Thru eyes of a runner

David. Mid-30s. Texan residing in the state capital after a short stint in the Bay Area and a few years in the H. Currently dreaming of vacation-traveling the world while tech consulting. Email me: thrueyesofarunner at google's mail

[thrueyesofarunner]

2017 Concert Roundup

I caught 34 performances this year (a dramatic drop from last year’s count of 115). I purposely made a more conscious effort to catch fewer but quality shows this year (over the typical quality+quantity, aka ALLTHESHOWS). Combined with spending less on travel and a bachelor weekend falling during SXSW, the drive to make a single year cash push to buy a home was successful [question mark?]. Sometimes you gotta make sacrifices to be a proper adult...so they say.

As always, numbers in parenthesis are date of show and all performances were experienced in Austin unless otherwise stated! Performances in italics were exceptional and/or memorable; worth noting. Performances with a strike-through were missed due to unfortunate conflicts [womp womp womp].

January

Mike Milligan (2)

Beirut (19, Brooklyn, NY)

Kevin Morby (19, Brooklyn, NY)

Daniel Rossen (19, Brooklyn, NY)

Kings of Leon (20, New York, NY)

March

The Big Moon (15, SXSW)

Mondo Cozmo (15, SXSW)

Cari Q (15, SXSW)

April

Portugal. The Man (14)

May

The Family Crest (2)

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds (6, Nashville, TN)

Hamilton Leithauser (9)

The XX (10)

Jamestown Revival (24)

June

Sigur Rós (10)

July

Run River North (18)

August

Fleet Foxes (16)

Sylvan Esso (30)

September

Ghostland Observatory (8)

Night Drive (8)

Manchester Orchestra (9)

Circa Waves (19)

Two Door Cinema Club (19)

Wolf Parade (27)

Arcade Fire (27)

RAC (27)

The War on Drugs (30)

October

Coast Modern (3)

Salt Cathedral (3)

Portugal. The Man (7)

Mondo Cozmo (13)

Spoon (13)

Nick Murphy (26)

LCD Soundsystem (31)

November

Gryffin (3)

Autograf (3)

December

The National (2, Vancouver)

[thrueyesofarunner]

2017: Step-backs and Step-forwards

The new employer yielded much less business travel than I’ve grown accustomed to in years past, but the reduced travel was offset by the increased awesomeness of the new team and company. Plus all the money I use toward personal travel was diverted to the new house down payment. So I had to put off trips I wanted to Italy and/or Singapore, but I got a house out of it. Gotta weigh the pros and cons, I guess?

This year’s travel stats:

Southwest Airlines: 4 paid flights and 4 free flights

United Airlines: Only Premier Gold status in November (sadly couldn’t maintain the 1K status earned last year :/ but Gold is still nice for international trips by having access to the lounges) with 38 paid flights (74 segments, 69k PQM) and 0 free flights. Still stockpiling my 274k award mile balance (and 201k Chase Ultimate Rewards points) for a family trip to Australia in 2018!

Starwood Preferred Guest: Lost SPG Platinum status due to the reduction in business travel, with only 1 paid night and 4 free nights

Marriott Rewards: With the SPG merger, I automatically received their Platinum Elite status, which was nice considering almost all of my business travel this year had me staying at Marriott’s wide range of properties (and I can say, bleh. “SPG for life” because Marriott has some real property stinkers in aggregate). Luckily they offered me a status incentive plan I was able to meet and retain my Platinum Elite status without having to hit 75 paid nights. Stayed 45 paid nights, 0 free nights and stockpiling my 142k point balance for Australia.

Hyatt: No status re-earned with only 3 paid nights, 4 free nights. I’ll definitely miss the Hyatt perks!

List below does not include Texas cities visited.

January

London, England

New York, NY

February

Kansas City, KS

Calgary, AB, Canada

March

Louisville, KY

May

Nashville, TN

Oklahoma City, OK

June

Baltimore, MD

July

Nashville, TN

Baltimore, MD (2x)

Washington, DC

August

Baltimore, MD (2x)

September

Baltimore, MD

October

Baltimore, MD (2x)

November

Baltimore, MD

December

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Baltimore, MD (2x)

Las Vegas, NV

[thrueyesofarunner]

2016 Concert Roundup

I hit 98 performances this year (no way was I passing last year’s count of 115). As always, numbers in parenthesis are date of show and all performances were experienced in Austin unless otherwise stated! Performances in italics were exceptional and/or memorable; worth noting.

February

Madeon (5)

The Family Crest (6)

March

Miike Snow (9, Washington, D.C.)

