November 2, 2025
In April, we bought tickets to see Blue October at Hoyt Sherman Place on November 2. After our Escape the Corn Sweat summer tour and our first international trip to see Blue October in Cabo, Brandy forgot and promptly booked a work trip to northern California, leaving November 1.
Never fear though, she suggested I take Sue, her mom.
So I did!
I was pretty familiar with the venue as I’d been there a scant three weeks prior for Evil Dead In Concert so we pulled up early, before the doors opened. With a little time to kill, we walked a couple blocks to the diveyest of dive bars, Carl’s Place. I mean, doesn’t even the name of it tell you exactly how this place was?
It was great though. Fairly quiet crowd, a few of the people in there were also waiting for the same concert so the energy was good.
After a couple drinks, we made our way back to the venue and waited in line for the doors to open. We went through the typical protocol of emptying our pockets and a good pat-down then made our way in from the cold.
We headed to our seats (second row with no one in front of us, so effectively, front row) then made our way to the merch booth and the bar for more drinks.
After each show, Justin hangs out in the lobby and signs autographs. Brandy never wants to stick around for that but since I had Sue with me, we decided to do it this time. I had nothing to sign so when we headed to the merch booth, I picked up a copy of his book Crazy Making, as well as a t-shirt. We took our bounty back to our seats and as luck would have it, we were seated right in front of a couple that Brandy and I had met in Cabo.
Sue, being the loquacious person she is, told everybody she encountered that she was my mother-in-law, not my wife, that me and Brandy were going to the Portugal AND Cabo getaways in 2026, and insisted that Justin knows who we (Brandy and I) are. She was VERY concerned about what Justin would think when he saw her with me, and not Brandy. I kept telling her that he sees hundreds of people every day and can’t possibly know who I am.
We went on this way for a while before the opening act, James and the Quiet Gun went on.
They were pretty good, bit of different energy but still appropriate to be opening for Blue October. They played a quick 30 minute set then, after a quick set change, Blue October took the stage.
As always, they were amazing. They played their standards like “Hate Me”, “Fear”, and “Into The Ocean” as well as some of their newer songs, like “Hot Stuff” and my current favorite song, “1222 Bay Oak Street”.
Take it in/There will never be another this/I will never fall in love again/I won’t even try
“1222 Bay Oak Street”, Blue October
Now, this song was born from a conversation Justin had with his mom after his dad had died so it’s a song about remembrance and love lost but held on to.
Those lyrics, though, particularly, “there will never be another this”, pierce me to my soul. Every time I hear that song, I break down into tears. I warned Sue that would happen and am happy to say, I lived up to my promise.
They closed out the show as they have been for a while now, with “I Hope You’re Happy” which, as luck would have it, is Sue’s favorite song of theirs.
After the show, we sure did line up and waited for our turn to get our stuff signed. Sue walks up and the first thing she says is, “Do you know him?” My face immediately went into my palm. That wasn’t bad enough, his response was, “Of course I know him!”
My mind screamed “Don’t encourage her!”
She went on, “Well, I’m his mother-in-law, not his wife…”
*sigh*
Anyway, Sue got her ticket stub signed (yes, they gave actual, physical ticket stubs! Score!) then I handed the book to Justin and asked if he could inscribe it for me. He graciously agreed.
These are key lyrics from the song that helped Brandy get through the loss of her daughters and are very meaningful to her.
I later decided to hold on to the book and wrap it and give it to Brandy for Christmas. When she opened it, she broke down in tears. Quite the feat, if you know Brandy.
It was sad that Brandy couldn’t come to this show, but we made up for it by buying tickets to a late add-on show in Peoria, IL, which isn’t too terribly far from home, in December.
But that came with its own set of complications. I’ll detail that later when I get to that post, because baby, we still have a TON to discuss for the remainder of 2025…
Until then, make sure you check out the pictures of the concert in the Photo Diary.
See ya on the next one!
-Phil