Mixxing It Up with Sick Puppies

Sick Puppies rocking out at Koots

Friday night was a pretty eventful night. Earlier in the week, Amy and I had planned on having a nice and light evening of just going to dinner at Mixx Grill (Anchorage's most underrated restaurant - seriously, it rocks hard) as she was going to Homer the next day with her crew pretty early. Of course, inspired during one of our email barrages throughout the week, we decided that we wanted to go the Sick Puppies concert at Koots that night as well. Somehow, we managed to secure the last two tickets in all of Anchorage (literally, we had to go to an car detail shop to get them), and were stoked accordingly.

This of course was odd, because I had never listened to them until after I had gotten the tickets, and once I did, I didn't like them particularly. Of course, I crossed my fingers going into that night that they would be a better live band than they were recorded. This has happened a lot in my life, where I see a band that I don't like recorded live and they manage to rock amazingly hard (see: Jet).

The night started off really well, as Amy and I went to Mixx and had our typical great time - a nice bottle of wine, incredible appetizer, Filet Mignon topped with Foie Gras (seriously, Foie Gras is incredible - its like happiness in food form), and Filet Mignon Fondu for Amy. We spent an hour and forty five minutes there just chatting and enjoying the great food. By the time we were done with that, we were ready for the show.

We get to Koots, order a couple drinks, play some Fooseball (I won two games! Entirely because I was on Amy's team - the Pele of Fooseball - but I won two games!), and by that time Nick and Kim had joined us and we were ready for the concert.

Myself, Nick and Amy

In true Alaskan tradition, the concert was led off by a moderately terrible local opener, this time some band fronted by the owner of Mammoth Music. They weren't bad so much as unremarkable, never annoying me but never doing anything to really stand out whatsoever. The crowd seemed very into them, but my group and I never really dug them. It gave me time to chat with old friends like Drea and Ashley at the merch stand and in the audience, while also having time to meet cool new people like Becca and Colter, our honorary group members for the night.

The Lead Singer of Sick Puppies shredding

After they were finished, there was a bizarre section where a radio deejay came out and tossed shirts and hats to audience members. It sort of felt like I was at a sporting event, but then I just realized I was at another awkwardly run concert in Alaska. Yay Alaska! Of course, shortly there after the band came on, and they began to rock right off the band. And they did just that - they rocked! I was very impressed, as they had great stage presence and sounded pretty awesome, not to mention the fact the lead singer had very good rapport with the audience. Of course they did have one huge ace in their sleeve.

Ace up their sleeve

Their bassist was ridiculously hot!

In the years of going to concerts, I've grown to find that I really like girls in bands. Unattractive girls become good looking (most of them, the opener girl was not attractive regardless), and good looking girls become very attractive. This girl? She is just hot period. Add a weird, lacy corset thing and a bass and in her hands? She's smolderingly hot. She's nuclear. Plus, she had all of the moves that I look for in a great band member - the head bang, the kicks, the non-chalance. She was pretty much the best person ever made and I was in love with her. Not really, but she was pretty neat.

Lead Puppy, Becca, and Me after the show

So the rocking went on for a while, and the whole set was incredibly fun. One note to make: never wear a sweater to a concert. I was sweating like a roasting pig, but it didn't make it any less fun. There was pogoing, mini-moshing, ridiculous people aplenty, and all kinds of fun to be had. Afterwards, Kim went home, Amy reigned supreme on the Fooseball table, and Nick and I wandered the bar in typical bar hopper fashion. Of course, we eventually separated, and I somehow met up with new friend Becca who was hanging out with the band after they met everyone at the merch stand.

Becca and Ridiculously Attractive Bassist Puppy

I talked with the band a good amount, got pictures with them, offered to buy them drinks (they of course declined, stating that they receive free drinks), etc. It was a great time, and I of course had to take an opportunity to get a picture with my dream girl. Amazingly enough, even in an intoxicated state, I still barely spoke to her. Yes readership, I do in fact suck at life. But that's OK. It's to be expected. I have established rep to live up to, and if I don't keep up with that, well...I just wouldn't be myself now would I? But still, I did get the picture, which will now be my MSN picture for the rest of my life. I do recommend checking out Sick Puppies if they come around your area - they may not be your cup of tea, but they are really cool people and they do rock pretty hard.

Myself and Amazingly, Ridiculously Hot Bassist Puppy