Goldfish (13, SXSW)

Keys N Krates (13, SXSW)

The Eastern Sea (15, SXSW)

Run River North (15, SXSW)

De De Mouse (15, SXSW)

Girls Names (15, SXSW)

Declan McKenna (15, SXSW)

Bear Mountain (15, SXSW)

Vallis Alps (16, SXSW)

Phases (16, SXSW)

BØRNS (16, SXSW)

Banners (16, SXSW)

Daywave (16, SXSW)

The Strumbelas (16, SXSW)

Tanlines (16, SXSW)

Run River North (16, SXSW)

POP ETC (16, SXSW)

Coast Modern (16, SXSW)

Aurora (16, SXSW)

The Moth and the Flame (16, SXSW)

Run River North (17, SXSW)

El El (17, SXSW)

Powers (17, SXSW)

Honne (17, SXSW)

Los Coast (17, SXSW)

Run River North (17, SXSW)

Tor Miller (17, SXSW)

The Eastern Sea (17, SXSW)

Grace Mitchell (17, SXSW)

Ra Ra Riot (17, SXSW)

The Strumbellas (18, SXSW)

Vallis Alps (18, SXSW)

Baio (18, SXSW)

Run River North (18, SXSW)

Ra Ra Riot (18, SXSW)

Kaleo (19, SXSW)

Blondfire (19, SXSW)

XYLØ (19, SXSW)

Still Corners (25)

Explosions in the Sky (25)

April

Magic Man (10, Washington, D.C.)

Griswolds (10, Washington, D.C.)

Panama Wedding (10, Washington, D.C.)

Everything Everything (13, Washington, D.C.)

Joy Formidable (13, Washington, D.C.)

John Mark Nelson (19, Washington, D.C.)

Little Green Cars (19, Washington, D.C.)

Penguin Prison (21)

Foals (29)

Kiev (29)

May

Brett Dennen (15, Fairfax, VA)

Avett Brothers (15, Fairfax, VA)

Yeasayer (16, Washington, D.C.)

Explosions in the Sky (18, Washington, D.C.)

Grimes (19)

Florence & The Machine (19)

Missy Higgins (24)

June

Bayonne (7, Washington, D.C.)

Two Door Cinema Club (7, Washington, D.C.)

Dave Matthews Band (18, Bristow, VA)

July

Ghostland Observatory (16, New Braunfels, TX)

Total Unicorn (16, New Braunfels, TX)

Michael Rault (22)

Whitney (22)

Brand New (23)

Modest Mouse (23)

August

The Used (27)

September

The Kills (8)

BØRNS (29)

The Lumineers (29)

Chippr Jones (30)

Tourist (30)

October

Foals (6)

Coast Modern (13)

The Temper Trap (13)

The Eastern Sea (14)

Walker Lukens (14)

Run River North (18)

Trails and Ways (19)

MCG (19)

Trombone Shorty (21)

Autograf (28)

Goldroom (28)

November

Sia (6)

Miguel (6)

AlunaGeorge (6)

Kaleo (11)

Bishop Briggs (11)

The Wind + The Wave (11)

Night Riots (27)

The Hunna (27)

The Shelters (27)

December

Local Natives (15)

Morgan Page (17)

Ghostland Observatory (31)

[thrueyesofarunner]

2016: Mega Milestones and Disappointment

This year’s travel stats:

Southwest Airlines: once my go-to airline, this year I flew 0 paid flights, meaning my A-List Preferred status will be relinquished. But I got 10 free flights thanks to keeping their co-branded credit card--still the best deal around if you don’t mind flying coach (and for their prices, who doesn’t??)

United Airlines: Premier 1K status in December (!!?!!!) with 54 paid flights (84 segments, 103k PQM), 3 free flights. Still stockpiling my 169k award mile balance for a family trip to Australia!

Starwood Preferred Guest: re-earned Platinum status in May with 102 paid nights, 16 free nights. Progress stunted by project work (and therefore *free* paid travel) ending [womp womp womp...]

Hyatt: didn’t re-earn Diamond status due to project work ending so only earned Platinum status in April. 29 paid nights, 10.5 free nights.

Avis: re-earned Preferred Plus status in May. 22 rentals, 78 paid days, 0 free days.

Enterprise: no status again. 3 rentals, 13 paid days, 0 free days.

List below does not include Texas cities visited.

January

Washington, D.C.

February

Washington, D.C. (3x)

Prague, Czech Republic

March

Washington, D.C. (4x)

April

Washington, D.C. (4x)

May

Washington, D.C. (3x)

Barcelona, Spain

Madrid, Spain

Lisbon, Portugal

June

Washington, D.C. (2x)

Chicago, IL

July

Columbia, SC

Salt Lake City, UT

Moab, UT

Las Vegas, NV

August

Washington, D.C. (2x)

San Francisco, CA

September

London, England

Washington, D.C.

