Portland, Oregon is beautiful in the summer so when I saw The Raconteurs were playing at the Edgefield I thought this would be a better place to see them then the scheduled stop in San Diego a week later. Not only would I get to see my family and friends but finally get to see a concert at the Edgefield since I vacated the city in 2004 and concerts did not start there in earnest until 2006.
Touted as “Portland’s Premiere Outdoor Venue” the venue is part of a greater 74 acre McMenamins property with an interesting history that now also includes restaurants, bars, a winery, a brewery, a distillery, golf courses, a movie theater, gardens, a spa & pool and over 100 guestrooms for lodging. Due to all this, tickets are usually in short supply and by the time I pulled the trigger on plane tickets the concert was sold out. There were overpriced tickets on StubHub as usual but I figured I would just wing it this time because worst case scenario if I did not get in I would still be able to hang out on the property drinking my favorite “Rubinator” beer.
Once Marvin caught wind of me making the trip up he decided to extend his weekend trip to Hood River for a bachelor party by hitchhiking to join Joe and I (Marvin is the guy who never has a ticket and somehow always gets into the concert by paying a very small amount of money for a ticket or just ends up getting in for free). Even though he could give two shits about The Raconteurs Joe already had a ticket because he was supposed to go with a gal he knew and since he only lives a couple miles from the Edgefield the plan was to meet at his place and leave earlier than usual to give us time to score tickets…but then we started drinking. We were having a good time at Joe’s and tickets came down to about $50 on StubHub later in the day so I just decided to get one so we could stay at Joe’s a little longer and not have to mess with it. Marvin on the other hand showed up to Joe’s semi-wasted without a ticket so we still ended up leaving a little early.
Once on the property we headed to the bar downstairs in the main building because apparently that is how Marvin occasionally meets people with extra tickets to unload. We succeeded in finding extra tickets but the guy wanted $40 and Marvin decided that was too rich for his blood. We also succeeded in downing a couple more unnecessary beers before Joe and I left Marvin to sort out his ticket situation. Long story short Joe and I ended up walking right into the venue through a curiously unguarded entryway without even showing our tickets to anyone. So much for all that crap trying to buy a ticket! I immediately sent Marvin a text about our revelation so he could do the same. Back to the beer line and toward the stage we went.
The Raconteurs were touring for their newest album Help Us Stranger that had just been released exactly a month earlier and ripped it up as per usual. The venue lived up the hype as the stage setup being enclosed by trees made for a vey intimate feel. Just as I was about to take a couple pictures for posterity I realized that since this was an event with Jack White on stage everyone who actually went in the way they were supposed to was forced to lock their phones in a bag the same way I had to the last time I saw Jack White solo. Knowing this would be a red flag to any security I wisely chose not to pull out my phone, which to Jack White’s credit actually created a better overall environment for the concert. We all predictably lost each other at some point and speaking of red flags I essentially got cut off from buying more beer since I kept asking for Terminator each time even though they had told me each successive time that they did not sell Terminator at the venue.
Marvin and I ended up finding each other right after the show and showed up back at Joe’s house before he did. Joe has a roommate so we rang the doorbell and after a minute the roommate answered the door with a gun in his hand as he thought we were randoms and did not want to be too careful! Joe showed up shortly after and we all had a laugh about almost getting shot. Good times!
SETLIST: Bored and Razed, Level, Old Enough, You Don’t Understand Me, Don’t Bother Me, Many Shades of Black, Thoughts and Prayers, Broken Boy Soldier, Now That You’re Gone, Hands, Somedays (I Don’t Feel Like Trying), What’s Yours Is Mine, Sunday Driver, Consoler of the Lonely, Help Me Stranger, Blue Veins, Only Child, Carolina Drama, Steady, As She Goes
