So, in response to my parents going to see Aerosmith in Greensboro tonight WITHOUT ME (I know, I know - insert gasps and exclamations of 'those fuckers' here), I went to go see Bela Fleck & the Flecktones. Think of bluegrass. Now add in some jazz and a smidgen of electronica, a wicked banjo player (the infamous Bela Fleck), Mr. Future and his drum machine, a hardcore saxophone/flutist, and a guy on bass who absolutely tore it up. That's Bela Fleck & the Flecktones.

When my humanities teacher aka Professor Hotpants mentioned that they would be coming to Asheville and that the bass player is a personal hero of his, I thought the band sounded familiar. I scrolled through my iPod and found that I had one song by them - it was on a compilation CD I had to have for Music Appreciation this past summer. The song was called "Copeland Hoedown". So, on my way back from that class, I gave it a listen and was pleasantly surprised - not only was it good, but it was amazing. Just good, good, good instrument-driven music. So I asked Roland to download some more songs for me.

Tickets for the show were running for thirty bucks, which, needless to say, is a little steep for a band I'd only heard one song of. So I figured that was the end of that.

Later that night, Roland wakes me up from a nap to tell me that his friend Phil, from Greensboro, had just come into the possession of three free tickets to the show. Stoked doesn't even begin to cover it - I've never been to a show that's purely instrumental, and I was afraid it might be boring. Quite the contrary. IT WAS AMAZING, the whole way through, despite the disruptive, obnoxious hippies and the fight that almost broke out (at a bluegrass concert...how sad is that?). I just...these guys were absolute masters of their instruments, and every single note blew my mind. I could barely clap or blink or close my mouth, I was in such awe.

This bass player...I can't even put it into words how awesome he was. He had solos that lasted like, ten minutes, and as anybody who's been to a couple of shows knows, bass players are those silent guys that stick to the shadows, keep their heads down, and never say anything during interviews. But this guy...holy shit. Just holy shit. He did this thing where he'd layer riffs - he'd play one riff, hit the pedal so that it repeated without him playing it, then he'd play another one, hit the pedal so it repeated, and then he'd play another one, and...

Sweet God in HEAVEN.

If I were a dude, I would have had a boner the entire show.