all I reallly want to do is Rock

[bluelovesorange]

So, my friend E and I went to see one of our very favorite bands from high school for the first time last night - Supergrass, and there's always this worry that seeing something you really, really, really really love will fall short of your expectations, especially if the heyday of the peak of your bright burning love was oh, say 10 years ago. There's the mentality of 'oh, I hope they don't suck because I LOVE them and it would be so disappointing, and how fickle is my love, anyway? Because I love them they cannot suck - or because I love them and they suck, I will be crushed.

Well, ladies and gentleman, Supergrass DID NOT SUCK.

I was so anxious and giddy - because again, when I first fell in love with them, I was 17 years old, in the throes of Britpop (I never liked the term, but when you mention it in that context, most people automatically go, ohright. BlurElasticaOasisPulpSuede da da dah!) fever and I had passed through a brief mod phase (the haircut, the skirts, I couldn't find any decent shoes so it was all skewed toward my Vans.) and when you fall in love for the first time, it's always this intense bright thing and you just sort of obsess over every little detail. I think I carried that Rolling Stone photoshoot of them around in my binder for months, along with my drawings of Blur and Elastica.

I played I should Coco on repeat and bothered my friends about this "great new band from Oxford that I love even more than Blur and no I'm not talking about Radiohead but I'll talk about them later!" and E swears that even though she can't remember when she fell into the lure of Supergrass, she knows it was because of me, and she can pinpoint exactly when she fell in love with Ash (also courtesy of me). "We were on a bench outside of [English teacher's name redacted] class and you pulled out your crappy little cdplayer that you were never far away from and you forwarded to a track and you said, "LISTEN TO THIS."

I've always been that girl - the LISTEN TO THIS girl, or as I entered college and took classes, the READ THIS or LOOK AT THIS PAINTING IS IT NOT MAGNIFICENT or OMG HAVE YOU SEEN THAT EPISODE OF BUFFY - a very particularly developed set of obsessions and I'm learning as I discover new old things - the art of recommending - I'm always very careful about talking about the things I really truly love, you know, if there was an epitaph for me right now - this big love would be listed alongside my date of birth, etc, etc, because it's important to me and I'd love other people to love it as much as I do - and if they don't, I'm a little disappointed. But usually my love is enough for everyone - so you know. I'm pretty comfortable being a fandom of one for certain things.

So E tells me about Supergrass - and we are so excited because when they were touring around the time in our first flush of love, we were too young for most of the clubs they played at, or they were immediately sold out by all the LA hipsters/radio stations (last night's show was incidentally sponsored by Indie103.1) and maybe I was just not resourceful enough for fake IDs or bribing people to drive me to Los Angeles at the time (I did learn. Belatedly. And hey, my first gig ever ended up being Blur, so that wasn't all too bad.) but now, flash forward and I'm allegedly an adult, with a car and money and I email E and say, "yes we must go."

When we arrive at Avalon and wait in the line, E turns to me and says, "We're going to be totally irritating, aren't we?"

"Oh hell yes," I agree. Because this is our moment, ten years in the making. We are going to scream and badly dance and flail and we are going to RELISH the moment even if we are the oldest people in the club.

This has been a problem for E as of late - she's gone to a few gigs and has been disconcerted to see how young the crowd is at some of the shows. I point out that she's been going to all-ages shows and that's kind of what happens, the music industry isn't the same when we were the prized demographic, and to make money on tours, you have to sell tickets to everyone. Even if you do end up feeling like a chaperone at a Hannah Montana concert.

Though, Supergrass are different in that they do have a dedicated fanbase in LA from when they first visited, and so - there'll probably a chunk of people who saw them way back when, the old Britpoppers and scenesters, which means there will be people older than us, and probably more fervent. And it was so, reflected in the line - the usual mix of American Apparel LA-ites, the boys in skinny jeans, girls in vests and unfortunate footwear, fedoras and converses, severely edited cocktail dresses - former College Radio DJs, eyelinered cats who typed furiously in their iphones - we were all there to see Supergrass, in the shadow of the Capitol records tower.

When we get in - suprisingly breezy security - they just scanned our tickets and waved us on in - I could have brought a camera! Or a bottle of water! and we're in the red lit room, and we make for the stage area - no ladylike balcony watching for this show, we have to be able to see faces.

As it turns out, I'm one of the taller people in the front (or at least one of the people with better posture) so I have an clear view of the drumkit, the mic stands and basically, I feel, it is the best spot in the house.

E saves our spot while I go to the merchandise table and buy the best band tee shirt ever (imagine that on a white shirt, instead of a towel).

I come back with our shirts - E opts for a simple black one with the band name on it, and then we settle in and wait for Supergrass to come on. The opening act, The Morning Benders, are a young group from Berkeley, CA - and while they weren't terrible (in fact one of their songs, "Waiting for the war" is pretty damn catchy), they were a bit out of their element - there was a notorious case of LA club crowd going on - no one really danced even to the one song the lead singer declared was their dance track, complete with choreographed dance moves, and I felt bad for them. They were obviously trying, but no one was getting into it - it's a lot different from their hometown reception, I can only imagine - I saw the lead singer's family in the line, and a few of the girls in front were there just to see them and left after Supergrass came on (FOR SHAME.) and maybe they're just one of those bands that are better on record than they are live? I have to admit the bassist was really attractive and if I was 17 years old again, he would totally have been my Asian rockstar boyfriend.

But Supergrass were the Headlining act (and possibly the only act as people were concerned) and when they swaggered onto stage - Gaz wearing a slouchy fedora, a vest and business pants, his younger brother Charlie in a tie and leather jacket and black pants - well, we all kind of exploded.

You guys - it was better than I had imagined even though I didn't really have a frame of reference to compare it to (this being my first time and all) but Supergrass TORE IT UP. They played a few tracks from their new album, Diamond Hoo Ha, and while they were enthusiastically received, most of the really ardent screaming and sing alongs were for their older tracks - they played Late in the Day, Moving, Caught by the fuzz, She's So Loose, etc, etc and oh, it was just so fantastic.

I was constantly swinging my eyes from Danny to Gaz to Charlie and then singing along with Mick's backup and just dancing in my own little world - there was a spiky haired fellow in front of me who kept on doing the arm pointing thing and ...dare I say it? skanking? Is that the dance step? Am I totally old? Yes, and yes.

Gaz nearly caused a mini riot when he threw things from the stage (I missed both times and I nearly stepped on this girl's hand when she went for a pick - in my defense, it was actually closer to E's foot, and she was about to get it, when that bitch picked up her foot and slid the pick into her hot thieving hands. And you know, that's not on, but considering how crazy it was all getting - in the heat of the moment, we are not our best selves.)

Danny sang on two songs - I'm not sure if they were Supergrass tunes or his own side projects, but I'm guessing it was the former, and I'm just woefully lax on the discography - I'm missing a physical copy of the Road to Ruen and Supergrass is Ten out of their back catalogue.

They were polite and unfailingly awesome - which is what I want in my rockstars.

We left in a cloud of euphoria and deafness, which is the way it should go.

Now, I have to go and listen to all of my Supergrass albums and watch Supergrass is ten.