So Sunday night we traveled over to Omaha to catch DMB. It was my first visit to Omaha since I was a wee lil chap and I don't really remember much of anything from then. But from this last experience, I'm fairly good with never going back.

We were a little early so we thought we'd start by grabbing a bite to eat at a McDonalds across from Creighton. Now I realize it's McDonalds and I wasn't expecting luxury by any means, but holy crap. The three employees didn't' seem to know how to turn off anything that beeped, it was a constant series of beeps coming from every damn corner of the restaurant. The tables weren't ever wiped down or cleaned. (When I say ever, I mean since the establishment opened) Chairs were everywhere around the floor, just not where you might actually need one. After waiting in line for a considerable amount of time, you are greeted by the pissed off troll behind the counter that doesn't actually look at you when you order or when they talk to you. And since they don't begin with a "Hello, how can I help you?" or something along this cordial lines, it's hard to determine when you're being spoken to. Since they yell at each other through the kitchen, when the troll says "What you want?" without looking at you, you just have to assume that it's obviously you they're talking to. Great hell. Don't go to McDonalds in Omaha.

The second event of fun was the great search for a Gas Station. We drove through the greater Omaha/Creighton area before happening across a gem of a store where we could finally fill up.

Let me dwell on Creighton for a second. I've heard of Creighton mostly because they seem to be the obvious upset choice every March. I must say though, If you've never seen their campus, or at least where their campus is, you're not missing much. I suppose I might have a slightly bias view considering my university is in the top three for most beautiful campuses in the country, but still. Creighton is in a dirty part of town with run down houses and buildings. There is no way I'd want to spend four years there.

After driving back through the Greater Omaha area, we arrive back at the Qwest center, an impressive looking building from the outside adorned with blue lights. Once you get inside however, I'm not so sure I'm impressed. Aside from the odd setup in the lobby area, getting to the floor is a little weird. I've never been to a place where you must walk through the back hallways past the locker rooms and dressing rooms to get to the floor. Weird. On top of this, the inside of the Qwest center resembles a penitentiary. All the seats are grey. All the walls are grey. It's just not an inviting, warm place to be. You might be thinking that it's an arena, what was I expecting? Well I've been to several arenas that actually used some sort of color, some sort of fabric some sort of anything that gave it character and life. For the $290 million it cost to build the place, I guess about $280 million was spent on lights for the outside.

Onto the most annoying thing about Omaha... Now I should preface this with a note from a few weeks ago. As I mentioned in a previous post, we saw OAR in Stephens on the 5th. That show followed a concert they did in Omaha, where the crowd was so bad that they actually walked off the stage during the set and didn't even come back out for an encore. The band actually thanked us for being a great crowd and that they needed a night like that after their last outing.

So now onto the DMB show, a show that sold out in 12 minutes mind you. For the first time in 27 DMB shows, my girlfriend and I were on the floor, 24th row. Pretty nice. Now I can tell you from Alpine that at most shows the crowd is into it. There was so much energy at Alpine in the Pavilion that I was very excited to be on the floor for this show. What a disappointment. The people on the floor (aside from very few) just stood there for most of the show. During "Stand Up", a song that is ok on the album but got the crowd rocking at Alpine, the Omaha crowd just stood there, didn't move a freakin muscle. Usually during the song Dave breaks out quite the little dance because the energy is overwhelming, not this night. Not when the crowd just stands there and doesn't sing along, doesn't move along doesn't do a damn thing. What an impressive disappointment. After Stand Up ended, the played Seek Up. No obvious if the crowd wasn't into Stand Up, they must be lifetime DMB fans who aren't fans of the new stuff. (Which is annoying, but whatever) Nope, they weren't. So many people sat down and talked through my favorite DMB song. People were asking was the name of the song was and all kinds of shit. Holy crap, I've never been so disappointed with a crowd in my life. A crowd that was so anxious to go that it sold out in 12 minutes, but really didn't care to be there. It'd been nine years since DMB had last been Omaha, I think it's obvious why. I'd be amazed if they went back, I know that won't be going back.

And one more thing about the Qwest Center. They need to lighten the hell up. If you were on your cell phone before the show, a large man would come and tell you that once the show starts, you'd better not think about busting it out or they'd take it. There were five cameras taken within the first 2 songs of the show. It's a concert, people are there to have fun. Perhaps this is why no one moves, they're scared of getting kicked out.

Ok, rant over. (For now) Just keep in mind that you probably shouldn't ever go to Omaha...