See pictures on the Photo section

Well, to start out, I lost my ticket (IUm such an idiot) but I figured well, maybe the show's not sold out, I mean, Clarion's practically in the middle of nowhere and if not there'd probably be scalpers. But still the whole frickin' way there I was so nervous that I wouldn't be able to get in! I think for a while (somewhere around Cleveland) I was feeling physically sick. Anyway, I get to the college at about 4pm and found some Everclear fans waiting around and they said they were sure that there were still tickets left. So then I went around back to the band entrance, and there was Marty :) I told him that i'd lost my ticket and was going to have to buy another one and so he put me on their guest-list so I could just get in without a ticket :) That was so awesome.

Then I was talking to Royce, their tour manager. He told me that they're going on tour with Days of the New starting on May 10th in SC. This apparently they just found out a few days ago! I went to daysofthenew.com and it does list MF4 for one show 5/17 in TN but there are a bunch of dates with no tour partners scheduled so that's probably them too. The other dates are in FL, SC, and LA (as in the state).

I got up pretty close to the front - there was one guy in front of me but he was a short little kid. Though there was this taller guy next to him that I kept having to look around. The opening band, Flipp, was CRAZY! They were pretty fun. Some of you will like this - the bass player was wearing a full LEATHER body suit. Well, it might not have been leather, but you get the idea. He had Mohawk made into six 8" purple spikes. Pretty wild. One of the guitarists came on stage with a box of Flipp Cereal and at the end of their set he was throwing it on the stage and at the crowd. They had to sweep off the whole stage before the Four went on. I saw Marty trying to clean some of it off with a towel while they were setting the stage up for them. Poor Marty :)

There were a lot of people around me who were asking who the opening bands were, and while I was waiting in line. I must have told a couple dozen people about mf4. I think the publicity for that show was sort of pathetic which is sad. Actually, the best publicity I've seen for the 4 is coming from Craig, EC's bass player. He posts letters up on everclearonline.com every few days. The last 3 or 4 have had stuff about how much he's a fan of mf4 and how much he's looking forward to touring with them and how cool the new album is. I love him just for that!

Okay, so getting back to the actually performance: I don't know how to put this other than the new songs blew me away! When they started I was completely in shock. Is this the Mayfield Four? Wow! They were so intense and rocking! I kept screaming and sort of felt sorry for the kid in front of me whose ears I was screaming in. Oh well. The third song in was Lyla, so I was all excited 'cause I recognized it from when they played that at Pig Out in the Park in '99. Then Eden came after that which was so amazing. I was sort of surprised that Myles didn't say that Eden was the single or that the new album is coming out in June. I kept telling people that. Anyway, they finished with Sick & Wrong. I didn't realize that was what song it was until I recognized the words that Myles was singing. There was a girl next to me, Kathy, who saw them with Fuel 2 years ago. She says she's been to the new website and asked me if the four had a new bass player. I was like, no, a new guitarist. Then she asked me if the guy who left had white hair, so I had to laugh 'cause she was remembering Marty when he had white hair and it's black now :) Oh, and here's what I think the set list was - I wrote it down from the list the sound guys had: Backslide, High, Lyla, Eden, Flatley's Crutch, Believe, Loose Cannon, Mars Hotel, Sick & Wrong. Suckerpunch was on the list too but I would have noticed if they'd played that!

After that I left the front. I was kind of tired and didn't think I could stand being squished up to the front during Everclear's set. So I went and found a seat to the side of the stage. The highlight of Everclear's set was when Art started calling people up on stage for "Rock Star". If you haven't seen Everclear, they like to bring up fans for that song and get them to dance around and jump up and down. So after Art had called a bunch of crazy Everclear fans up he decided he needed to call the Mayfield Four up. That was pretty damn funny. Marty was helping EC's bass player, Craig, play his bass and sing. And after a while I noticed Myles back with Basil, EC's touring percussionist, banging on a drum. That was too cool.

After the show, Marty was cool enough to let me come back stage and hang with them in their dressing room and take pictures with the guys. It was so great. Marty introduced me and then one of their roadies, Ed I think, started singing that Beatles song, "Julia". I felt like a complete idiot and space case and am not sure what kind of lame things I said but oh well. I meant to ask Myles about his part in that movie Rock Star but completely forgot. The guys were just so nice and I had an awesome time.