The Week of 1000 Miles: Part Two

Tuesday, May 22nd: to Cleveland

I like all kinds of music. Some music I like enough to go see performed live; given the price, the night, and the proximity of the venue are right. Then there are certain bands I like enough to see regardless of the night and to some extent the price, and will see them as long as they wander into my region of the country. For a long time this category was a class of one, in the form of Pearl Jam. They last brought a tour to the Detroit area in May of last year and although the concert was great, I took away from that experience (my first concert since my accident) that choice of venue was now going to be a major deciding factor in my selection of concerts to attend; even if that concert is another Pearl Jam show. Pearl Jam played the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the Detroit Pistons, an arena that seats 18,000+, hosts hundreds of events a year and—unbeknownst to me until that night—features shitty accessible seating options. The floor seats I bought in anticipation of Pearl Jam rocking my proverbial socks off were switched to the back of the house, concrete bunker on the concourse level that serves as the accessible seating area. Thanks for the accommodation. I wasn’t anticipating Row 1, center stage, and I understand the limits placed on seating availability based on architectural design quirks, but the Palace isn’t even a twenty year-old venue, in my mind if a stage can be erected on the floor of an arena then there’s a way to get my wheelchair in the same area code as my purchased tickets. Had I known I was going to be viewing the concert from a pill box I would’ve bought nose bleed seats and considered the move to the concourse level an upgrade. I bet that when Bill Davidson’s crotchety ass is finally stuck wheelchair at the very least an attempt will be made to get him to his courtside seats. So, the Palace is off the list of places I will go to see a concert at from now on; which is fine because it sucks to have to drive out to Auburn Hills anyway. But, what do Pearl Jam and the Palace have to do with last Tuesday and Cleveland? As much as it pains me, Pearl Jam at the Palace is the bad taste in my mouth I will remember when considering all future concerts I want to attend and the venues at which the band or bands I’m interested in are going to play.

Back in April a young band of brothers named Kings of Leon released their third album. Kings of Leon have been on my radar for a while now as I thoroughly enjoyed their two previous album releases. I’m not in the music review business, but hailing from Tennessee, Kings of Leon write up-tempo rock songs about no-good girls and the lead singer mumbles about 80% of the lyrics; it’s a recipe that puts a smile on my face. A recipe, coupled with a great appreciation of their new record that made me decide I wanted to see them in concert on their current tour. When I checked their tour dates I was disheartened to see that the closest the Kings would be to the Detroit area was either Chicago or Cleveland. Well, shit.

So, I thought about it and I thought about the fact that I’ve only been to one concert in the last three years and that shouldn’t be the case. I also thought about the fact that it’s summertime now and it’s time to do summertime things. Summer is a time for carefree, impulse-based decision making—which I haven’t done enough of in the last three years—and so I bought two tickets to the Kings of Leon show at the House of Blues in Cleveland. I convinced my buddy Jak to come with me despite his protesting of being too poor to go to a concert. Jak, you see, is an aspiring screenwriter, aka part-time bartender, aka part-time student, aka currently unemployed, thus the perfect candidate to ride along to a rock show in Cleveland, on a Tuesday night. It’s not like he had to get up for work in the morning or anything (actually, he did have to meet with someone but not until after 11am).

We left town around 4:30 in the afternoon, high-tailing it towards Toledo, the afternoon sun chasing us across the sky. The drive to Cleveland requires a trip eastward on the Ohio Turnpike, a pay road of limited access, and I have wondered for some time now how much difficulty I’d experience getting on to the turnpike. In my recollection of past eastbound trips on the turnpike the toll tickets were dispensed from automatic ticket booths. Parking structures in Ann Arbor all utilize these machines and as I cannot grip the ticket to pull it from the machine, I always need to call for assistance from one of the cashiers. Having Jak with me meant I wouldn’t have to worry about this problem as he was able to jump out of the passenger door, grab the ticket and jump back in as the toll gate swung open; a Chinese fire drill without all the switching of seats. For future reference though, even thought the toll tickets are dispensed automatically, I saw at least one attendant on duty at the toll station and a honk of the horn should bring that person out in case anyone needs assistance.

We pulled into downtown Cleveland in a just over 2½ hours. The House of Blues is situated in close proximity to both Jacobs’ Field and Quicken Loans Arena and the area seems like it could be pretty fun to hang out in with the right activities going on. After parking my van in a structure across the street from the concert hall we made our way over to pick up our tickets. I have to say that all the event staff at the House of Blues were incredibly accommodating and helpful. The tickets I purchased were General Admission and I was anticipating finding accessible seating at the back of the house on the first level as that is what was diagrammed on the House of Blues website. When we picked up the tickets the person at the box office window suggested that we sit up in the second level reserved seating because we would have a better view of the stage from that vantage point. Acting on his tip, we found ourselves about fifteen rows from the railing, with a bird’s eye view of the stage. The House of Blues only seats 1200 people to begin with and the close quarters of the second balcony, put us right on top of the action with a sweet view. Plus, behind the seating in the second level are two bars with waitress service to all of the patrons with tickets up there. It ended up being a perfect set-up, better than I was anticipating, and just the right size club to see a young, energetic band like Kings of Leon rocking out 1200 of their closest friends.

Exiting the House of Blues into the warm night air I felt thoroughly satisfied with the entire experience and then slowly, as the jubilation and the crowd dispersed, there was the realization of the impending drive home. Any ride home from a concert can be a bit of a chore, let alone one that is over 2½ hours long. Dawdling would only further delay the inevitable. We ended up pulling into Ann Arbor after 3am and my head hit the pillow sometime after 4. My alarm going off a scant 4 hours later was less than pleasant, as was the prospect of facing a full day of physical therapy and other assorted appointments later that afternoon. The staff at my PT clinic was amazed at my previous night’s itinerary, and it’s always hilarious to recount such tales to those who would never think of doing such a thing, but such is the price we pay in the name of Rock.

Round trip mileage: 342

Cumulative mileage: 440