My Summer at The Greek

I had a great concert filled summer. All of which happened to be at the William Randolph Hearst Greek Theater in Berkeley. This was really nice because it is only a 1.5-mile walk from my apartment (old apartment now, le sad). The Greek is also a sweet venue because you can bring food and drinks as long as they are in plastic and non-alcoholic. Many a picnics were had during the openers…

My first trip to The Greek wasn’t for a concert but my ex-roommates (le sad again) graduation. It was general admission and we sat to the left of the stage on the stadium style concrete seats.

As it was my first trip to The Greek I was ill prepared. My ass hurt because we didn’t bring cushions and I got a pretty toast sunburn.

My next show was with my best friend and now ex-roommate (see above) and my cousin. We did have a blanket and food this time, but no cushion, what can I say I’m a slow learner (sometimes). We ate our food during the opener, Rogue Wave:

They were from Oakland and we hadn’t heard their stuff before (or at least we thought until we realized one of their songs was in one of our favorite shows: Chuck. It was random because my cousin knew who they were (she lives in Seattle) but didn’t know who Death Cab For Cutie was. Go figure.

I had seen Death Cab before at festival type show and that was when I got into their music, but this concert was amazing!

We had general admin seating and because I’m old and creaky we sat just behind the pit area and were able to see fine. I prefer to sit and enjoy the music instead of standing up for 4 hours thinking about how much my legs hurt.

Next up, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. This was an interesting show purely for the fact that this was the first time my mom was meeting my girlfriend. I think all involved were a little nervous, but I had a friend there for a buffer and all turned out well.

We sat in the grass here because tickets were a shitton of dollars. We had binoculars and the sound quality was amazing so no complaints. This time we had cushions and blankets but were still a little chilly. We also had treats from Bakesale Betty…yummy!

On Pride Sunday I took my girlfriend to the True Colors tour. I had gotten her tickets for her birthday and had to buy them before any of the artists were announced. We were mildly disappointed with the released list of performers but it turned out to be a great time.

The B52s are always a party!


For me this was the BEST part of the show. I have always wanted to see Wanda Sykes live, and she wasn’t on the bill so what a great surprise. If Tegan and Sara would have showed up I would have been in lesbian heaven.


Cyndi was great, she really knows how to put on a great show and she came out into the crowd multiple times throughout the night. She’s a true star and with our age difference, my girlfriend and I had a good time listening to her old and new hits.

Last but certainly not least my girlfriend, two of my best friends and I went to the Feist show to celebrate my birthday. We also had general admin tickets for this show and decided to sit in the first row of the stadium seats and had a great view and were very comfortable. Cushions and food, I finally got The Greek down!

I had been to a Fesit show last year and it was great. This was better and different in enjoyable ways.

If you like any of the above artists and have a chance to see them live, I didn’t have a disappointing show so take the opportunity if you get it!

All in all I don’t think there is a bad seat in the house at The Greek. It is definitely one of my favorite venues and I have been to a lot of places, indoor and out, small and large.

Thanks to all of the lovely people that posted pictures of the shows on flickr!