rock shows with no rehearsal

i saw a j5 and common concert on monday. this concert was my april concert (i'm day late ... deal with it) in my quest for one a month. this show kinda crept up on me ... forgot about it for the most part till saturday night. then i started getting really excited about it. i saw common a few months ago at the HOB SD, but i hadn't seen jurassic 5 in a couple years. the last time i saw them perform was at the axis of justice concert in la where they got a short set amongst a bunch of rock performers. oddly though, j5 hasn't put out new music since before i saw them at cal at one of the spring superb concerts. i've seen both common and jurassic 5 at least three times, and both rock a good show. these two are some of my favorite artists ... i'm excited

like usual, i had planned on rolling solo to this concert. i almost convinced archana (and consequently, priyal) to come, but she passed because she thought i was going with sue ellen ... silly archana, i simply said that sueellen bought my ticket. however, i did have company. teresa's cousin dominic called me saying he had an extra ticket, not knowing i had already planned on going.

the ticket said the concert started at 8. i figured that meant doors opened at 8. the concert was at usd, which is a few minutes away from my place, so i hung around my place watching the clippers game. when i got there, it was around 815. dom, babe, and friends were parking, and i figured i'd just wait for them outside. unfortunately, when i got there, j5 was already on. forget waiting ... i decide to get in. now, i've been to a concert before at usd (maroon 5 back in the day ... okay, a year ago), and i wasn't too thrilled about the venue. the place is just not made for musical performances. also not too thrilled about the energy the usd kids would bring.

so i get to the floor of the arena, and there are a lot of people here (i should have showed up earlier, especially considering all i was doing instead was watching a measly clippers game). i look up and j5 is already rocking it ... but there were only five people on stage. no cut chemist. yes, you heard me ... j5 actually has six members, not five. there was a cute girl next to me who was getting down. i even heard her say "this is my favorite song" when 'quality control' came on. cute girl who knows j5 ... what's not to like (notice a theme). i decide to try talking to her. i asked her if she knew why cut chemist wasn't on stage. she stared back blankly. okay, maybe she doesn't know j5 as well as i would like, but hey, no one's perfect. then this guy steps up to her from behind ... my cue to back off. *sigh* oh well ... j5 continued to rock it. their new album is dropping soon, and they performed a few new tracks. the one that caught my ear had (i believe) an old prince sample. definitely feeling that one. i was still missing the quirky cut chemist though. despite his absence, jurassic 5 rocked a great show.

in between their set and common's, i decided to track down dominic. i soon found them upstairs ... dom, babe, quinn, rommel, one of angela's friends, her bf, and another couple. common came on and rocked it like usual. it's too bad that i saw common a few months ago because he did almost the exact same show as when i saw him with angelo. he came out with a dj, a drummer, and a guy on the keys. not much to say here because it was almost word for word the same show as before. at one point, he started singing, and dom's friend says, "com's beening hanging around mos too much." hahah ... funny shit. during one of his songs, he pulls some girl on stage. he did this last time i saw him too, but this time, he and the girl start getting freaky on stage ... not just freak, but freak DEAKY. soon after that, he asks for a usd mc to come and spit with him. when he performed at cal, my friend kevin got on and spit some rhymes with him. this time, some guy gets on, let's off some wack verses, and then common takes over and rips the guy a new one ... made me reminisce of the "bitch in you" days. i felt bad for the guy. common then did a tribute to j. dilla. his dj, dj dummy, did an awesome set scratching rob base and dj ez rock's 'it takes two.' dom, rommel, and his friend are dj's and getting into to it at this point. he spits some stuff from his upcoming album, which was a little rough but good. i can't wait for these new albums to drop. common does on encore with the dilla produced 'the light,' and i went home a happy man.

like i've sad before, it's something magical being in a crowd just feeling the music. even more, when the artist is rocking 'i used to love h.e.r.' which may be my favorite song of all time. i spent the whole common set up in the seats of the arena, and it was cool seeing the crown below move in unison to the music.

unfortunately, despite the high likelyhood of a cute catholic hip hop head, i went home alone and with no new numbers in my new phone ... always next time, i suppose. that's quite alright, i was there with the love of my life, and that's all i ever need.

... common said i used to love her, but i love her still ...

up next for my may concert:
Soul Position on 5.9
Lyrics Born on 5.27 or
Aceyalone, Ugly Duckling, and The Procussions on 5.30
... like always, i'd love company to one or all of these ... but i'm not counting on it.