Posts Tagged ‘concert’
4 items.
For those of you interested in reading the Tool review I slapped together for the Des Moines Register, they’ve already archived the story on their web site. You can find it here.
[ No Comments ]
This has nothing to do with movies, but I feel bad about not providing you guys with a new comic today. So I thought the least I could do was tell you a story about the Nine Inch Nails concert I went to last night.
Well, actually – The LEAST I could do is nothing. But you get my meaning.
Jared and I went to the concert together last night pulling into the parking lot about 6:00. We we just kind of hanging out for a while, waiting to go in – when I realized about 6:20 that I had forgotten the tickets!
I felt like such a moron. At the end of the day Thursday, the last thing Jared said to me before I went home (we work in the same office building and department) was "DON’T FORGET THE TICKETS!" I went home, let Truman out to go to the bathroom, changed clothes, made sure Truman was fed and immediately had to turn around to get across town and pick up Jared. In my rush, I forgot the tickets.
So we’re rocketing back across town on the Interstate the day after we got this big snow and ice storm, trying to get back to my house so we can grab the tickets and get back to the arena before the show starts at 7:30. We managed to do it, but what a waste of time. Jared was actually really understanding. I figured he’d be really ticked off, considering he’s the Nine Inch Nails Super Fan. But he was cool about it. I think I was actually more upset.
Our tickets were for general admission, so once we got inside, we headed to the floor. We positioned ourselves center stage half way between the front row and the sound board. It was a pretty good spot. We stood behind this guy and his girlfriend who was a total Avril Lavigne clone. Except she was about 4 feet tall, so it made it really easy to see over her.
The opening band was called Moving Units and the were nothing spectacular. They were out-and-out rip offs of The Killers. And I hate The Killers. Their lead singer was mumbling the whole time and acted barely enthused to be there. I’m sorry, but that’s just posing. If I was in a band lucky enough to open up for Nine Inch Nails and play big arenas, I think I could muster a little more enthusiasm. They left the stage with a smattering of applause.
When Nine Inch Nails started an hour later, Jared and I were shoved toward opposite ends of the crowd, so I didn’t see him until the end of the show.
The show itself was really good. A good mix of new and old songs, frenetic mosh pit anthems and slower, more atmospheric work. Most importantly, they played "Suck" – which is probably my favorite Nine Inch Nails song ever. I remember playing that one over and over when I was in high school. Just taking long walks, stomping around and listening to it on an infinite loop.
Trent Reznor looked really good. I don’t know what he’s been doing lately, but I’d like to look into whatever health program he’s got going on. I’m used to pasty-faced, scrawny Trent Renznor. I don’t remember the man having big muscle-y arms. The crew cut he was sporting made him look like a miniature Henry Rollins! Without the tattoos, of course! ;-D
Something about concert audiences: If you are a crowd-surfer, DIE! Just do us all a favor and die. By the middle of the set, the sway and the crush of the audience squeezed me to about the third row. Really not a lot of room to manuever up there. You couldn’t really leave if you wanted to. As such, you don’t have the ability to turn around and keep your eyes peeled for incoming morons. I took a lot of kicks to the back of the head.
My antigonistic relationship with crowd-surfers leads me to extreme pettiness. If you come anywhere near me, I *WILL* try to steal your shoe. If I can’t get your shoe, I will punch you in the spine.
There were some people giving me some harsh looks when I was taking pocket shots to Johnny Crowd-Surfer’s kidneys. "Hey, man! It’s all part of the concert experience! Let ’em surf, man!"
"HEY, MAN! If they surf, they gotta expect not everyone is going to enjoy having to prop up their dumb asses with the back of their necks when they come out of nowhere!"
Some people were really turned off by my attitude, but you know there are people around you that feel the same way. I saw a few people start grabbing for shoes later in the show and it made me feel like I had accomplished something.
