stories: Kellie's Kewl Story- 12/6/2000

Before the Show: My father and I have gotten to be very close. However in the past few years of living on opposite sides of the country, we haven’t been able to spend as much time together as we’d like. I take gift giving to my dad pretty seriously, because it’s my chance to really show him how much I appreciate him. Knowing that he has a fairly open and eclectic taste in music, I decided I would share Barenaked Ladies with him. I bought him a copy of Maroon for Christmas.

Christmas day arrived, and although I wasn’t there to see him open it, he told me that he was “very excited”, had “put it in the stereo right away”, and “really liked it”. “I didn’t doubt that I would, because you never pick bad bands. Your sister, on the other hand… now she picks bad bands. You never do.” I was very excited that he enjoyed the music.

When the next set of tour dates were announced, I noticed one in Alabama, which is my father’s new adopted home state. I immediately called him and asked if he wanted to see BNL with me. He said yes, although I got the feeling that it was more to see me and spend time with me than to see the show. We started making plans immediately for me to fly out for the show.

In the meantime, I attended shows in British Columbia and Las Vegas. After the Las Vegas show, I was talking to Steve, who asked me if this was my last show for a while. I told him that I would be in Alabama, and I was bringing my father to his first BNL show. Steve raised his eyebrow, and with a sly look said, “I’ll remember that.”

I made my way to Alabama, still wondering what the heck he meant by that. I picked up my Ladies Room seats and was quite stoked – front row, Steve side. After a bite to eat (woo hoo Waffle House!) my dad and I got ready and headed to the show.

Preshow: My dad and I arrived early to the venue, and we bumped into Nae by the merch booth. Dad and I grabbed a few beers (in very cool plastic bottles), and as I walked into the venue, my cell phone rang.

It was my soul-twin, Jeska (ED:Yup, that's me!). We talked for a little while, as I described the smaller-than-I-was-used-to venue and talked about the show. She made me promise to call her during “Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel” because they had not been including that song in the set the last time she saw them.

I hung up with Jeska, and proceeded to meet a bunch of people from the boards. Jen showed me her signs and her “Maroon” eye tattoo, and Kathleen and I bonded. Lindsay immediately pronounced me “the fast talking California girl”, which I didn’t mind one bit. The lights went down… It’s showtime!

Chantal:I had seen Chantal at previous shows, but I was still looking forward to seeing her again. She was wonderful, as usual! I had been telling Lindsay about Chantal’s guitarist, Luke, who is a real cutie. A couple songs into the set, I heard her exclaim “Look at their geetars!” Not being used to a deep southern accent, I found this quite amusing.

Also, during Chantal’s set, we noticed a priest standing in the row behind us. As you can imagine, a slew of jokes ensued… what he told the other priests about where he was going (“I’m going to see Barenaked Ladies”), how we would need to confess after the concert (“I had unpure thoughts!”)… you get the picture.

The Show:The Ladies came out in full force, and really kicked ass right off the top. The entire show was made even more awesome by the interaction that the bad had with all of my friends in the front few rows. It was like the whole show was for us. (You mean… it wasn’t?)

During the first break, Steve made a comment about the priest, which set all of us down in the front into a fit of wild laughter. Kathleen had a sign that said “JAM JIM” and at one point, Steve grabbed the sign and was running around stage waving it at Jim and the crowd. Another point in the show, Ed’s eye caught Jen’s tattoo, and they talked about that for a while. (“I’m glad you liked the album, but we have a lot more to go, so you better make room on your ass, lady” – Steve) During “Million Dollars”, Kathleen held her “No Air Kraft” sign up toward Steve, who gave her a strange look, then stuck his hand out toward her and rotated his wrist. She was perplexed at first, until she realized that her sign was upside down, and he was telling her to turn it over!

The most meaningful part of the show for me, though, was when Steve walked out to the speakers to where my dad was sitting in our seats (taking a break from being smooshed up front with all of us), leaned over, looked right at him, and waved. On his way back to the mic stand, he looked at me and said “That’s him… right?” to which I nodded. Steve had remembered that I was bringing my dad!

Postshow: We all piled out to the back of the venue, and eagerly awaited the Ladies. In the meantime, we told jokes (awww.. cheese and rice!), took pictures, told stories, and petted my dog (My dad had brought him with us to the venue and needed to walk him after the show).

All of the Ladies came out, except for Kevin. Ed said that he “expected to see a lot of me this summer”. (You will, Ed… I promise!) Jim posed with us while Kathleen and I talked to him about the upcoming Brothers Creeggan tour, and thanked Kathleen for the sign. Tyler joked about the moustaches they were all growing. When Steve came out, he graciously posed with me (even though we’re both blinking in the pic..drat!) and made a point to ask how my dad had liked the show. (He LOVED it… he was very impressed and couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks!).

I thought I couldn’t be more impressed with this group of people… but I was so touched that Steve had remembered. Not only did I get to see the best band in the world one more time… not only did I get to share something I love with my father, who means so much to me… The night was made even more special by Steve’s thoughtfulness.

And I’m very happy to say that my father and I will be attending the Atlanta (and possibly the Pelham, AL) show together this summer. I think this is the beginning of a long BNL concert-sharing experience with him! -Kellie