My Concert History

After my post about the Pat Benatar concert, I started thinking about all the concerts I've attended. It hasn't been many, but I've gone to a few. Since I had to strain a few braincells to remember them all, I figured I better write them down before I forget again. 

• "The Big One": I'll count this one as "my first concert" because it's the first concert I wanted to go to. I was no longer the tag-along to the festivals my parents attended. It was 2001 and I was 14 and now had musical "tastes" of my own, but let's be real, if a 14 year old likes it, it obviously sucks. This concert was a big radio festival, chock full of one-hit wonders. I remembered Smash Mouth, Mandy Moore, Michelle Branch, Tyrese, Five for Fighting, and LFO, but the rest of them I actually had to search out. The rest of the line-up included (and don't worry, I linked their one song to make your life easier so you don't injure your brain, too) Christina Milan, Jennifer Paige, Blu Cantrell, City High, Willa Ford, the K.G.B., Trickside, and Svala. I highly suggest clicking a couple for a flashback. 2001 doesn't seem that long ago for all this music to be this bad. The day was full of drama as most of it was full of freshmen girls following around their naive crushes and everyone trying to seem cool. The concert went on way too long with all of the set changes and most of my memories involve the throbbing pain in my feet, smushed between my two crushes in a sea of people, watching the last two sets of the night: Mandy Moore and Smashmouth.
• The Go-Go's: My dad got my mom tickets for her birthday a couple of years ago. Wow, I was probably a senior in high school, so more than a few years ago now. Anyway, they were performing at the casino out on the reservation. First of all, it's a hella long drive to get out there. Secondly, almost everyone there had been a fan in the 80's. These women had grown up with the Go-Go's. It was nice to see them so enthusiastic, but my thought at the time was how lame they all looked. No offense to these women, but they couldn't dance and they couldn't see and they couldn't fit into the clothes they wore when they first saw the Go-Go's. Their spirit was great, but it was a good wake-up call to me that it's not healthy to get stuck in the past.
• Dashboard Confessional: This one is probably my first actual concert. I was a junior in college, I had just gotten out of my first relationship that had lasted way too long, and I wanted to define myself. One of my friends from my summer in Michigan had been a fan and I had always liked their song "Vindicated", so when they came to Phoenix, I bought tickets. I grabbed one of my other newly single friends (Roommate #1 from this story) and we headed up to Phoenix. It was a night of adventure and errors. It was my first time driving myself up to Phoenix, the GPS (the 2007 GPS) kept getting us lost in ASU, which was crazy from a football game and a Ron Paul parade, we didn't have time to grab dinner, it wasn't actually the full band, just the lead singer, and we stood for hours in a cramped club on sticky floors, surrounded by drunk people. On the way back to Tucson, I ended up on the wrong highway (we just have one in Tucson!) and when we finally made it out of town, we stopped at a gas station for the best microwavable burrito I have ever had. But it was a defining moment for me. I tried something on my own and although it went a little wack-a-doo, I survived and it was fun.
• Swell Season: After seeing "Once", I was really excited when they came to town. Dan and I went and it was a great show. Romantic and very energetic at the same time, but I declared it the last time I will stand for a concert. Maybe it's because I'm secretly really old, but my feet just can't handle standing for hours at concerts. I just can't enjoy the music when all I'm thinking about are my poor feet.
• Weird Al: This one's a long story, but most of it can be explained by this: my dad became obsessed with getting front row tickets. He doesn't like to go anymore unless he knows he's got a really good view. So, Dan, myself, and my parent went and saw Weird Al. And this happened. 

        Yep, I was harassed by Weird Al in the front row. My mom was, too. Fortunately, I got to
        harass some Star Wars characters from his show afterward and got these pictures. I was
        so happy. For the record, Darth suggested we pose like we were at the prom. 

• Pat Benatar: You can read all about that one here.

Given how cheap and old I am, there are no new concerts on the horizon. But using history to predict the future, sadly, odds are my parents will be there.