1 for 3 in the Fall Concert Series

We were super excited to see Chris Cornell, he of Soundgarden and Audioslave, at the Fox Theatre in late October. Even got the pricey tickets. Three hours before the concert was to start, we got an email telling us he was cancelling due to 'throat issues', otherwise known as 'crappy ticket sales'. Lame move, Cornell. Lame. Move.

Last week we made a mini road trip to Phoenix to see Matt Nathanson. We'd were unbelievably excited to see him as we had such a great time at his July concert. When we found the venue, the line was literally around the block an hour before doors opened. Not good. Rather than stand in line we went to dinner. After waiting for our food for an hour, we told them we were leaving. Our food magically appeared, they were very apologetic and took it off the bill. When we got our bill, they'd taken most of the drinks off too, so dinner for 4 with several cocktails = $6.00. Score.

We returned to the theatre to see the line even longer, and the inside already packed. Figuring we'd never get in, Skip told the manager at the door we wanted a refund because clearly they'd oversold the show. Instead, for no explainable reason, the dude just lifted the velvet rope and let us in. Score.

The place was jam packed but we managed to find seats on the patio with a partial view of the stage and good bar proximity. Super score.

Then the concert started.

And they closed the door that was giving us the view of the stage. Even if we'd wanted to, we couldn't have crammed ourselves into the main area to see the concert. We sat for a little while, but it basically was like listening to his CD, which we could do at home with cheaper drinks. So, Skip found the dude who let us in and said it was ridiculous, and kind of unsafe, so we were leaving and we'd like a refund. "Okay, no problem." What? I don't know why that guy was so accommodating to us, but he refunded our money. When we got outside, we realized you could see the stage pretty well from the sidewalk, so we stood outside and watched the show for 30 minutes before calling it a night. Far from our hoped for experience, but, hey, for $6 and a tank of gas, we had a pretty good time.

The one concert that went very well this fall was Shawn Mullins and Dar Williams. I've loved Dar for a long time, was super excited to see her in concert again. She didn't disappoint, she was great. Shawn Mullins was great too, first time I'd really heard most of his stuff. Another great music night in Tucson. Who knew this town had such a great music scene?