steeltrainroadtrip! (all one word, obviously)

07/09/10 & 07/10/10 Steel Train with Matt Embree, Young the Giant, & Wiretree Emo's- Austin, TX & House of the Blues- Dallas, TX

Emo's in Austin, TX

Young the Giant

Matt Embree

Evan of Steel Train

Steel Train & me being all front row & stuff

Erin, Jack Antonof (ST), & Me

Me cheesin like I've never cheesed before, Daniel (ST), & Erin

Evan (ST)  & me almost got it

Dark but major improvement in posture

Me & Justin Huey (ST) It's my favorite picture of the night, mainly because he's so good looking!  Okay not mainly because... ONLY because.

As aforementioned, I was not in love with Steel Train the first time I saw them. But come April after seeing them open for Tegan and Sara two more times, I was beginning to get hooked. They were like five awesomely animated balls of energy and you could just tell that they truly were excited to be playing for us. Erin and I drove to Austin the first night. The club was so small but it all worked out since we had no trouble at all being in the front. A local band (I think?) Wiretree opened first, they sounded pretty good. Next up was Young the Giant. It was the lead singers 21st birthday so he was boozin it up. All the better is what I say! But seriously, they had a really neat, California rock sound going that I digged. The last opener was Matt Embree, who was unlike anything I’ve ever seen or heard before in my life. He was all by himself on stage with just an acoustic guitar. He made his own music with stomps and enlisted us to clap to the beat. Totally hippie, totally jam-able. He did a reggae mash up that was a treat to listen to. Next up was Steel Train. Blew my mind. So much energy escaping from them! Turnpike Ghost, Bullet, Firecracker, S.O.G. Burning in Hell were all great. But the cover they did of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark was a highlight for me since I’ve had an infatuation with the Boss for a while now. Jack pulled it off flawlessly. The guys hung around after the show and we got a few pictures with them.

The next day we drove to Dallas to meet up with Erin’s good friend Kelsea. We were second row for this show. I’m not bitter. ;) Young the Giant was cool again. Me and Matt Embree made major sexy eye contact throughout his set. Almost creepy, but mainly hot. While waiting for Steel Train to come on, they played Tegan and Sara’s “Speak Slow,” which definitely set the tone for the night. They played the same set as they did in Austin, but it was still great nonetheless. Erin and I converted Kelsea to a Steel Train fan that night. The guys stuck around again and we got some more pictures.