Concert Fever!!

So in strong anticipation of the Green Day concert this weekend, I spent some quality time reflecting on the concerts I've been to in the past and wanted to share them (both good and bad) with you. I will let you know next week where this one ranks with the trip to Ozzfest, U2, Hard Rock and even Classical concerts (remember, I have a Music Degree that I have to use once in a while).

I am one of the biggest U2 fans on the planet. Next week on the 23rd will be my 6th time seeing them live and I am PUMPED! 4 of those have been with my good friend Claire who has been a great friend since high school days. We're probably a little bit on the obsessive side of being fans but until I get a court order, I consider it still a hobby. I do use many vacation days to go see them. I was too young to see them in the 90s during my favorite time of U2s (Zoo-TV t0ur would have been FanTasTic!!). But my claim to fame was getting MY Irish flag taken on stage by Bono during Sunday Bloody Sunday during the Elevation Tour in Minneapolis. What a great show. Claire is dumping me for next week's concert unfortunately (some lame wedding excuse) but hopefully the next tour in probably 2008, we'll be there yet again! U2 puts on a hell of a show though. A basic "we know how to play and entertain" type concert where they show off their musical abilities, not the post-engineering skills that most bands use to sell albums.

One of the greatest and more recent concerts I went to was Garbage back in April. I am a firm believer that Garbage is one of the most under rated bands in the history of music. Shirley Manson is incredibly beautiful (helps a lot) but she also has a stage presence that ranks up there towards the top. What a great high energy show. Sure, I had a ringing in my ear for 4 days afterwards (seriously), but it was well worth it.

Another favorite is always Harry Connick, Jr. (sorry for the change in style...... you still with me?). Harry is such an amazing entertainer and is a great place to take a woman on a date;) Although both times I've seen him I went by myself:( Anyone want to be my date the next time? He plays so well and has more fun on stage than anyone else. He is most likely the most gifted musician of my generation, or one of the most gifted. I remember when he was playing piano in Ames for a concert and he looks offstage and yells "hey , I have a ringing in my ear...... it's a B-flat ring......" then looks to us in the audience "makes it hard to play in other keys so I guess I'll just have to transpose everything to B-flat for a while" and then modulated into B-flat very subtly. Continued from there;) Also, he's the only musician that I've ever seen do a full sprint across the stage when demonstrating his need to go to the bathroom earlier in the day. Strange, yes but very amusing. I highly recommend his concerts to all music lovers!

Family Values concert was great when it was Stone Temple Pilots and Linkin Park (they had just burst out onto the scene back then). And Staind although I thought they sucked. Linkin Park played to the crowd like no other which was surprising for such a young group. And STP...... again, Scott Weiland is incredibly insane but I think that's why I love him so much! I also saw him in the Velvet Revolver atmosphere a couple of months ago which was a great concert. Although I now realize that VR is much more Slash's band then it is Weiland's.

Summer Insanasilum Tour with Kid Rock, Metallica, Korn..... that was pretty sweet. This was before James Hetfield became sick so we got the full show! Lots of explosives and l0ud things:)

I also enjoyed Ozzfest in Summerset (although I was one of the 3 people there without tattoos and at the time, I had no piercings). Ozzy was pretty cool but not as animated as I heard he was. I don't know if I'd enjoy seeing him anymore as he continues to get older.

Bare Naked Ladies always put on a great humorous show... yet another great band. Live was a good show. I also always enjoy going to Dave Matthews Band and Creed back in the Day. They're no Sevendust though;)

For Classical, one of my great memories was when i was working in Poughkeepsie, NY and had a "slow weekend" so I traveled to Tanglewood, MA which is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I was able to see Seiji Ozawa conduct Tschaikovsky's 5th Symphony which was quite remarkable. I also saw the Pittsburgh Symphony do the Rosenkavalier Suite and Don Quixote with Rostropovich playing. INCREDIBLE! One of the few concerts where we demanded an encore and when the symphony performed an encore, the crowd stayed standing.... that's what should happen at ALL concerts (rock or classical) when they give you an encore.

As for concerts to avoid.....

Wheezer (sorry Kahn) - Kahn kidnapped me at gunpoint and made me go to Wheezer where I was one of 5 people over the age of 20. The other 4 were also in my group. I didn't mind the music but every song was 2 minutes long so they performed for 90 minutes and did at least 45 songs!! No joke. Plus with all the high school kids crowd surfing, only to be waiting for mom to pick them up in the mini-van afterwards was annoying.

Smashmouth. They opened for U2 on Pop-Mart and were pathetic. U2 has a bad history of getting crappy opening bands unfortunately. I forget who's opening for them next week. Kings of Leon did back in April and they might take the cake for worst band ever.

Godsmack. They only played for about 55 minutes at the time. It was at SuperToad in Des Moines and the concert was so warm physically we almost suffocated. I also think I was legally high after that concert from all the Wacky-Tabaccy smoked there.

on that note:

Song of the Day - Still anything by Green Day. I highly recommend their Grammy Award Winning CD American Idiot to anyone that doesn't have it. I'm looking forward to St. Jimmy and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Netflix Video - Still haven't watched anything - but I would like to take this moment to recommend Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle to everyone. A high quality funny movie that ranks up there towards the top of my favorite movie list. That will be coming soon for my blogger fans:)

Webpage of the Day - This one's for Wheeler..... I'm not a huge fan of the French, but I was sent this link as one of the few things "good" to come from France. Some very attractive News Anchor (or is it Anchoress?) that would definitely entice me to watch more news! Even if I couldn't understand her! Don't worry, the pictures are very safe for work.

Have a wonderful Day!! Feel free to leave comments so I know who's watching at home. I'm open to any and all suggestions:)