I got erection.. Turbonegro at The Paradise. (Part uno.)

I went to see Turbonegro at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston a few weeks ago. A few days after the show I started writing this for the re-opening of Faster Than the World, but then, after imbibing an entire bottle of Old Grand-Dad and choking to death on it's own vomit while listening to AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell', FTTW never re-opened, so this thing has been sitting around half-written. Due to extreme laziness, I've decided to split the story into two parts so I can post what I've written so far. Part uno is the semi-well-written part. Check back for part dos, a.k.a. 'the thrown together part', in a couple days..

This past Monday Several Monday's ago, I went to see the band Turbonegro play at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. It was a Monday night show and I was tired after work, but I kicked my own ass, told myself I was getting old, and headed into the city.

The Paradise was pretty easy to get to. It is located in the same neighborhood as Boston University, right down the road from Fenway Park. The first thing to do once I found the club was to park the car. Once that was accomplished, number two on the list was refreshment. Luckily for me, T's Pub happens to be conveniently located right next door to the Paradise. Perfect.

I walked in, found a good seat at the bar where I could see the blabber-mouths on ESPN and ordered up a shot of Jack and a Harpoon. By the time the Harpoon arrived, the Jack was gone. I asked for a menu, ordered a buffalo chicken wrap with the works and sipped my beer while I watched the 'experts' on Monday Night Football, noting with some amusement how many of them were currently 0-2 with their picks. By the time my sandwich arrived the first Harpoon was gone. I ordered a second to go with my sammy. I was now sufficiently primed and nourished for the show. I hung out in the bar till around 8:30 then I headed over to the club.

The last time I had seen a show at The Paradise was at least 15 years ago, so as I walked down the dark, narrow hallway leading into the club, it might as well have been for the first time. The Paradise is a pretty small club. It's about 8 steps from the bar in the back to the stage in the front. I guess you could describe it as 'intimate'. I was thinking how cool it was going to be to see Turbonegro, a band that generally fills stadiums over in Europe, play in this little bar. As I walked in to the club, the band Mondo Generator was in the midst of their set and I quickly wished I had headed over to the club a little sooner. They put on a kick ass set, despite the fact that I knew none of their songs. Mark them down as another band I'll be checking out later.

After Mondo Generator finished it was time to wait around for Turbonegro. One thing that I could not help noticing were the signs that were plastered everywhere around the club that read:

NO STAGE DIVING
NO CROWD SURFING
NO MOSHING
HAVE A GOOD TIME AND KEEP YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND!!!

'Yeah, we'll see how that works out' I thought. I also thought about getting another beer, but I wasn't in the mood for Pabst Blue Ribbon, which seemed to be pretty much all they were serving, or at least, that was all that people seemed to be drinking. The stage guys were setting up for Turbo and the floor was already littered with empty PBR cans...

Even though it was a Monday night, the place was full to the gills and the crowd seemed to be pretty jacked up in anticipation for Turbonegro to come out. There were more than a few people who pointed to the 'No Moshing' signs and made some kind of derisive comment while asking, 'what the hell is that all about?' One could not help but wonder, but I've noticed that the 'no moshing' thing seems to be a growing trend.

I stood in the back of the club and waited. I was not in the mood and did not have the energy to try and push my way any closer to the stage. The distance between the back of the club and the front of the club was so small, what difference was a few feet backwards or forwards going to make? Zero.

(Part dos coming soon!)