I’m actually leaving out a few important details about the crowd-surfers that had me so cheesed off. Earlier in the show when I was further away from the stage and there were still openings in the pit, a crowd-surfer came near me and suddenly there was no support under him. The dude crashed into me, pushing me backwards. His entire body weight was pressed against my throat as he decended with his forearm across my Adam’s Apple. The crowd response was pretty fast and they helped us back on our feet. But when I got up, I wanted to cave that guy’s head in. He sunk back into the crowd.
Another future brain surgeon tried to prop himself up into crowd-surfing position not by gathering the people around him to hoist him up on their hands. Rather, he put his hands on my shoulders and tried to climb up my back! When that wasn’t working, he actually put his hands AROUND MY THROAT! Okay, party foul, buddy. I promptly spun around, threw his arms off me and politely suggested he not do that. Ah, who am I kidding. I swore up a storm and tried to scare the living crap out of him. "It’s a concert," right?
I don’t want to make it sound like I had a bad time. I also don’t know why I seemed to be exposed to repeated throat injury. The concet was awesome and I had a good vantage point throughout. Those were just the little annoying things that I’m telling you about just to spice up the story a bit. Otherwise, it would be a pretty short story! "I went to a concert. I had a good time. FIN!"
Anyway, there you have it. Story time is over.
[ No Comments ]
Since there wasn’t a new episode of The Triple Feature last night due to the fact that I was seeing The Toadies in concert, I thought I would make it up to you by blogging about my experience at the show. Yeah, I know it’s not movie-related. But it’s my site, so I can bend the rules!
I had a great time last night. Easily one of the top shows of my life. I’ve been on a roll lately seeing concerts. Last Thursday I went to see Clutch. Bands like the Toadies and Clutch don’t come to Iowa very often – if ever. So if they’re making a stop and you want to see them, you have to seize the opportunity.
Whereas I was anxious about seeing Clutch because I felt like I was going to be the old guy in the corner bobbing my head along wit the music, I found my confidence and mixed it up at the Toadies. I was front and center as Todd Lewis and the group bellowed out songs at breakneck speed.
In case you’re not familiar with the Toadies, they were part of the second wave of grunge – the post-Seattle “alternative” sound labels started snatching up once they figured out crunching riffs and dark subject matter could be profitable. You might remember their song “Possum Kingdom” and it’s memorable coda “Do you wanna die?!” from their album Rubberneck from 1994. The Toadies were never really grunge, but the dark subject matter of their lyrics lead most people to believe they were. They have more of a hard rock/bluegrass feel. They’re basically what Alice in Chains would sound like if Layne Staley’s influences were John Lee Hooker and ZZ Top.
Their label rejected the Toadies second album, Feeler and it took the group 7 years before they produced their follow up, Hell Below, Stars Above in 2001. Of course, by then, musical tastes had moved on. Although I personally find Hell Below, Stars Above the better album, it didn’t receive the same reception Rubberneck did. The Toadies broke up not long after that, but are recently reformed and touring behind last year’s No Deliverance.
That’s quite the history lesson.
Anyway, the show was great and I had a ton of fun. I think we caught the band by surprise as well. “You weren’t the crowd I was expecting on a Monday night,” Lewis said between songs.
The only down point came during the crescendo of their song “Tyler,” a really great song I encourage all of you to download, and the crowd was really hopping. Right before it reached the breaking point, some moron starts throwing water all over the crowd and stage. Bouncers came flying out from the wings yelling at the guy to stop it. The band stopped playing and disappointed groans followed.
“Whoever is throwing water, that’s not cool, man,” said Lewis. “We’re up here with, like, a million wires and thousands of volts of electricity. Electricity and water don’t mix, moron!” People were pissed. If the crowd had figured out who it was throwing water, they would have torn him apart. It was pointless for the band to pick up where the left off because they right at the end of the song. People had been calling for that song all night and some tool went and ruined it for everyone. The band pressed on and got things rolling again, but I hope that guy thinks twice before he decides to give everyone an involuntary shower again.
