Rockcrowd Fest 2011 - Concert #4

Rockcrowd Fest's 4th concert was by one of our early favorites.  The wonderful, fun energy of Rhett Miller.  More people are familiar with him as the lead singer for Old 97s, who we'll get to see in August at Outside Lands (of course I just noticed they are playing up in Petaluma on 06/03 ... hmm. Rockfest growing??)

We started off the concert with grabbing a Mission Burrito, since the venue was close to the area.  We headed to El Castillito @ Church and Duboce - while not being officially in the Mission - it gets cred for being old school, authentic, damn good (and close enough.) Wet Pastor Spicy, Yes



We then headed to the Swedish-American Hall above Cafe Du Nord. The venue definitely has an old school, mason-viking hall feel to it: a big open space with lots of folding chairs. We thought it was kind of hokey place, but Rhett said he very specifically picked it.  At first we sat on the floor, but then we noticed that the balcony while further away would give us a nice perspective and the ability to move around. The small crowd and no-alcohol venue produced what had to be my first secondary-pot-free SF concert , which was nice - because SF can have some serious skunkweed. The experience was quite intimate. While waiting to get in the show, we saw Rhett come out and just go for a walk - he gave us all a nice wave+smile. Once inside, we were able to explore around the cute little hall and look out the windows.



The concert was pretty incredible. Rhett, solo with a guitar on a red stage.  He belted out somewhere around 30 songs. He told us wonderful stories (by the way, don't tell children "shush!" when they are singing.)  While I greatly dig the new album, The Instigator will always hold a special place for Mary and I and our relationship developing in Chicago. We saw Rhett play a tiny morning set inside the Chicago Apple store one morning early in our "figuring out how much we loved each other" time. He has this raw intimacy in his songs, singing and arm-windmilling guitar playing.  I look forward to many continued years of listening to Rhett Miller.