Bloggin' the suburbs.

Thanks to the magic of the internets (which may or may not be a series of tubes), I've spent the past 40 minutes or so watching the masterful Ben Folds plow through his set at Bonnaroo courtesy of the AT&T Blue Room. Goddamn, he sounds so good (as usual). I missed the first 20 minutes or so of his set so I don't know if he played any new material then, because he hasn't since I tuned in, which is a bummer. (However, I may or may not have five new BF songs on my iTunes at work courtesy of a very nice person at Epic Records, and they are delicious.)

I'm peeved I missed Against Me!'s set earlier today, though; they played a new song called "Amputations" and I didn't get to see it. Argh. I'm sure it will surface on YouTube eventually.

As for seeing concerts in real life and not on my computer screen, I spent last night braving the elements (well, just one element, really: rain) alongside Rachel and some of our other co-workers seeing Death Cab For Cutie in downtown Cleveland. It was my first time seeing them, and after a nearly two-hour set, I was reminded why I appreciate that band so much: Sure, there's not much in the way of stage activity, but man, their songs are just so damn sharp and well-written. They truly saved the best for last, ending their encore with "Tiny Vessels" leading into "Transatlanticism." I stood, mesmerized, with their white stage lights flooding the audience as they build to the song's crescendo, and then I did something I never do at shows.

I took my earplugs out.

Normally, I'm the first person to scold my friends for not wearing earplugs at shows, but for some reason, the moment just struck me, and as soon as they came out, I was washed over with a simultaneously melodic and dissonant wave of guitar distortion, and it was just heaven. Not gonna lie: I even got a bit teary-eyed. (Of course, that may have been because the song's all about Ben Gibbard's significant other being very, very far away from him and wanting her to be, as he sings, "so much closer," and boy, how I can relate to that currently.)

Anyway, they were great. And if you can't see them on this current tour, you should tune into their Bonnaroo set tomorrow night at 10 p.m. EST over at the Blue Room. I recommend logging on at 8:30 to see Sigur Ros, too -- seriously, how fantastic is their new album??