Like any show, there were other interesting characters. Here are somethings I’ve noticed about the concert experience, not entirely specific to seeing the Toadies last night. Let me share them and then tell me what you think:
- Why is it that the tallest guy in the room always somehow manages to get in the front row and why am I always stuck standing behind him? I’m 5’10”, so it’s not like I’m some runt who can’t see over most people’s shoulders. But when you have 6’5″ Gigantor lumbering around in front of you, it’s a little annoying.
- Additionally, why does the tallest guy in the room have to obscure the view of people behind him further by constantly extending his arms over his head and trying to reach the singer with his banana hands? Is it because you have the reach you decide “It would be a waste not to?”
- On the opposite end of the spectrum, can someone explain to me why the tiniest of tiny girls will make their way to the front and then get pissed off when the mosh pit riles up. I had a girl who couldn’t have been more than 5’3″ pushing back on me most of the night. I’m sorry, darling, but I have 200 people at my back pushing forward. I’m not taking a knee to the kidney for your sake. The phenomenon of people in the very front annoyed there is this kind of activity going on behind them befuddles me.
- If you are near the front recording the show with your Flip camera or taking pictures with your cellphone, I will do everything in my power to stay away from you. I came to watch the band on the stage. Not have my line-of-sight corrupted by what’s on your tiny 2″ screen.
- Why is it that the white guy with dreadlocks either always wants to throw their arm around your shoulder or use your back as a springboard for jumping up and down?
Anyway, just a couple of observations. What are your thoughts?
I had a great time at the show. If you have a chance to see the Toadies in concert, I strongly suggest you do so!
[ 4 Comments ]
The Michael Jackson concert documentary This Is It comes out today for a limited two-week run. Without getting into the sticket-wicket of commenting on the singer’s personal life, I will say that I’ve always enjoyed Jackson’s music and obvious talent. But as an “event”, This Is It doesn’t feel like something I need to participate in.
The movie is a compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage assembled as Jackson was preparing for a series of sold-out shows in London. That’s great – I mean, who wouldn’t want to see the behind-the-scenes footage of what was meant to be one of the largest concert spectacles of the last 20 years. But from a narrative standpoint, what exactly is going to be the payoff?
I mean, it’s not like we’re going to see the result of all this hard work and preparation. We’re not going to see Jackson on stage in front of tens of thousand screaming fans, pouring his heart and soul into the music and delivering the performance of a lifetime. We’re going to see him on stage at the Staples Center standing in front of a bunch of backup dancers wearing wifebeaters and track pants.
At least, that’s my impression of it.
From an entertainment perspective, I’m not sure what the audience is meant to take away from This Is It. At the end of the day, the man is dead. We’ll never know what could have been. So is the movie meant to memorialize him in some way or are the producers counting on some kind of morbid curiosity on the audience’s part to investegate Jackson’s last recorded performance.
There is a stop-and-look-at-the-car-crash element to this that I am skeptical of.
But to each his own. If you plan on checking out This Is It during its theatrical run, I’d love to hear what you thought about it!
As for the movie’s release, so precariously close to Halloween? I don’t really think anyone would show up at the theater dressed up like Zombie Michael Jackson. But if you’re going to any Halloween parties this year, I bet you’ll see more than one.
To a certain extent, it’s unavoidable. Certainly Jackson himself didn’t help matters any by setting the template for a zombiefied “look” with his video for “Thriller” over 25 years ago. Of course there is the bigger-than-life persona of the man himself. A celebrity of his stature is simply going to attract this kind of weird homage.
But if you take the macro view, it’s kind of weird dressing up as a dead celebrity for a holiday, isn’t it? I mean, how many people are going to go to a Halloween party dressed as Ed McMahon or Farrah Fawcett? Maybe they’re just not as iconic. Food for thought, I suppose.
What about the rest of you? Any ambition to see This Is It this weekend? What about Halloween? Going to any parties? What about your costumes? Share your comments below!
I have to live vicariously through you this year because we’re staying at home on Beggar’s Night. Immediately afterwords, I will be watching the live 7-hour lockdown of the Ghost Adventures crew on The Travel Channel – because I am a nerd.
[ 15 Comments ]
