Pinback at the Summit Music Hall in Denver

Nan and I drove to Denver over Labor Day weekend for a concert by one of our favorite bands, Pinback. We had seen them once before, at the Ogden Theatre in Denver back in November 2009, and had a wonderful time, so when we heard they were returning, it was an easy decision. Nan gave me the tickets as a birthday gift.

Summit Music Hall is located in the LoDo area of Denver, close to Coors Field, where the Colorado Rockies play. We had a quick dinner at nearby Kachina, a newer restaurant featuring southwestern cuisine, and then walked around the corner to see that there was already a line forming at the Summit's door more than twenty minutes before opening. We had hoped to find seats in the balcony but by the time we got up there, they were already taken. We did find standing room at the rail overlooking the stage and the view was not too bad.

While we waited for the opening act to take the stage, we chatted with Ian and Ross, two brothers from Jacksonville who were sitting next to us. They had been to the same concert the night before and were excited to see both bands again. Ross mentioned that Rob Crow from Pinback was personally manning the souvenir stand downstairs. I had suspected as much when I rushed past on my way up to the balcony and saw a familiar-looking redheaded guy, though he was much thinner than I remembered. I missed my chance to talk with Rob before the previous concert, when it turned out that he and his band mates were eating dinner at the same diner we were before their concert, but I wasn't sure it was him until he took the stage later.

When I stepped up to the souvenir stand, Rob was standing behind it wearing a black "Crew" t-shirt and two fans were looking at what was available, which was not much. There was an assortment of Pinback and side project CDs but no t-shirts or caps. When the other fans left, I looked up at Rob and said, "No coffee cups?" He just chuckled. I glanced back down at the CDs, then up at Rob and said, "Well... I have all the music already, so... I guess I'll just go and hear you play it live now." He smiled, I gave him a thumbs-up, he waved, and I walked back to the balcony stairs. It wasn't much of a conversation but I'm pretty sure he could appreciate how much I love his band's music.

Minus the Bear opened, and while I like their music, it all sounded the same to me after a few songs. I recognized a couple of the songs from the only album of theirs that I have, "Menos el Oso", and they closed with one of those, "Drilling".

Pinback's set was excellent. It was an hour and a half of songs I know by heart, including some they didn't play last time, such as "Boo" and my favorite, "Concrete Seconds". Last time, Pinback was a five-piece band, but this time it was only guitarist Rob, bassist extraordinaire Zach, and a drummer. I couldn't tell how they were doing it but there were keyboard fills and extra bass lines. The effect was seamless and every song was perfectly executed but extremely loud. Our heads were buzzing on the walk back to the hotel and into the next morning during the drive home.