Foster the Weekend

Wow! Annette and I had a super weekend last weekend in Orange County!

It all started with Annette's desire to see one of her current favorite bands, Foster the People. They were selling out everywhere, but this venue was under the radar, a fundraiser for their "Do Good" tour, so we were able to get tickets easy!

Since the concert was on a Monday night, I thought we should try to see a baseball game on Sunday, and wouldn't you know that the the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were scheduled to play the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon!  Yippee!

And gee, since we're going to be there Sunday, and neither Annette nor I had to work on Saturday, why not go to Knott's Berry Farm?  Cool!


Knott's Berry Farm is a fun amusement park. It wasn't at all crowded until about 2pm. Hardly any lines till then!

And we got a good deal on admission.

"Tickets are $56 each," said the gate clerk.

"I saw a price of $47 on-line," said I.

"That's the internet price. But we have a special going: Park admission and an all-you-can eat lunch for $44."

"We'll take it."

We had just eaten lunch before arriving at the park, darn it, but we did end up going to the lunch buffet for a snack. You saw my boysenberry pie on Facebook!

Knott's has good rides, but my 40-something-year-old tummy didn't like some of them. Still, we both had fun!  I liked Montezooma's Revenge the best!

My camera was DOA--darn that I am terrible at watching the battery indicator--so all these photos are courtesy of Annette.  She didn't bring her camera into Knott's, though.

That night and the next we got to enjoy Disneyland's fireworks from our hotel window!

It was a heart!

Our hotel was within walking distance of Angel Stadium! I didn't even plan it! I had used Priceline.com so I didn't choose the hotel, only the general area. We enjoyed the short walk, and it was a beautiful day for baseball!  I chose seats that were AWESOME!  Great view of the first-base line, and we were in the shade!  Yay!

The game was a good one. Annette hadn't seen a baseball game in forever, and she wasn't sure she'd like it. But the game had a lot of action, including 3 homers (two of them Angel homers, complete with fireworks). The Yankees won 6-5.

Annette is now a baseball fan!  Whooo-hoooo!

It was the 10th anniversary of 9/11. They gave us flags. It was a great day to celebrate being American!

42,500+ fans enjoyed the game. There were suprisingly a lot of Yankees fans there!

And on Monday, the main attraction.  We didn't do much during the day that day, just a little mall shopping and lunch. We got to the Galaxy Theater at about 6:00.  We had a lot of waiting....in line till about 7:30 (doors opened late), then standing room only, through two stinker opening bands.

The first opener, Polaris at Noon, was awful. Unintelligible mud. The second band had lost their drum kit, so the drummer banged away on luggage. They never said their name. Too embarrassed, maybe?

We had to wait a loooong time in the pit. We were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the hot room with dozens of other sweaty people, who were amazingly patient, until nearly 10:30, when Foster the People finally took the stage. And then, our sore feet were just a memory....

What a fun performance!  They had a great stage show, and I enjoy their music.  I think they'll make it big.

Mark Foster

Cubby Fink

Mark Pontius

Here are a couple videos. The first one is Annette's favorite song of theirs.  The venue in the video is similar to the Galaxy. Imagine us 3-4 people back from the stage, and you are there with us!  (sorry for the lame commercials; I used the official video and they always try to make a buck)



This one is the song that has zoomed up the charts, hitting #1 on the alternative chart.  It was the #2 most-downloaded song the week before we saw them. Catchy, huh?  Enjoy!



I was happy to go. Now, after spanning nearly 35 years of music in concerts a couple weeks apart, I wonder why I don't go to concerts more often.  I think I will!