The first problem was getting into the place. There was a mix-up with the guest list and my name wasn’t on it. Eventually when they decided that we weren’t trying to con them they let us in anyway. It turned out that we had perfect timing, because as soon as we went to the bathroom and got our drinks, B.o.B. (or Bobby Ray) and his band, the Eastsiders, burst out onto the stage. He was wearing a white button-up with some military-style green trimmings and a pair of glasses that only had one lens tinted. He was in an extra gregarious mood despite the fact that the crowd wasn’t. I think me and possibly only 3 other people got hype when he and the band launched into “I’ve Created A Monster.” He flailed his limbs, went over to bang on the snare drum, danced across the stage and flung drum sticks into the audience – anything to try to wake them up and show a talented performer some goddamn respect. I looked around and noticed that the small crowd was filled with kids. They had to be in high school because of the club’s minimum age restriction, but they looked like they were 12, especially the dudes. There was a group of them behind us that kept booing in their little cracking pubescent voices – screaming for B.o.B. to get off the stage and to “bring out Asher.” I mocked their screams but they didn’t understand that I was making fun of them. Finally I got sick of it and told them to please shut the fuck up. They did – just in time for Bobby Ray’s last song, and my personal favorite, “I’ll Be in the Sky.”
We got more drinks and moved to the other side of the crowd to escape the kiddies. It was better over there. There were still kids but these ones were at least not acting like jackasses. Asher came out and the crowd that had been so dead during B.o.B.’s performance erupted into a sea of waving hands. He looked very relaxed – like either he was very high or had just got done fucking… or both. He set it off by spitting the fiery bars of “Lark On My Go-Kart.” Something about the poor sound quality of the Key Club made it one of the few decent sounding songs of the night. Most of the set-list consisted of never-before-heard tracks from the new album. It was hard to really vibe on them because of the PA’s muddled sound. Luckily, watching Ash perform was just as entertaining as watching B.o.B. There was a brief “I Wanna Get High” Cypress Hill tribute/segue into “Blunt Cruisin’” that inspired someone to light up a tiny bowl. It must have been some potent shit because a few hits made the whole pit reek of skunky bud. It was around this time that Ash decided it would be cool to take both of his sneakers off and toss them into the audience. He performed barefoot for the rest of the night, pausing between songs to go off into personal diatribes about things I can’t remember. The kids ate it all up. As I expected, he ended with “I Love College” and said good night to the crowd. Their unfamiliarity with live show customs was hilarious. I just stood and watched as all the kids
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