Friday Night's Concert with Phil

Phil made a New Year's resolution (which is odd, because he doesn't really make New Year's resolutions) to see more shows in Harrisburg this year. As his concert wife, I am obviously affected by this resolution, and because I'm a good concert wife, I have actually been doing some research regarding shows in our state's capital.

Friday night marked our first Harrisburg show of the year. We saw a band called Cabinet, whom neither one of us had ever seen before, but whose music we very much enjoy. Annie and Brian were the ones who introduced Cabinet to me. I'm not sure how Phil learned of them. We talked about a lot of things on our drive north, but that wasn't one of them.

Because this was essentially my birthday celebration with Phil, he went all out in treating me! First of all, he offered to drive -- and even picked me up at my house! Second of all, he took me to a restaurant that he had been to before, but that I was unfamiliar with. It was called Zeroday and their Casual Ruckus IPA was so smooth and delicious! Phil got some sort of red-meat sandwich for dinner, I got the fried crab balls, and we split an order of fried baby artichoke hearts. Everything was delicious!

At dinner, we met a couple named Tom and Christy. I confirmed that Christy spelled her name C-H-R-I-S-T-Y and then I shared this with Phil. His immediate response was, "Oh, like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, just with a Y on the end!" This is possibly my favorite thing that happened all night. I've already written it into a book.

After food and drinks at Zeroday, we headed over to XL Live and arrived just in time to see Cabinet. I took a video so you could experience the energy of the show. Here it is:

This is the second show I've attended in which the band takes "a short little break" in the middle, coming back later for a second set. Cabinet's "short little break" lasted for at least half an hour. When Jack White took a short break between his first and second sets, it only lasted maybe fifteen minutes. In both situations, the second set had a different feel than the first set, and in the case of Cabinet, I preferred the first set more.

During the first set, I was very much reminded of the fictional band that lives in my head, Flannel Lobster. During the second set, I was more "reminded" (this is not the right word, and I'll tell you why in a minute) of a Phish show. The reason I cannot be reminded of a Phish show is because I've never attended one. Several people have told me that I should attend one, and I might at some point in time, but I haven't done it yet. I am going to be seeing Trey Anastasio at Catbird Music Festival this summer, though!

Anyway, that was my experience at my first Cabinet show. I was a huge fan of the fast-tempo tunes and the bearded men who performed them. Bearded men with instruments are some of my favorite things!