Depeche Mode Rocks Santa Barbara

AUGUST 20, 2009

Thursday:

The kids are gone, left yesterday afternoon with Grandma & Grandpa for Cedar City. That means the only person I need fret about is myself. Angie and Donald expect us to pick them up at 8am. It's 7:45 and Jason and I are actually ready to go. We're on the road and a few hours later we're rollin' down the coast of Cali. We reach our cool and clammy destination of Santa Barbara, find our little hotel and walk across the street to Stearn's Wharf. With a high of 68 degrees and the wind blowing it was a little chilly but we paid no mind to that, we were on vacation. The rickety, wooden wharf led us to a few kitschy shops, seafood restaurants and those fishing for their own seafood. There was offered to us, for a "special price" of $5 each, a 25 minute tour of the wharf and boat docks on a pirate themed boat . It was quite the adventure, matey, and we even got up close and personal with some dueling sea lions. To top it all, we chose Moby Dick's restaurant to satisfy our hunger. It wasn't the best I've ever had, but the ocean view table was superb.

Angie and I being blown away on the wharf

Cute, innocent little sea lions

(they actually kept pushing a little one off)

Group photo on the pirate cruise




Dinner at Moby Dick's

After dinner the time had come for us to get ready for the reason we were here. The DEPECHE MODE CONCERT! Not only was I excited about the concert but I was intrigued by the venue and couldn't wait to check it out. We arrived at the Santa Barbara Bowl to find it was tucked away in a little neighborhood and had no real parking lot to speak of so cars were parked up and down every street. With Angie and I both wearing heels we decided it would be best for the guys to drop us off then go hunt for a spot. As we entered up a treacherous incline, I felt like we were walking into a secret that had been hidden from the world. All that there was was concert goers, stone and trees. You were secluded here. The stonework was beautiful and you could actually see the ocean from where we were seated. Peter Bjorn and John played as the opener and you may not recognize the name but you will know the song if you click on it at the bottom of the post.

Jason and I waiting for Depeche Mode

Jason wearing my very OLD 101 shirt

Angie and I

The Santa Barbara Bowl is an outdoor venue originally built in 1936 in the Craftsman style and holds 4,562 guests.

Martin Gore and Dave Gahan

The next couple of pictures I borrowed from stereogum.com

He had front row- NO FAIR!!

Here's what we heard:

DEPECHE MODE -01 "In Chains"02 "Wrong"03 "Hole To Feed"04 "Walking In My Shoes"05 "It's No Good"06 "A Question Of Time"06 "Precious"07 "Fly On The Windscreen"08 "Jezebel"09 "Home"10 "Policy Of Truth"11 "In Your Room"12 "I Feel You"13 "Enjoy The Silence"14 "Never Let Me Down Again"----15 "Somebody"16 "Stripped"17 "Behind The Wheel"----18 "Personal Jesus"

I was amazing to say the least. After the concert we walked and walked and walked and finally got to the car. Feeling a little munchy (and not for that everlasting bag of Munchos) we cruised the street for some good food. Well we found a Winchells....and it was open. Why not. Half dozen donuts and a bag of donut holes should do the trick. Wait there's Jack in the Box. Pull in. Just something small. Jacks deal, tacos and some fancy chicken sandwich for Donald. Went to bed stuffed.

Friday:

Our next adventure was wine country.We drove to a little place called the Gainey Winery. Grape vines as far as the eye could see. We went into the quaint tuscan visitors center. There was a room full of the ginormous barrels of wine..... but all I got was some basil bread dipping oil.

Outside the winery


Jason sampling the grapes

Next, we stopped in the charming Dutch village of Solvang. It consists of a few blocks filled with bakeries, restaurants (both touting authentic food), and shops filled with collectibles and souveniers.

Jason and the windmill

I loved this carved entry at the antique store

Did his fortune come true??

On our way back to Santa Barbara from Solvang we stopped off at this scenic view.

Seems wierd that the train tracks got ocean view property.....

That night we hung out on State street and checked out the stores, a movie (500 Days of Summer- still quoting "expectation and reality") and had dinner at Left at Albuquerque or was that right?????

Saturday:

Getting home was our goal, but not before stopping for more donut holes from Winchells! They were the good cake ones with sprinkles......YUM!

This was our cute little room

We stayed at Hotel Oceana, Santa Barbara is "small town" there really aren't any chain restaurants or hotels. Our hotel was right across from the ocean.

I insisted we stop by the Gamble House in Pasadena. Sadly, the tour was full and we'd have to wait another hour to tour the inside. I was happy though just to get to see it in real life!

It was built in 1908 by Greene and Greene (brothers) architects for Gamble of the famous Proctor and Gamble as a vacation home.

Craftsman style Gamble House

So there ends our little adventure. I'll have to post the kid's adventure too.....sometime.



A couple of snippets from the concert. Of course the sound is terrible but you'll get the jist of it!

Depeche Mode

Peter Bjorn & John