October

Seattle, WA

November

Mexico City, Mexico

December

Tokyo, Japan

Osaka, Japan

[thrueyesofarunner]

I take vacation for #sxsw every year and I likely won't hit 50 shows this time around, but I'm pretty sure if I logged my time off as religious holiday it would stand up in a (city of austin small claims) court of law (at Austin Convention Center)

[thrueyesofarunner]

what whatttttt! even after their Endisco never came to fruition, they stayed strong and still pushed out their first LP today after giving us hit after hit for more than 5 years. show them some love! #worththewait #instantclassic

[thrueyesofarunner]

an overabundance of #bayarealove forever for these peeps (at The Mohawk Austin)

[thrueyesofarunner]

it's taken 36 days for my first shows of the year. who have I become? Madeon!! 🙌 #killingit (at Emo's)

[thrueyesofarunner]

The Don

[musicfromahs]

Visit Original Link

[thrueyesofarunner]

Darlene Love - Christmas

[thrueyesofarunner]

2015: The year I decided to switch careers

Kept track of travel again because… nerd. Finally squeezed in some internationalness thanks to La Compagnie’s niche travel options. I also took steps to leave accounting and become an SAP consultant so 2016 should see the same amount of travel with hopefully more international trips! I was home so few days (just 160 nights!) that cobwebs in my bathroom were commonplace. Now for this year’s stats (* denotes new to my travel status list):

Southwest Airlines: maxed out in October with A-List Preferred. 43 paid flights, 16 free flights. (I currently have no plans for my 97k point balance – maybe find a trip south of the 24th parallel in 2016 – thoughts?)

United Airlines*: squeezed in Premier Silver status in November. 28 paid flights (36 segments), 2 free flights. (I’ve been stockpiling my 103k point balance for a Spain/Portugal trip in May for my Jesus birthday!)

La Compagnie*: no status, but thanks to a cancelled flight from London Luton back to the states I got a free round-trip to use as an apology plus a $650 credit! The airline only travels the EWR-LTN and EWR-CDG routes, but offering a business class option for anywhere between $1,000-1,500 to London or Paris is pretty amazing. 2 paid flights, 2 discounted flights, 2 free flights.

American Airlines*: strongly considered swapping to this frequent traveler program in 2016 but have decided the perks aren’t that much different from United. 4 paid flights.

Virgin America*: this airline is sweeeeeet – just wish they had more route options. I love their whole setup on board, from the dance club lighting to the on-demand entertainment/food/drink options. This airline knows how to exploit a gap in the market and make all the legacy carriers look like something your great grandpappy would only take. If I ever get on a project in the bay area, this will be my go-to frequent flier program. 1 paid flight for an amazing SF weekend in September.

Starwood Preferred Guest: earned Platinum in May. 113 paid nights, 21 free nights. Still flipping love this chain – my favorite of all frequent traveler programs! And if Marriott screws it up my heart will break.

Hyatt: Diamond the hard way in September (no status challenge for me this year!) 54 paid nights, 6 free nights.

Avis*: earned Preferred First status in May, which underwent rebranding and is now Preferred Plus. 37 rentals, 139 paid days, 11 free days. But their customer service repeatedly treated me like garbage so late summer I left them for...

Enterprise*: earned no status whatsoever but their customer service is...

and until my company allows rentals from National, I’ll stick with these guys. 5 rentals, 21 paid days, 0 free days.

List below does not include Texas cities visited.

January

New York, NY

Washington, D.C. (2x)

February

Washington, D.C. (3x)

Kansas City, MO

Philadelphia, PA

March

Washington, D.C. (3x)

April

Washington, D.C. (3x)

New York, NY

May

Washington, D.C. (3x)

New York, NY

Nashville, TN

Denver, CO

June

Washington, D.C. (3x)

London, England, U.K.

Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.

New York, NY

July

Washington, D.C. (4x)

Baltimore, MD (2x)

Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC

August

Richmond, VA

Washington, D.C. (4x)

September

San Francisco, CA

Washington, D.C. (5x)

October

Washington, D.C. (4x)

Los Angeles, CA

Miami, FL

November

Paris, France

Brussels, Belgium

Washington, D.C. (3x)

December

Kansas City, MO

Washington, D.C.

New York, NY

Montréal, Québec, Canada

[thrueyesofarunner]

 2015 Concert Roundup

I hit 115 performances this year somehow surpassing last year’s 103. That’s like a show every 3 days or something. Like last year, numbers in parentheses are date of show and all performances were experienced in Austin unless otherwise stated! Performances in italics were exceptional and/or memorable; worth noting.

