(This message was originally posted on the trailofdead.org forum. It has been edited to make sense outside of the forum)

Fucking hell. What a day and night. The fun began in Utica at the in-store. The guys were a bit late getting to the store (thanks to the assfuck tire slashers in Columbus), but no big deal. I met silvergirl (from the forum) and her boyfriend there, and we chatted a bit about Detroit, their trip from Canada, and of course, Trail of Dead. When the curtain opened, the lights were dimmed and we all filed into the performance area. The performance room was pretty small and had a few chairs and couches, which made for a very intimate setting. The band was in good spirits, especially Conrad, who was talkative between songs. They played five songs in total:

The Porpoise Song
Crowning of a Heart
The Rest Will Follow
Another Morning Stoner
Source Tags and Codes

After the set, they signed autographs and pretty much just hung out with the fans. I got all of their autographs and spoke with each of them briefly. I recommended the new Brian Wilson biography (Catch a Wave) to Conrad, as I knew he is a big fan. All of them were very nice and talkative. These guys are definitely the most approachable rock stars I’ve ever met. On cloud nine with my mind racing, I went back home in preparation for the amazing night ahead of me.

The show at the Majestic was mind boggling. It was everything I expected and more. They sounded very tight and were very into it. Jason took command of the crowd when he came up for his songs…he brought the house down with Caterwaul and kicked us in the face with Homage. He was running all around the stage, running into Kevin and falling over, rolling over to the edge of the stage. Here’s the set, slightly misordered (and possibly missing a couple songs):

Mistakes and Regrets
Stand in Silence
It Was There That I Saw You
Caterwaul
Homage
Aged Dolls
Clair de Lune
Relative Ways
Will You Smile Again?
Another Morning Stoner
Totally Natural

During Totally Natural, they knocked the drums over continued making noise. They salvaged the massacred drum set and busted into a tribal drum circle (I think it was Jason, Donni, Danny, and the drummer from the Blood Brothers). As they began to leave the stage, Conrad threw his guitar down and bid farewell to the crowd. Amazing.

After the set, I met up again with silvergirl. She was going to find out what they were doing for an afterparty. I caught her earlier between sets and she said that Jason was looking for a place to DJ. I had my friend call the bar which we regular to see if they could host, but no dice, unfortunately. When I was buying a shirt, my friends caught up with Jason and chatted him up. We tried to get him to come up to the bar anyway, but he decided to stick closer to home at the Garden Bowl bar (the Majestic/Magic Stick/Garden Bowl is a big venue (Majestic), restaurant, bar, bowling alley, and smaller venue (Magic Stick, above the Garden Bowl) all connected together). We met up again with silvergirl and her boyfriend and went over to the bar.

Eventually, Jason came over to the bar, and we all sat around drinking and talking. My friend Elaine and him talked mostly about electronic music and hip hop and all that…it was very cool. We did a shot, had a few drinks, and had a grand ol’ time. After the bar closed, we (my friend and I, silvergirl and her boyfriend) went with Jason to their tour bus and hung out for a bit (unfortunately, only for about a half hour, but it seemed longer). Danny, Donni, Kevin, and a few other guys were playing XBox in the back. Jason and Danny showed us the records they just bought at the store. The whole experience was just surreal.

When all was said and done, we bid our farewells and were on our way. We were in awe at what just happened. It was amazing. It was more than I could have ever dreamed of. Pure insanity. We considered driving to Toronto for tonight’s show, but decided to let last night stand alone in the history books. It would have been sweet to make the trip, but probably not as perfect as last night was.

Thank you once again Jason and Trail of Dead for an amazing night. You will always have friends in Detroit.

I’ll be posting pictures from the in-store performance here shortly.

If you ever wondered what it was like to experience the earth ripping open, swallowing you whole, and spitting you back out into the dawn of a new day, go see Mogwai. Loud, intense, delicate, violent, dreamy. A world on fire. My head is still caved in.

If you don’t get a chance to see them, at least pick up one of their albums. It will quickly become the soundtrack to your life.

One word: amazing. I was extremely excited with the opening of “Do It Again,” I couldn’t believe where I was. It was a very powerful performance. Seeing SMiLE performed live was just a mind fuck. I had goosebumps through most of the performance, and to be cheesy, a big smile on my face. “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow” was incredible…the fake flames and the strings section with the fire hats and the fire hose…wow. There’s nothing out on the planet that’s even close to what SMiLE is. It’s a completely different game.

Brian’s vocals were wonderful. I was amazed at how well he can sing these days, not to mention how long he can perform. The show seemed to last longer than two and a half hours.

This whole post seems very mismashed and without direction. My mind is still spinning, I wish I was reliving the performance right now, but I guess I’ll have to settle for the DVD.

Just ordered my two tickets to see Brian Wilson for the first time this Saturday. I asked my dad if he wanted to go, just cause I figured he might wanna see him, not to mention that we’re going down to the Woodward Dream Cruise and we’ll just go straight to the show. Looks like this Saturday is gonna be a father and son day…hah.

I can’t wait to see SMiLE live in all of its glory. I’m grateful that Brian is still doing it live, cause I missed the last tour or two.

I finally get a chance to see Brian Wilson perform SMiLE this coming Saturday. It will be an experience, I can tell you that. I have no problem experiencing it alone, but if there’s anyone out there who wants to go with me, let me know. That might be fun.