Well, goddess willing there will be a show on .. OHH IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!
Hoping that winter storm Harper won't mess up our concert going night, as we have tickets to see Panic! at the Disco! tonight. Not a huge fan of the newest album, but Brendon Urie is a great singer, and I love their early stuff when they were pretty damn emo and friends with Fall Out Boy. I saw them back when they had the Dresden Dolls opening up for them in 2006. Holy crap, it's been awhile since I've seen them live! And from 13 years ago, the only member still in the band is Brendon.
So a small slice of reality here as I think we are going to be about 15-20 years older than most of the crowd, unless there are other parents there ... which could happen. We however are not going with any children or teens. We are going to see them because we really like Panic at the Disco.
Thought it'd be fun to make up a little caption having some fun with my concert attendance. I can recall schlepping my daughter to a few shows when she was younger. And I still hold fond memories of concerts long past, of bands that don't exist anymore. Here's hoping I'll have some new ones to remember that don't involve me pulling a back muscle while playing air guitar!
And if I try to change my life one more day
There would be nobody else to save
And I can't change into a person I don't wanna be, so
Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah
Going to see concerts nowadays reminds me of how many years have passed since some of my favorites were at their peak....the tempos have slowed, the once majestic roar of the crowd has quieted to applause and some whistles, the vast clouds of smoke that came up just as the lights went down have completely disappeared, the singers just can't hit those notes anymore and in the case of a couple of my favorite bands, the drummers keep a simple beat while a much younger drummer sits to the rear carrying the load!!!!
ReplyDeleteOr as you pointed out bands are touring with sometimes only one original member left....in some cases with no original members left!!!
Would I wish to be 17 again now....I don't know....the music when I was 17 was unforgettable but then isn't that true for everybody?
I saw the great bands when they could still rock on stage....not on their porch!!!!
Love
Kaaren
Yeah, it can be depressing. Nowadays though you smell weed more outside the venue than inside since indoor smoking is illegal.
Delete14-17 years old is always the best time for music, because there is such an emotional connection to it. Every cliche lyric is NEW and HAS NEVER BEEN FELT BEFORE and THINGS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!
I tend not to see older bands unless they can still deliver the goods. Iron Maiden has finally lost a half-step but is consistently great. Stryper, believe it or not, is probably better now than they were in the 80's. Slayer and Anthrax were still great when I saw them last year.
There's always that if I could be 17 again .. would it be my life over again though to make different choices or become 17 now. I'm not sure I'd take the 17 year old now option. Might make for an interesting future topic here if I can remember it!
For a guy who had throat cancer, Bruce Dickinson can still scream with the best of them. There's a huge summer festival coming to town that I'm sure is going to have its share of aging voice disappointments, but I'll gladly spend the weekend outdoors with the likes of RATT, LA Guns, Slaughter, Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil, etc. It's going to be denim-and-leather-tastic!
DeleteSally, I am glad you are already prepared for vocal disappointment because Vince Neil and Stephen Pearcy sound horrible now. Bach has lost a bit but if he sucks on a particular night, it's probably because he's drunk. I'd like to assume that Slaughter was smart enough to keep his voice in shape, and Phil Lewis was never the best singer around even in the 80's, it was a "cool" sound. Get your battle vest out and ROCK!
DeleteDid you see him do the Ducktales theme on Jimmy Fallon? That was fantastic!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I've gone all out for a concert, but I'm desperately trying to find a partner for Cradle of Filth & Wednesday 13 in March. I bought a pair of tickets as soon as they went on sale. I have a boring, boyish fallback plan, if necessary, but I never had the chance to go all-out Goth girl for a show when I was a teenager, and I want to enjoy the show.
Awww, I hope you get someone to go with you and you get all glammed out! For those bands, you could also go the gothabilly route. I've not met Dani Filth, but have met Wednesday 13 a few times.
DeleteAnd yes, I've seen the Ducktales theme on Fallon. Not sure if you have heard them do "This is Halloween" from Nightmare Before Christmas. Epic! Then again, most of their covers are pretty damn epic!
