It took a while to get the cigarette smoke out of our lungs.
Seriously. We had sore throats and had to hack up the grossness that occurred
in our bodies overnight. It was like the aftermath of going out to the bars
back in the day when smoking was allowed. Good thing we took our luggage back
out to the car because the clothes we wore at that hotel still smelled of smoke
days later.
Ok, moving on! We woke up in Auburn, MA and had to make it
to Bangor, ME for a concert.
We left at about 9 am and headed for Portland, ME first. Portland is awesome! Super cute city, with lots of dogs everywhere! We tried to go to the Peak Organic Brewery but it actually isn’t a place you can go to. It was weird because the website is really nice and they show beer and food. So we went to Trader Joe’s which was right by where the Peak Organic Brewery was supposed to be and the guy stocking beer gave us some tips on where to go for beer.
So our first stop was Novae Res, which is a bier cafĂ©. It was this cool little place back in an alley (a clean alley) that had the craziest beer selection I’ve seen probably. They had these half pint glasses that were nice for testing beer. Here we had our first lobster roll. It was good, not amazing. The food was more of something to go along with beer than being a big deal on it’s own. The atmosphere was nice and they had outdoor seating.
Then we went to Infiniti brewery and distillery. This was a big, more commercial place. Andy had a double IPA and I had a drink called “a garden party” with gin, cucumber, St. Germain, mint, absinthe, and celery bitters. It was good. We also ordered some fried pork belly because, why not, and unfortunately it tasted really good but being primarily fat it made my stomach angry. There was a guy playing live music and he was awesome.
Next we headed out of Portland and decided to hit up the Maine Beer Company outside of Freeport. It is this neat, clean little place. They had beer only, no food. We got a sampler of all 8 of their beers which were all pretty good. Bought a few to take along and some merch.
Then we headed to Bangor. We had another Comfort Inn reserved which worried me from our experience the night before but it was actually really decent for the price. I took my shoes off, it was that clean. They did have smoking rooms I guess but there were no smoking signs in the lobby and I didn’t smell smoke at all. Whew.
The 1st opener was some guy named Boothby I think and he was pretty funny and entertaining. Then Guster came on and I had only sort of heard of them – they have that satellite song – but they were really good. Kind of funny too and they had a few more songs I had heard but forgot.
Then BFF were on and the end was Barenaked Ladies. I was mostly into Barenaked Ladies around the time One Week was popular (which of course they played). They apparently have a new album. I knew probably half the songs they played or a little less. They played the Big Bang Theory song. The main guy, Ed, was pretty cool. I knew his speaking voice from the Rock Spectacle album (“it’s right up that ladder, lady”). A bunch of members from the bands came out to play with other bands. It was cool. He showed us a clip of Steven Hawking quoting their song. It was kind of funny that everyone was dancing and psyched to hear the theme song from a TV show. I also enjoyed it though! I always listen to the intro to the Big Bang because I like it. Anyway, they did the cover of all covers by singing the choruses of pretty much all the current popular songs – thrift shop, scream and shout, bullet proof, etc. It was awesome. They had a fantastic encore – Brian Wilson was pretty much necessary so I’m glad they played that and then the drummer and Ed switched spots and the drummer sang the alcohol song and blister in the sun by the violent femmes. It was great. We were super pleased with our seats and our parking too. We were out of that place with no wait although we parked super close. Then we realized we didn’t eat dinner and luckily Pizzaria Uno right by our hotel was open. Score!
We left at about 9 am and headed for Portland, ME first. Portland is awesome! Super cute city, with lots of dogs everywhere! We tried to go to the Peak Organic Brewery but it actually isn’t a place you can go to. It was weird because the website is really nice and they show beer and food. So we went to Trader Joe’s which was right by where the Peak Organic Brewery was supposed to be and the guy stocking beer gave us some tips on where to go for beer.
