Saturday was a day of cultural enlightenment. Or, at least, entertainment.

I attended my first Gopher football game, which just so happened to be the University of Minnesota’s homecoming game. Who were they playing? None other than 11^th-ranked Purdue.

The game was one of the best sporting contests that I have ever witnessed live. The only experience that trumps it is watching the Wild beat the Avalanche in the playoffs.

The Gophers and the Boilermakers put on quite a battle. The Gophers were up by six going into the fourth quarter but managed to find themselves down by eight with about 6:00 to go. At that point some of the less loyal fans started leaving, but the team didn’t give up. The Gophers managed to score a touchdown with about 90 seconds left, and then they managed to convert to tie the game at 28. Overtime!

In overtime, Purdue got a touchdown; the Gophers responded in kind. For the second overtime, the U lead off with a touchdown. Purdue began its drive. Before long, it was fourth and one. The Purdue QB went to pass. Would they complete? No! The Gophers won!

What made the game even more enjoyable is that the buddy I went with, Kyle, who managed to get the tickets in the first place, is a Purdue fan. There’s nothing like a little rivalry to make things more exciting!

Later in the evening, I attended a concert at the McGuire Theater in the new Walker Art Center, thanks to some tickets from my friend Angela. The performance included three bands: Blood on the Wall, 13 & God, and Black Dice. Here are three succinct reviews of their performances:

• Blood on the Wall: Somebody really needs to tell these people that they can’t sing. They tried for the smoky-voice sound, but it was just so off-key and stressed that it didn’t work. The alt-rock sound was good save for the anti-singing.
• Black Dice: Dear God, I have never heard anything that gave me such abject displeasure. The noise from this band (and I do mean noise — they are a noise band) was so bloody loud that, even if it had been musically interesting, it was too painful to hear. The house was full at the start of their performance; by the time they finished, the theater was half empty. Half of the audience walked out during their set! Some saint passed out earplugs about halfway through the nightmare, which made it somewhat bearable.
• 13 & God: These guys were good. And I don’t mean “good compared to the other two bands;” I mean “good” — full stop. They do a sort of electronica/rap/alt-rock fusion. The band members are quite talented. The end product is sufficiently different from the mainstream to be interesting yet sufficiently musical to be enjoyable. I recommend seeing them in concert if you have a chance (note: I say “in concert” deliberately because, in my opinion, the live experience is far superior to the studio version)

As for the theater itself, one could definitely tell that it was in an art museum. The aesthetics trumped the ergonomics, but the good acoustics tipped the scales enough to make it an enjoyable venue.

In summary: the Gophers rule, Purdue sucks, Blood on the Wall needs voice lessons and/or better monitor speakers, Black Dice was literally painful to hear, and 13 & God is very good.