Loved their cover of "This Is Halloween." I have the 2-CD soundtrack with the bonus tunes - Manson did a great cover of it too, but it was She Wants Revenge doing "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" that blew me away.
DeleteThe last large indoor concert I attended was Heart, during their tour for the Bad Animals album in the late eighties. The first was a KISS concert about a decade earlier. I probably went to about a dozen others in the intervening years. Rush, Sheena Easton, Aerosmith, Styx... I can't remember them all. I only ever enjoyed a couple - George Winston in '83 or '84 and Beatlemania in '79 come to mind. Both of those were much quieter, more intimate shows, though. Normal stadium concerts were always ruined by boisterous, drunken screaming crowds and the music so painfully loud that it made some idiot ruining his throat right next to your ear seem like a whisper.
ReplyDeleteUgh. It's actually not fair for me to criticize the attendees or the performances. I was the one going someplace meant for people very much unlike myself. That's why I don't eat at sports bar style restaurants during any major season. How can I complain about the behavior of others when I'm the one out of place? It's hard, though. Emotions are, by definition, not rational. It's thinking about this kind of difference, though, that makes me wonder why - if I can decide to tolerate people different from myself - why do so many other people have trouble offering this community the same courtesy?
I'm definitely off-topic for the idea of this caption, since I didn't like concerts even when I was 17. Sorry. Just started typing and now it feels like it would be a waste to not post. I can say that if I could go back to 17 with all of the knowledge I have now, things would definitely go differently. I'd go to fewer concerts, at the very least. :)
I saw Heart of a few of those late 80's tours, as it was one of my first "adult" concert experiences. That and Aerosmith. My goddess, the amount of drugs at those shows! I had a great time though and it solidified my desire to have a band and play out. Sorry that you didn't have fun, though I can understand why.
DeleteMost people refer to 17 as that age as it's where decisions made in your life can REALLY start to impact your life in a meaningful way. I would prefer to have a "choose your own adventure" TV screen where I could replay my early like and make different choices and see how it turns out. I don't necessarily mind my life, but just curious to what would happen if I made a different set of mistakes the next time around!
Oh, there were indeed drugs... I've never done drugs (or partaken of alcohol or tobacco), but I sure had friends who did. At the aforementioned Rush concert, one of my friends had taken LSD beforehand. Fairly early in the concert, he stood up and started twirling in circles like a top screaming that the room was spinning. His brother was none too happy with him when their little group was ejected by security because of his antics and their efforts to control him. Nor was he happy with me for having distanced myself from the group when he started flailing. I got to see the rest of the concert. Ironically, I was the one who wouldn't have minded leaving. Peart's drum solos are interminable live.
DeleteI agree that most people start making the first decisions that they feel are life altering around 17. I joined the Army at 17. When I was in my twenties, I probably still thought that had been an important decision. Now, heading into my late fifties, I think that it was one of the less impactful choices I made in my youth.
I like your choose your own adventure thought. Kind of like a (hopefully) less depressing verion of "The Butterfly Effect".
I wouldn't mind going back to 17 and doing a few different things. I wish Id say I'd do more concerts but I wouldn't. The town j grew up was a decent size but not big enough for the big name name bands to come through. It also didn't help that that the people that ran the town didn't allow a majority of the music I liked to co.e either. Given the chance I'd definitely go back to my goth roots. If I had the bonus of being female I'd be on bored with the Lolita fashion as well. Hope the show was a great one.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of cities around here that have a population of more than 80k so there are usually lots of good options, plus a few casinos too. I could even get to NY in a few hours if need be, though I'm not a fan of that much bustle!
DeleteGoth is always a good route to take. I was a metalhead and punk during high school but always crushed on the few goth girls we had there.
And yes, the concert was a lot of fun. Sold out and a wide range of ages there, many parents with teenagers too. The songs weren't at poppy as the recordings and Brendon has an incredible voice, up there with Freddie Mercury in range.
Even if it was today can't imagine 17 year old girl me having blue hair and nose and face piercings, too old fashioned ?
ReplyDelete