The Paranoias Recall Postal Service: Ralf Velazquez of the Paranoias told us about his Postal Service and King Gizzard experiences.
Ralf Velazquez: Theres two concerts i have to mention.
My girl and I scored tickets to the 10 year Anniversary to the Postal Service Give Up album release after scalpers got all the first day tickets. We literally got the last row at the Greek Theatre for the second night.
As my girl and I are walking up that hill to get to the Greek, I see a coworker who happens to work part time at the Greek… “Let me see your tickets… Alright. I’ll see you inside.”
We head inside, get two beers each, and start walking up the stairs. As we’re about to sit, I hear “Ay Ralf," with a wave from his arm to come down the stairs. We head down. We go to the backstage room… “Hey, these guys are with me.” We get backstage passes and general admission tix. He walks us up to the GA section, double fisting beers the whole time.
The concert starts… I instantly realize all the GA ticket holders are hipsters. They dont sing a single song. They were just there for the hype. The show is awesome, towards the tail end, they play “Natural Anthem” which is the last song on their record. I know every word. I sing the song like it was written for me. Last line of the verse comes up and Ben Gibbard notices me singing every line and gives me a high five in front of everyone… I cried. This show was filmed…. And the boring hipsters made them choose the night one footage. But it was my favorite concert.
Second show just happened this year.
We got tickets to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard for a 3 Hour Marathon Show in Berkley, CA…. In 2019.
Obviously, the show got cancelled, cuz of something called COVID, not sure if you’ve heard of it. Postponed one year, postponed the next.. but finally, it was 2022 and we get to see our favorite band. We line up, and notice a merch line, but we said “No! These seats are GA and they are first come first served!” So we wait in line.
The lady and i start looking at the merch table they have set up outside the venue and think about getting their new vinyl. We talk about it out loud… and the guy in front of us, Shout out to Phil and Payton, says “Hey, I was thinking about getting some merch too! Lets have our ladies hold our spot and we get merch!”
We left them. Lol. So as we’re waiting in line for merch, we start talking about what KG vinyls we have and don't have… as we're paying, I see that Phil is paying for a vinyl he already had. “I thought you already had that one dude?!” I said. “Yea i do, you said you dont have this one, it's for you!” I could've cried.
We go in, Phil knows the plan. He gets us in the best seats in the house cuz it was all GA, his lady has a weed vape ( which came through clutch) and we saw a 3 hour set by KG! I cried at this as well.
Show ended, Phil even offered us a ride home, but we were too far so we declined. Also, we were in a very shitty part of town, so we didn't want them to get jacked or whatever. Lol.
The Paranoias Recall Postal Service: The Paranoias' single "Felicity 2" is out now.
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