Okkervil River in Milan

So I came back from Amsterdam completely obsessed with Okkervil River again, and decided to look up their current tour. I was SO surprised to see that they were playing in Milan that same week! They were going to open for the Black Keys at the Magazzini Generali (or something like that, I can't quite remember). I contemplated going for the next couple days, the concert was on Wednesday, November 19th. I couldn't find anyone to go with me, and I couldn't convince Charlie to go again even though he had liked it in Amsterdam, so I kind of gave up.

I went to practice on Monday, and randomly asked the American kids (who just pretty much started to show up to practice half way through the season) if they knew Okkervil River. Martin and I were in the middle of our drill, and he said that he didn't know them, but they were playing with the Black Keys this Wednesday! I was pretty psyched! I told him I would call him if I ended up going since no one else I knew was going, and on Wednesday I decided not to go. But Martin called me and told me he had an extra ticket...which of course I couldn't pass up...so I met up with Martin and his friends. We got there a little late, and Okkervil was already playing.

The concert was PACKED, so much more so than Amsterdam, and the people there were of all ages. There were seriously 70 year olds in the crowd. I couldn't see really well since we were in the far back, so Martin and I fought our way to the front amidst angry glares...(it was necessary, I'm really short).

Then the Black Keys played, and they're kind of a classic/rock/jazz band (or so Martin told me). They were pretty good too, the drummer was going crazy. It was a two man band. Everyone started moshing though, and it was crazy. Martin pretty much served as my wall and shoved the sweaty six feet men back so that I wouldn't get crushed. (Thanks Martin.) We also met these two girls from NY that were studying in Florence. One of them was NUTS. She was so drunk, picking fights with everyone, and told me she wanted to eat me up, and she started to call me cupcake. Weird night.

So we're about to leave the venue, and Martin asks the people disassemblying the set if he could have the left over drumsticks. The guy goes over, picks the sticks up, and throws them to another girl as he looks at Martin. Martin was SO pissed, and spent the next 15 minutes trying to convince another disassembly guy to give him the broken drum stick. Martin doesn't know that he should have girls doing that for him...so of course the guy says no, and we're getting kicked out of the venue. But that guy calls me over and hands me the broken drumstick...and I don't know the Black Keys that well, so I handed it over to Martin, who proceeded to jump around like a five year old. It was kind of funny.

We went outside to look for Mike, Martin's friend, and he was by the tour buses. When we reached him, the first thing I said was, "Where's Okkervil River?" And someone else responds, "Well there's their bassist, Patrick." And I FLIPPED OUT. (I had also screamed for Patrick while he was breaking down the set, he said he heard me!) The first thing he said to me was "Weren't you at our Amsterdam show last weekend?" So he remembered me, and we chatted, and I told him that I was at their Boston show about a year ago. He said that we should have came earlier and asked for him at the venue, and he would've let us in to party with them. Something to remember next time they roll into Boston...

So I had Patrick sign my ticket, and I took a picture with him, and was on cloud nine because he remembered me. I immediately called Marge and woke her up to tell her all of this hahaha. So sorry Marge...