January

The Eastern Sea (3)

Future Islands (8, New York)

Robin Schulz (9, New York)

Kevin Hart

February

Little Daylight (6)

Jukebox The Ghost (6)

Handsome Ghost (26, Philadelphia)

BØRNS (26, Philadelphia)

MisterWives (26, Philadelphia)

March

Cathedrals (17, SXSW)

Amason (17, SXSW)

San Fermin (17, SXSW)

Milo Greene (17, SXSW)

Odesza (17, SXSW)

Spoon (17, SXSW)

Geographer (18, SXSW)

Until The Ribbon Breaks (18, SXSW)

Urban Cone (18, SXSW)

Joywave (18, SXSW)

Tei Shi (18, SXSW)

Dreamers (18, SXSW)

Pompeya (18, SXSW)

Safia (18, SXSW)

Urban Cone (18, SXSW)

Ryan Culwell (18, SXSW)

The Family Crest (18, SXSW)

Kidnap Kid (18, SXSW)

Gorgon City (18, SXSW)

What So Not (18, SXSW)

On An On (19, SXSW)

Years & Years (19, SXSW)

Circa Waves (19, SXSW)

Pujol (19, SXSW)

Kopecky (19, SXSW)

The Family Crest (19, SXSW)

COIN (19, SXSW)

CRUISR (19, SXSW)

Stone Foxes (19, SXSW)

iZCALLi (19, SXSW)

San Fermin (19, SXSW)

BØRNS (19, SXSW)

Mew (19, SXSW)

War on Drugs (19, SXSW)

Knox Hamilton (20, SXSW)

ELEL (20, SXSW)

Freedom Fry (20, SXSW)

Talk in Tongues (20, SXSW)

Colour Vision (20, SXSW)

Seinabo Sey (20, SXSW)

Years & Years (20, SXSW)

Ex-Cops (21, SXSW)

Zella Day (21, SXSW)

Joywave (21, SXSW)

Mother Falcon (21, SXSW)

Ivy Levan (21, SXSW)

Elle King (21, SXSW)

Clean Bandit (21, SXSW)

The Ting Tings (21, SXSW)

Tove Lo (21, SXSW)

April

Jungle (9)

Sphynx (9)

Black Joe Lewis (18, Untapped)

Phosphorescent (18, Untapped)

Bear Hands (18, Untapped)

In The Valley Below (18, Untapped)

Calliope Musicals (18, Untapped)

Manchester Orchestra (18, Untapped)

Grandtheft (24, New York)

The Chainsmokers (24, New York)

Young Rising Sons (28)

Joywave (28)

The Kooks (28)

Priory (30)

Kaiser Chiefs (30)

May

The Griswolds (2)

SPEAK (2, Pecan St Festival)

The Digital Wild (2, Pecan St Festival )

Reptar (2)

Of Monsters and Men (5, Washington, D.C.)

Of Monsters and Men (7, New York)

Sufjan Stevens (12)

Dave Matthews Band (13)

Nick Offerman + Megan Mullally (15, Nashville)

June

Sinkane (5, Washington, D.C.)

Hot Chip (5, Washington, D.C.)

Night Drive (26)

July

The Family Crest (24)

Goodnight, Texas (24)

Lambda (25)

Moullinex (25)

Ben Browning (25)

Dan Deacon (26, Chapel Hill)

Future Islands (26, Chapel Hill)

August

Glass Animals (5, Washington, D.C.)

T.J. Miller (9, Washington, D.C.)

Belle & Sebastian (28)

September

The Eastern Sea (4)

St. Lucia (19, San Francisco)

Holy Ghost! (19, San Francisco)

Empire of the Sun (19, San Francisco)

Circa Waves (25)

MS MR (25)

October

The Decemberists (3)

Disclosure (21, Washington, D.C.)

November

Beirut (4, Washington, D.C.)

Parade of Lights (8, Washington, D.C.)

The Royal Concept (8, Washington, D.C.)

Filous (10, Washington, D.C.)

Big Data (10, Washington, D.C.)

RAC (10, Washington, D.C.)

December

Leon Bridges (8)

George Ezra (8)

Of Monsters and Men (8)

Circa Waves (18, New York)

Foals (18, New York)

[thrueyesofarunner]

FOALS 🙌 FINALLY! Helluva great band to be my 115th and final performance of 2015 (at TERMINAL 5)

[thrueyesofarunner]

wutttttt. after 2+ months backorder, my bordeaux chuck ii’s finally arrived and they’re just…….. 😍

[thrueyesofarunner]

no actual eiffel sparkles, but the city sparkled just fine. paris, it was fun. thanks for everything and apologies for that thing I did the other night. ciao! I mean au revoir! (at Tour Eiffel)

[thrueyesofarunner]

forever chasing those famed @realnickgerber shots of paris (and never coming close!) (at Avenue Rapp)

[thrueyesofarunner]

a thousand yes’s to this sweet yelp find in the marais nord area. i’ve had a chocolat croissant and a glass of champagne today so I’m about to mow through a few plates for dinner. get Sarah to make you a drink of her choice! 👌 also, GREAT music 😀 which is great since Zedd canceled his paris show tonight. (at Bespoke Cocktail Bar & Restaurant)