Scott’s not happy about a 9-hour roundtrip roadtrip

The last time I put myself through a 9-hour roadtrip for a concert was my sophomore year of college – over 10 years ago. That is, until this past Saturday when Scott and I drove to Cincinnati and back to see Guster, Ben Folds Five, and Barenaked Ladies.

It was around 3am on Sunday morning when we realized we’re getting too old to load up on coffee and power through the drive. However, if anyone was worth it, it was this match-up.

Logo from LastSummerOnEarth.com

To celebrate their 25th anniversary, BNL brought together two of my favorite bands for the awesome 90s rock trifecta that is the 2013 Last Summer on Earth tour.

If you read my post about their recent acoustic tour, you already know my love for Guster. And while I’ve seen Ben Folds perform solo, this was my first time seeing Ben Folds Five back together. I wasn’t going to miss it.

While I don’t have a full recap, I do have some photos (until my phone died halfway through Ben Folds Five’s set). Standing in line for an hour was definitely worth it as we landed in the second row.

Boothby Graffoe with Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson

BNL’s Ed Robertson introduced British musician and comedian Boothby Graffoe as the show’s opener, who treated us with a selection of his absurd – and hilarious – songs. British, absurd and funny is Scott’s kryptonite so we picked up his album for the ride home.

BNL’s Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson and Jim Creegan join Boothby Graffoe on stage

Later in his set, Boothby was joined by Robertson, Jim Creegan and Kevin Hearn from Barenaked Ladies for songs like Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde where we learned it doesn’t matter whether you bring your polar bear a hot cocoa. It’ll still kill and eat you.

Guster’s Ryan Miller

One of my favorite highlights of Guster’s performance was seeing Ryan with a Cleveland is the City shirt. Take that, Cincinnati (kidding)!

Here’s the full band belting out their usual awesome harmonies:

Guster – Last Summer on Earth 2013, Cincinnati

And a Thunder God action shot!

Thunder God on the drums!

Ben Folds Five was next and I managed to snap a few more photos before my phone died on me.

Ben Folds getting ready to play

I was happy to see them back together and playing a mix of songs off their new album and crowd-rousing older stuff like Song for the Dumped.

Ben Folds Five at Last Summer on Earth, Cincinnati

I don’t care how many times I watch a Ben Folds video – you have to witness his crazy piano playing skills live:

Ben Folds

With a long drive home ahead of us, we had been considering skipping Barenaked Ladies’ performance. However, I’m glad we stuck around.  They rounded out the evening very well and Scott and I found ourselves dancing to a few of our BNL favorites (how could you not dance to Be My Yoko Ono or If I Had a Million Dollars?).

It was a long day, but a fantastic one. The only thing I’d change next time is getting a hotel room and skipping the caffeine.