Not even close to acoustic

Sunday evening, we trekked across town to Universal City and the Gibson Amphitheater for KROQ's annual Almost Acoustic Christmas Concert.  First things first, this was not even close to acoustic.  The two bands that actually brought out acoustic guitars still played them alongside electric guitars, basses, and keyboards.  Let's just get that straight right off the bat.

Second, it was cold.  Really cold.  Preparing for an evening like this requires good, hearty food and drink.  Nachos, buffalo wings, and beer:

But Chris, you say, this is LA.  It couldn't be that cold, right?  Wrong!  Look at the snowman!  He's smoking a cigar to keep warm.

Once we got inside, it was a little warmer, which is good because this was a six-hour concert.  We got there while Snow Patrol was playing.  They were followed by Franz Ferdinand, who rocked the place.  Next was Scott Weiland doing a solo, drunken looking stagger around the stage, warbling incoherently in a Panama hat.  We stepped outside for a bit at this point.

Next came Death Cab for Cutie, followed by Paramore.  Oh, and somewhere in there was the super secret surprise guest.  Let's see...what rhymes with guest?  Best?  Rest?  Oh yeah.  Kanye motherf@#$#ing West!

Then came the real show.  Michelle's favorite band followed by one of my favorites.  First, The Killers:

And last up, starting around 11:30pm on a work night, The Cure:

I will note that The Cure was the only band that stuck to their favorite guitars through their entire set.  Other bands kept swapping out guitars with roadies between songs.  It was nice to finally hear a band re-tuning occasionally, as they had to do back when they were playing small clubs.

All in all, it was a good, long, long night.  Michelle's voice was gone the next day from singing along.  My 32-year-old body is still recovering and should be back in form by this weekend.