Last Sunday, I saw the seven-and-a-half-hour War and Peace at SIFF Cinema. It was pretty much everything you’d imagine it would be: Immense, difficult, outrageous. I’m glad I went, but I can’t really put into words how I felt about it. The one thing that I was pretty sure of, though, was that it was going to be the last big cultural event I’d experience for the rest of 2007. The week before and after Christmas tends to be a vacuum of interesting arts because nobody likes to think too hard at Christmastime.

Last night, I went to the first night of The Program at Neumo’s. I got there around ten, thinking that, you know, nothing usually happens at a show before ten. I caught the very end of Unexpected Arrival’s set, and, based on the sweaty, euphoric faces in the audience, something had just happened. Neumo’s was sold out, and the floor was packed—for the third act from the headliner! On a Tuesday!—and I really started to regret showing up late.

The atmosphere was alcohol-tastic. I saw a bunch of people get bounced, and I overheard one Nuemo’s security guard say to another: “I feel like I’m fucking teaching preschool tonight.” The crowd was, to say the least, eclectic:

This fellow, for instance, had come all the way from Greece to see the show.

I’d never seen the next act, Swollen Members, perform before. I loathe their name, but I fell in love with their live show. Prevail is one of the most energetic performers I think I’ve ever seen. His dreadlocks whip around every which way as he climbs into the crowd and leads them in jumping, waving and shouting, and it seems like he never stops smiling. Their act feels like an old-school MC show, where the guys onstage are trying to start the best party in the universe. I honestly didn’t think that they could be topped.

And then the Blue Scholars came on with two guitars and three horns and a massive drum kit and blew me away. They played just about everything you’d imagine they’d play, but the intensity and enthusiasm they brought to their act and the evening and, hell, the entire Program, was infectious. It felt like a legendary show. I have no idea how they’re going to keep up this amount of energy for four more headliners in a row, but I have faith that they’ll do it.

My only regret is that I didn’t buy a pass for the entire Program. This was utterly unlike any other concert I’d ever seen: The energy from the stage was positive, inclusive, and overwhelming. There were so many shoutouts—206! Eastside! Vancouver!—that it was like a pep rally, and I realized when I was leaving that, for the first time in ages, I actually felt proud to be from Seattle and the Northwest. I wish that I could put my life on hold and just watch the entire 5-day Program from beginning to end, like War and Peace. I think it would leave me with the same grateful, speechless feeling.