Concerts!

...I haven't actually seen that many. Only 1/2adozen if I'm remembering rightly. Everybody Out There's probly got me beat. Still waiting 4 my Ultimate Concert Xperience. But 4 mosta the people I'd B intrested in seeing, I'd need a time machine so I could go back & see them when they were in their prime. I'd still give up a paycheck 2 go see some version of Pink Floyd. & probly the Moody Blues. MayB Rush. After that I start running outta names....
The last concert I saw was King Crimson in early 2003, when they played Seattle's Moore Theater while on their POWER TO BELIEVE tour. They were very impressive. But I wanted more than 2 B impressed. I felt in a lotta ways like my life had bn leading up 2 the concert -- I wanted 2 B stunned. I wanted 2 B flattened. I wanted 2 B run over & left 4 dead. & that didn't happen.
The Crims were right on it, tho. Very efficient & professional. They opened with "Level Five," which was -- again -- very impressive ... better in fact than the version on their POWER TO BELIEVE album.
KC did mosta their best post-VROOM material: "Dinosaur," the hilarious "The World is My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor...." & "Happy With What You Have to be Happy With," etc. These were all funnier & more involving than they R on-disc. All the instrumentals were gripping & LOUD. "One Day" was especially effective Bcos it was SOFTER.
I hadda good time, & the guys seemed like they were having a good time, & Adrian Belew made an Xcellent master of ceremonies -- funny & human & a heckuva guitarist. Pat Mastelotto was all over the drum kit, making me 4get that I was disappointed cos I wasn't going 2 see Bill Bruford.
...But I still wasn't knocked out. & I wanted 2 B freakin' awestruck. I was having a great time, we were seated right up-front where we couldn't miss a thing -- but I never even felt compelled 2 jump up outta my seat, all nite.
4 me, the best part of the show was the very end, when the band was walking off, & Bob Fripp got up offa his stool & peeked around the far-right side of the curtain ... mayB 2 see why we were still in our seats? He peeked out at us....
& THEN we were ALL up out of our seats & we were screaming his name: "ROBERT!"
Then Bob & Adrian went off the stage with their arms around each other, & that was it.
Great. But not cosmic.
You won't believe me, but the best show I've ever seen was The Go-Go's in San Antonio in 1985, when they were on their TALK SHOW tour. My X-wife & I had played TALK SHOW 2 DEATH, so we were Xcited about the concert. & tho we were in the bleachers at the back of the arena, we were on our feet from the very start.
The girls opened with "Head Over Heels," & they were a little shaky. Belinda Carlisle's voice wasn't quite tuned-in & they all seemed a little tentative. They firmed it up by the middle break -- I just thot Charlotte Caffey's keyboards weren't LOUD enuf.
But from then on, they were PERFECT. Loud enuf, fun, funny, their vocals were spot-on, & they were relaxed enuf 2 ad-lib summa the lyrics on the choruses of "Skidmarks on My Heart": "Oooh, who's Gina Schock?" (That's their drummer....)
They did all their hits + 1/2adozen songs from TALK SHOW, + "Vacation," & they closed with "We Got the Beat" -- what more is there 2 say? The X & I were thrilled, & we played the TALK SHOW cassette in the car all the way home. Perfect.
Course, we were lucky we could even HEAR the girls. Their opening act was A Flock Of Seagulls, & they were hideous. Their sound was SO LOUD you couldn't hear a thing, EVERYTHING was distorted, & my ears started humming within seconds. I kept screaming 4 them 2 do "Wishing," but of course nobody could hear me -- my X standing right NEXT 2 me couldn't hear me yelling. My ears kept humming 4 days afterward. The Flock did "The More You Live, The More You Love" & "I Ran" & "Space-Age Love Song," but of course it all sounded like mud....
Saw Paul Revere & the Raiders at the Western Idaho Fair in the Summer of 1974: good, solid Family Entertainment -- lotsa corny jokes & sight gags, with all the talking done by Paul (seated behind his keyboard, the front of which was made up like the grille of a Rolls Royce or something) & some kinda Mark Lindsay-lookalike. They did all their hits, "Indian Reservation" brot down the house -- & the place was JAMMED! Standing Room Only. I was standing.
Jan and Dean opened, & I don't remember a thing about them.
Saw Blue Oyster Cult a coupla times -- in 1975 & '79. Turned down a chance 2 see The Ramones so I could see BOC the 2nd time -- what was I THINKING?
In Feb '75 BOC topped a bill with REO Speedwagon (long B4 NE of their hits) & the Welsh group Man. Saw the show with my step-brother & his harem. We waited outside the Western Idaho Fairgrounds Pavillion til they stopped taking tickets cos we were all broke, then sorta drifted in when BOC came on.
I remember them doing "Cities in Flame (with Rock and Roll)" & "Then Came the Last Days of May," & I remember a lotta dry-ice fog, & that Buck Dharma looked pretty cool with his guitar -- & that's about all. But we'd been outside in the cold 4 a coupla hrs, & I was just grateful 2 get my hands & feet warm again....
The '79 show was better. BOC's opening act was Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush. I wasn't that impressed with mosta their stuff -- or Marino's "reincarnated Hendrix" schtick -- but "World Anthem" was pretty, & there's no question that Marino's fingers sure could fly all over his guitar.
BOC had a lotta the same songs (+ "Don't Fear the Reaper") & the same effects, & I seem 2 remember them doing mostly older stuff (tho they were touring on the back of their MIRRORS album). But they did 1 gorgeous long gtr&keyboard instrumental that I've never heard since. Very dramatic. No idea what it was. I was also kinda disappointed that they played-up their stupider stuff -- "Tattoo Vampire," "Sinful Love," "Godzilla." I was hoping 2 hear "Morning Final" -- no dice.
...Hadda chance 2 C the Beach Boys in Cheyenne, Wyo., in 1987, but I didn't wanna go alone, + there was no Brian, no Dennis, no Carl, so I figured ... well, maybe not. Probly shoulda gone NEway. I hear they still do a pretty Dcent show at county fairs around the country....
...Saw the comic David Steinberg at Boise State University in about '76, does he count? How about an Idaho production of the opera "La Traviata"? Bored out of my freakin' mind. My highschool sweetheart was not happy with me. How 'bout a stage production of "Fiddler on the Roof"? Hey, there's music in it....

COMING SOON: Cars! ... & ... Holy shit, I'm 52?!