Our Trip to NYC to see Voxtrot
So Caitlin and I bought tickets to see Voxtrot's last show in NYC. The show was extremely bittersweet but I want to describe the whole trip.
On Friday (June 25th, 2010) we got off work early and drove down to Stamford CT. We visited my friend Chris Beesley (and his wife) who live in that area for dinner at a pizza joint. Meeting up with such good friends that you haven't seen in a while is always a great thing.
Early the next morning we took the Metro North Railrood into NYC. These trains are much faster than the commuter rail in Boston but at the expense of being much bumpier. I could barely use my phone the entire time! We arrived at Grand Central station and immediately went downstairs to the dining concourse and got some breakfast. We then walked around Grand Central for a big (took some photos since the building is so gorgeous) before getting on the subway and heading up to the Bronx Zoo.
The zoo was fun and exhausting. We didn't do any of the special extra-money-needed exhibits, just the normal tickets. We saw pretty much everything and needless to say we were WIPED OUT by 1pm (we arrived right at 10am). We slowly made our way out and back down the subway to the lower east side to scope out the theater that Voxtrot would be playing at.
For a late lunch we stopped at the Flowers Cafe which was awesome. Nice tiny place with a great look. I had a roast beef + horseradish sandwhich while Caitlin had a grilled cheese. We both followed it up with some ice cream! After this we checked into our hotel. We choose to stay (Saturday night) at the Blue Moon Hotel. It is a little pricey (for us) but it was darn close to the Bowery Ballroom where we were seeing Voxtrot so we figured it was worth it. The workers at the hotel were extremely nice and I definitely want to stay there again at some point if we're able!
We fell asleep in the hotel! We woke up around 7 (show started at 9 technically) and went out to find food and head to the show. We ended up at Sakura Japenses and Thai restuarnt on Mott Street which was great! Our waitress was extremely nice and the food was great. I just had my normal Sapporo beer and chicken katsu. Caitlin had terriyaki chicken. Once full we headed over to the show.
There were three opening bands so the night ended up:
- 9:00pm The Black
- 10:00pm Ravens and Chimes
- 11:00pm Yellow Fever
- 12:00pm Voxtrot
The Black was entertaining (the bassist and drummer from Voxtrot are in this group). They describe themselves as country indie rock and that's pretty accurate. They hail from Texas and while they weren't exactly up my alley, I will pay attention to their future stuff.
Ravens and Chimes impressed me a lot. I REALLY enjoyed some of their melodies and will certainly buy their new album once it's out. They performed mainly new material that isn't on their myspace page yet.
Unfortunately for Yellow Fever I was getting pretty tired at this point. This is a really late show for people like my wife and I. We normally go to bed around 10pm! I did enjoy their set. The funniest part was when they started the chorus to "Ratcatcher". Both Caitlin AND I looked at each other with the question "Where do we know this from?". It's VERY odd for Caitlin to know a random song like that and we STILL have not figured out how we know that song... it remains a mystery. Anyway I did enjoy them but we were very eager for Voxtrot.
Finally Voxtrot came on and did one amazing show. I managed to record three of their songs on my iphone:
- Your Biggest Fan (missing the first line, sorry!)
- The Start of Something
- Missing Pieces
It was extremely bittersweet since we love this band, but was watching their last performance as Voxtrot ever. I pretty much have two favorites. They unfortunately did not perform Trouble but they did so Missing Pieces last (I recorded that one, see the link above). If you can definitely check out the studio version of Missing Pieces since his voice was shot in my video.
A great last show for one amazing band!
The next morning we headed back on the train to Stamford and drove back to Boston without incident. The trip was a great success and made me want to visit NYC much more often... but after I recover from this trip!