Last Sunday I saw Sean Hayes at the Brickroom with a friend of mine. I’ve always been aware of my “old lady” tendencies, i.e. feeling sleepy at 9, going to bed at 10, waking up early, but that night at Brickroom made me intensely aware of it. In my defense, it was a Sunday night and the opening acts, of which there were two, didn’t start until 9pm which lead to Sean Hayes coming on at 10:30 at which point I was yawning like a lion. In general, live venues have a reputation of not starting their music until later in the evening. They do this for valid reasons; people want to eat dinner before heading to the venue, audience members want to not feel guilty about hitting the bars before or after the show, and seeing live music at night is really fun. However, I don’t understand why they insist on starting the music so late….I feel like such an old lady saying this, but fuck it, I’m a 23 year old who likes going to bed at 10 even on a Saturday night, so it’s hard for me to be excited about a show that doesn’t start until 9, and then makes me wait for another hour and a half until the person I actually paid to see comes on.
I was slightly bummed about this show, mostly because I was so tired my friend and I left early. I feel like there’s a lot of shame (mostly self-induced) when it comes to leaving a concert early, but whatever, sometimes sleep is more important to me. The number one thing that annoyed me was that Sean Hayes had two openers….shouldn’t one be enough? Honestly, in my perfect world openers wouldn’t exist. There have only been a few concerts I’ve gone to where I was actually sad when the opener was finished. I’m always hoping that I’ll discover my new favorite band, and there have been times when that nearly happened, but usually these expectations are not the reality. I was really grateful when the music started, even though I was grumbling a little about the time, but when the second opener came on my level of gratefulness went way down. Granted they were both great musicians, and I can see why Sean Hayes chose them, but it would have been much better if he had just stuck with one.
When Sean Hayes finally came on at 10:30 I was ready to go. It was already past my bedtime. This was the second time I had seen him so I didn’t feel too guilty about leaving, I think it would have been worse if it had been my first time. My friend and I stayed for about a half an hour and then quietly left to walk sleepily back home. I was really grateful that she and I were on the same level of tiredness.
I’m sorry that this post isn’t so much about the band that I saw. Honestly I was so tired that I forgot a lot of what I heard. I’m really glad I went, I had a great blueberry mojito and shared a delicious pot of fondue along with great conversation. I hope that the Brickroom will consider starting their music earlier at least on a Sunday night. The show was sold out, but I bet a lot of people were feeling the same way I was, dreading Monday morning.
Autumn Micketti 