So our first stop was Novae Res, which is a bier cafĂ©. It was this cool little place back in an alley (a clean alley) that had the craziest beer selection I’ve seen probably. They had these half pint glasses that were nice for testing beer. Here we had our first lobster roll. It was good, not amazing. The food was more of something to go along with beer than being a big deal on it’s own. The atmosphere was nice and they had outdoor seating.
Then we went to Infiniti brewery and distillery. This was a big, more commercial place. Andy had a double IPA and I had a drink called “a garden party” with gin, cucumber, St. Germain, mint, absinthe, and celery bitters. It was good. We also ordered some fried pork belly because, why not, and unfortunately it tasted really good but being primarily fat it made my stomach angry. There was a guy playing live music and he was awesome.
Next we headed out of Portland and decided to hit up the Maine Beer Company outside of Freeport. It is this neat, clean little place. They had beer only, no food. We got a sampler of all 8 of their beers which were all pretty good. Bought a few to take along and some merch.
Then we headed to Bangor. We had another Comfort Inn reserved which worried me from our experience the night before but it was actually really decent for the price. I took my shoes off, it was that clean. They did have smoking rooms I guess but there were no smoking signs in the lobby and I didn’t smell smoke at all. Whew.
Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, Guster Concert
 |
| Panorama. There was a train going by. It was weird. Click to see it better. |
Our main reason for going to Bangor on this particular day was because we had
tickets to see the Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, and Guster at Darling’s
Waterfront Pavilion. We had awesome seats – row 11, seats 8 and 9. Pretty much
front and center. It was a huge outdoor venue but it felt like a small one
because we were so close. I’ve never had tickets that good. They were
definitely expensive, but worth it.
We mostly wanted to see Ben Folds Five
which I guess was weird because Barenaked Ladies were the headliner and who
most people were there to see. The crowd clearly was not excited about Ben
Folds Five. I felt like BFF were kind of low energy at the beginning but they
picked up. I’m sure a band feels different when they are not the headliner.
They played a nice variety of old and new, but I like the new songs almost as
much as the old so I’m happy either way. They played Brick, which I always find
disappointing because their one mainstream song is totally not representative
of them as a band but I’m sure they had to do that to appeal to the people who
only sort of knew who they were.
There is a train track really, really close to the stage and a train went by while they were playing. It was so weird! The conductor (is that what they are really called?) was waving all excitedly as they drove by. The band stopped and joked about it.
 |
| You've got three guesses on who this is, but the first two don't count |
There is a train track really, really close to the stage and a train went by while they were playing. It was so weird! The conductor (is that what they are really called?) was waving all excitedly as they drove by. The band stopped and joked about it.
 |
| Guster |
The 1st opener was some guy named Boothby I think and he was pretty funny and entertaining. Then Guster came on and I had only sort of heard of them – they have that satellite song – but they were really good. Kind of funny too and they had a few more songs I had heard but forgot.
 |
| BNL |
Then BFF were on and the end was Barenaked Ladies. I was mostly into Barenaked Ladies around the time One Week was popular (which of course they played). They apparently have a new album. I knew probably half the songs they played or a little less. They played the Big Bang Theory song. The main guy, Ed, was pretty cool. I knew his speaking voice from the Rock Spectacle album (“it’s right up that ladder, lady”). A bunch of members from the bands came out to play with other bands. It was cool. He showed us a clip of Steven Hawking quoting their song. It was kind of funny that everyone was dancing and psyched to hear the theme song from a TV show. I also enjoyed it though! I always listen to the intro to the Big Bang because I like it. Anyway, they did the cover of all covers by singing the choruses of pretty much all the current popular songs – thrift shop, scream and shout, bullet proof, etc. It was awesome. They had a fantastic encore – Brian Wilson was pretty much necessary so I’m glad they played that and then the drummer and Ed switched spots and the drummer sang the alcohol song and blister in the sun by the violent femmes. It was great. We were super pleased with our seats and our parking too. We were out of that place with no wait although we parked super close. Then we realized we didn’t eat dinner and luckily Pizzaria Uno right by our hotel was open. Score!
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