The Who is so damn good, though. It would have been worth it to sit through some creepy weirdo for a few songs.
I love Springsteen, but he has quite a few songs that are just plain irritating to listen to. Weird instrumental pacing and change-ups where you’re listening to rock, then jazz, then old-timey saloon piano, back to rock music about assembly lines and being low on gas— all in the same song. Regardless of that, I put “Nebraska” in the top five albums ever made. And it was purely demos recorded in a motel room. Springsteen also has a tour following that approaches Grateful Dead levels. I’ve seen him twice. But when you talk to people at the shows, they’ll have seen him twelve times this year. And he keeps it fresh with such a massive codex of songs, and different versions of them.
I just tried out some Bruce Springsteen on my kid. "I don't like it." Alright then. Tom Petty has been better received. Free fallin, running down a dream, you don't know how it feels. One of the crazier things I did recently was to write a short bit of fanmail to Tom Petty through his website a few months back. My husband shortly after informed me that he was dead and I almost joined him.
I was scheduled to see Tom Petty at Jazzfest in New Orleans a few years ago. We woke up to pouring rain that day, so we skipped it. He died a few months later, which is a bit of a bummer.
I skipped out on Merle Haggard due to ticket cost and he died less than a year later. Still pissed about that one.
Pearl Jam is like that too. I don’t know how these people afford tickets to a dozen shows at 500-1000 bucks a pop. PJ fan club does get early access face value tickets so it might not be too bad. The Boss’ tickets are even more insane. I turned down a ride from the owner of my last company to a Chris Cornell solo show. I didn’t have a ticket and was an awkward weirdo about the ride so I turned it down. He killed himself some months later.
I saw Tom Petty live when he was alive. He was great. I can't remember if I told this here before, but it was fall October 1991 and the Atlanta Braves made the playoffs by winning the Division for the first time in a long time. It was Lakewood Amphitheatre in South Atlanta, the same day as the first game of the World Series against the Twins. Nobody had iPhones to check scores, no way to really know in the moment. Lights go down, band walks out, Petty strolls up to the mic, no music started and leans in and says "Nothing nothing, bottom of the second inning" and the crowd just went absolutely bananas. I don't remember what he played first, maybe King's Highway? But, later in the show someone that was part of the act chased him around the stage with a giant Braves tomahawk. Blowjobs. They hang out before the show and trade blowjobs for extra tickets. There are always tickets available before the shows, if you're willing to pay for them in some way. Grateful Dead fans would get tickets for trading massages, or weed, or beaded bracelets. Pearl Jam and The Boss are usually more of the blowjob crowd.
In the aughts, ZZ Top was playing down here almost every year, and every year, something would come up and I couldn't go. "Ah, I'll catch them next year," I'd say. Then they stopped coming. Then Dusty Hill died. Now I'm fucked.
I none of you guys writes me any fan mail or decide not to go to one of my non existent concerts, I'm to young to die.
That happened with me and John Denver. He was playing nearby and I figured I’d catch him next time around. Nope. We thought about going to see James Taylor this year but the tickets for anywhere you didn’t need a Jumbotron to see him were expensive. And I’m not gonna drive three hours to sit in the damn grass and watch a concert on TV. Im sure I’ll regret that decision someday as well.
Don't even get me started on Stevie Ray Vaughn and that fucking helicopter. I was just glad I got to see Joe Cocker open for SRV... and then it turned into an hour long jam session with both bands. Amazing show.
Shaka Zulu was playing bass for Joe... and when Tommy Shannon and Shaka Zulu had a killer "bass off", it was amazing.
Are you referring to Tanglewood? My parents are in northwestern CT and hit his show up every year. He basically plays there annually, without fail, since he lives in that area. I went with them one year. He's not my cup of tea, but he put on a really fun show with Carol King.
My roommate at the time was doing the sound for the Buddy Rich band on a weeknight. I got home from work and he said "This guy is not of this world on drums, plus he is the best band leader I have ever seen." "Puffman you need to come to the show tonight." I replied that I was beat and needed to be at work early the next day. I will catch him next year when he comes around.. Of course there never was a next year and that is the one that haunts me as much as any missed show.
I had a similar moment when I was out on the road with Lilith Fair way back in the day. Erykah Badu was on the tour, and her band was fucking LIGHT YEARS more amazing than any other musician on the stage. She had 2 drummers. They were godlike. They were bored as fuck playing her stuff during the show, but the real magic happened during one of the sound checks at the main stage at the Gorge amphitheatre in George, Washington. They started to fuck with each other and had a "drum duel"... and it was fucking amazing. Mind boggling. The stage hands all stopped and watched, and cheered when they were done. You could see them laugh, and then go back to "metronome mode" for the sound check. At the time, we were recording all mics on their own digital ADAT track, so we had every drum sound bite that they made. Needless to say my buddy who was the front of house guy grabbed every track and we sliced it up to have the absolute best drum samples you can imagine for our own use.