Grizzly Bear show makes for some bare discoveries

By Justin Jacobs

Having migrated from the east coast, I was puzzled by the sports-heavy college town. That is, until last night.

As I pulled in to Bloomington, home of the gigantic Indiana University, my initial thought was, "Hot damn. This is quite large. And my, how many bars there are!"

First impression: pleasant.

But, alas, I wasn't in Bloomington to learn about college towns -- I was there to see Grizzly Bear, one of the most hyped-up hipster bands of the year.

The sidewalk outside the Buskirk-Chumley Theater in the heart of Bloomington was shoulder to shoulder with dudes in tight pants smoking hand-rolled cigarettes and ladies with full sleeve tattoos. I'd arrived.

The Theater's house manager decided that she and I needed to find the promoter who, she thought, was somewhere backstage.

Backstage! At the Grizzly Bear show!

Indeed, and we walked to the back of the Theater, shuffling through assorted band members (bassist Christopher Taylor working on his perfectly crafted hair).

The promoter ended up being nowhere near backstage, but I was glad the manager didn't know that.

Grizzly Bear put on an arresting show and the mostly-college crowd drank it up like a freshly tapped Natural Light keg, begging for more long after the band had retired.

But I wanted to milk my first college town night for all it was worth -- and apparently Tuesdays in Bloomington are hot.

Just down the street, another favorite band of mine, Portugal. The Man was playing at the Bluebird.

I grabbed a slice of pizza and some dollar PBRs and headed in.

Portugal's front man, John Gourley, and I made small talk while opener Marmoset self-loathingly finished its set (the band's singer seemed anxious to get offstage as soon as possible).

Portugal played a heavy-grooving set of its psychedelic swamp rock. When the show let out around 2 a.m., I was more than ready to head home.

Not a minute after I started the drive home, a dude in a popped collar polo waved me down from the sidewalk. I apprehensively rolled down a window.

"Dude! Can you give me a ride?" he said in bro-speak.

I thought a moment.

"If you give me directions back to Indianapolis, sure."

The guy hopped in and directed me to his destination -- less than two blocks away.

"I'm about to go make a bad decision," he said.

"Oh yea?"

"For sure," he said. "I work with this girl, so tomorrow is definitely going to be awkward."

I let him out and headed back to Indy, knowing that at least my morning wouldn't involve sneaking out the back door in my underwear.