this old guy made it a sinch when he asked, “Aren’t you the drummer from Relient K?”

We went out back and waited for the guys to come out. Jon and Jon were the first two out. I talked to Foreman for a bit, and then a huge crowd started to gather, and what does Jon do? Leave to go play an acoustic show. So awesome. I had to miss it though. There was no way I could not say goodbye to Dave. We talked to Jon next, giving him his superman stuff, and talking about life. I say life because I don’t really remember what we talked about. I’m sure it was fascinating though. Hoopes came over after a couple minutes and April and Kelly gave him his “Booyeah” golf balls. He laughed and smiled like a little kid. His little laugh…Awwww. Hoopes.

We moved down the line and waited for the rest of the guys. At some point in here, I talked to Jon Foreman again, and his brother as well. Dave came out, and we talked to him for, I don’t know, a good twenty minutes, if not longer. He’s probably my favorite to talk with. He was so happy with his gift. It was so cool. He hugged April and Kelly and thanked them. Then he hugged me and thanked me for “sharing in this moment.” My pleasure, Dave. I actually taped him opening the present, and it’ll be on youtube at some point. Just as Jon Foreman hula hooping will be. Warne was walking around at this point too, and we more or less just said hey. Right as we were finishing up talking to Dave, Thiessen came around the corner, “You guys are still here?” Well duh. He talked for a minute and meanwhile Jon came back from his acoustic show. I said bye to him and we finished up with M@ shortly after.

We drove around Springfield for a few minutes looking for a place to eat, but most everywhere was closed, and there were a lot of creepy people wandering the streets so Kelly drove the car back to the hotel I was staying at. We took a myspace picture and said our goodbyes.

Saturday, I walked around Springfield doing the whole tourist thing, visiting Lincoln’s home, the Lincoln museum, Lincoln’s tomb, etc. All in all it was just a so-so day. I mean, nothing could top the night I had just had, but it was alright. I did eat breakfast a table away from Brandon Ebel, president of Tooth and Nail records. So that was cool I guess. Thus concludes the RK portion of this blog. Kelly already wrote a blog about this day, and April will eventually, so be sure to check those out as well.

Sunday I went to see Spitalfield at Pop’s on their farewell tour. Two of my favorite area bands, Ludo (from St. Louis) and The Graduate (from Springfield, Illinois, of all places) played. They both put on good shows, and I highly suggest you look both bands up sometime. Spitalfield was great. Everyone at Pop’s was so drunk, and that only made them get more into the show. It was fun and got me into Spitalfield more for sure. Too bad they’re breaking up. We hung around a little after the show and bought Ludo toothbrushes and talked to Mark Rose (super nice) from Spitalfield.

Well. It’s Tuesday now. I’m back into the monotony of school, and it sucks. Relient K spring tour? Yeah? Yeah. Looking forward to shows keeps me going. That one’s a ways off, but no harm in planning for it now. I think 10 shows should suffice. Haha. Thanks for reading, everyone.

Christopher Michael Tucker.

Song of the day: “Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, And Things Like Chemistry.” By Relient K.
(I like Relient K and my lips are chapped right now. So there you go.)