For Your Listening Pleasure
Triumph – Stages
Oh come on. Like you don’t have any guilty pleasures. Mine just happens to be a Rush-wannabe Canadian hard rock band named after Conan O’Brien’s insult puppet dog…
Screw it, I’m not apologizing. Give me Rik “The Rocket” Emmett’s “Moonchild” guitar solo in the middle of “Blinding Light Show” or Gil Moore’s thunderous drumming on “Rock & Roll Machine” any day of the week. Oh, yeah!
News to You
This isn’t really “news”, but I’m watching “Jimmy Kimmel Live” as I write this and Method Man is Jimmy’s guest co-host this week. Today’s guests? Redman and HENRY WINKLER. You can’t write a TV show funnier than this.
Looking at music news, there’s really not a whole lot to report this week. The whole Field Day fiasco has just confused me, and as of this writing, the festival’s Web site has this statement posted on its home page:
6.3 – Stay tuned for full information regarding Field Day Festival arriving the morning of Wednesday, June 4!
Well, THAT’s informative! Isn’t the show scheduled for June 7 and 8?! With each day that passes, I’m more and more glad I didn’t get tickets to this show after all.
Oh, and there was ONE minor, itsy-bitsy piece of news this week that MAY have an impact on the music industry (and news and entertainment in general) as we know it. Click here for an update on the FCC’s FUN NEW RULING announced on Monday. I don’t have the energy to tackle this one any more just yet, so feel free to form opinions on the matter for yourselves…
It’s Live!
A few weeks ago, one email I received touched on a reader’s greatest concert experiences. Of course, that got me thinking about the many concerts I’VE seen live and up-close (or wayyyy too far away), from the ridiculous to the emotionally charging. Now, while I can try to stretch this into two columns — one covering a top ten most embarrassing, and one listing the ten greatest shows I’ve been a part of — I’ve decided to take this one on in a stream-of-consciousness way. Here’s where I tell you about some of my more memorable (for better or worse) concert experiences, and some general thoughts on live shows, as they come to me… so consider yourself warned.
— Right off the bat, I have to bite the bullet and come clean. My first concert was New Kids On the Block and Tiffany (opening act: Tommy Paige) at Long Island’s famous Westbury Music Fair. I was in 6h or 7th grade and didn’t know any better, so how was I to turn down FOURTH ROW tickets (seating at Westbury is “in the round”, around the stage, and it’s a very small venue) to this pop EXTRAORDINAIRE? Needless to say, Tiffany winked at me, and I think of that moment every time I open up the recent issue of Playboy in which she was, uh… interviewed.
— I guess I should get the other “embarrassing” (or just bad) concerts off my chest now, shouldn’t I? Okay, ready? Hootie and the Blowfish Def Leopard Ugly Kid Joe Indigo Girls Black Moon Alanis Morrisette Weird Al Yankovic. Did you get that all? Actually, the last two aren’t fair. Weird Al — while a strange experience in and of itself — was something that you just had to see to believe. He changes outfits EVERY SONG, and runs little video skits on the monitors when he’s in the back getting into each new costume. But the general vibe of the crowd was a BIT too much to handle, and it was one of those things that I can’t see myself doing at 27 years old. As for Alanis, the show itself was pretty awesome. Her band (including now Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins) was tight, the crowd was wall-to-wall people (the show was standing general admission at Tramps in NYC), and the tickets were TEN DOLLARS. The cool thing about this show was that it occurred AS she was breaking into the mainstream. Again, we paid $10 for the tickets… and people were scalping them outside for $70. Too bad it was THIS “moment” I was witnessing, and not, say, Nirvana at “Saturday Night Live”. *sigh*
— I’ve seen Dave Matthews Band eight times. And I’ve seen Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds play an acoustic show (at Binghamton University) once. That’s a lot for me, and I can hardly believe it. Better yet, these nine shows include one of the best (Madison Square Garden) and worst (Giants Stadium) concerts I’ve ever been to, as well as three very good experiences seeing the band at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center outdoor venue — the coolest place to see a show. The Garden show was possibly the best concert I’ve been to: seventh row seats, great set list, great crowd energy. There’s just something about hearing 20,000 people sing along with the band that gives me chills. A dedicated Dave Matthews Band crowd will do that with practically every lyric — with a Billy Joel “Piano Man” sort of familiarity. Unfortunately, the crowd at the Giants Stadium show two years or so ago was horrible. Way too much Abercrombie and Fitch, white caps, and teenyboppers for my taste. Maybe I just noticed it more ’cause of the large venue, but it even felt like the band wasn’t really “into” the show. Ah, well.
— No comments on the Pearl Jam Nassau Coliseum show that I attended in April (already covered that one ad naseum a few weeks ago), except to say that for the most part, this was another great show, fueled by a great crowd and solid musical performance. Others that come to mind that were on this level are Tori Amos, also at Binghamton, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones all five times I’ve seen them, Billy Joel and Elton John last year at the Continental Airlines Arena, and Sunny Day Real Estate at Irving Plaza (my favorite “small venue” to see a show in New York City — so far).
— Not sure where to include “local” musicians in this concert column, but there’s definitely something to be said for seeing someone play in their place. You know, the small club that makes the band just sound comfortable and at home. John Zorn and Masada at Tonic, Mike Doughty at the Knitting Factory, Jed Davis at CB’s 313 Gallery, Mark Geary at Arlene Grocery, Joshua Redman at the Tarrytown Music Hall… You just can’t beat it, from an audience participation and musician comfort aspect.
— One of the coolest moments I’ve ever had at a concert was seeing George Clinton and P-Funk at Binghamton’s West Gym. First of all, a friend of mine (Fernando – there’s a kid I haven’t thought about in a while!) was working lights for the show, and let me and another friend (Laurie) take turns shining the left spotlight on one or more of the various freaks on stage. But later on was the real highlight: George came down OFF the stage, and walked through the crowd, and somehow I was able to get a handshake and half-hug out of the deal. I haven’t washed the right side of my body since. Talk about funky! *rimshot!*
— One of the saddest concert moments I’ve had also was at the West Gym, this time on my 19th birthday, and I was all psyched to see my childhood icons Run-DMC… but they didn’t show up on time and we were all given refunds. And it took me quite a while to get up the nerve to see a live hip hop show after that…
Okay, enough about me. Send me your thoughts on these — and your OWN — concert experiences, and I’ll get as many of them as I can into a future column.
Fun With Spellchecker!
Funny… no Spellchecker suggestion for “Flecktones”. And I was banking on that to wrap this column up on a high note!
Oh well. My column, so I can do as I please, right? That’s what I thought. Spellchecker will just have to wait…
peace. love. moe.
– Matt
Till My Head Falls Off can be found weekly on 411 Music (old columns are archived in the pull-down menu below). Already hit everything on 411? You can find more from Matthew Michaels at moodspins and 1-42.
