I'm usually good for about one concert a year, depending on how often Robert Randolph & the Family Band are in the area, and my concert for 2010 so far was Rush last night.
The concerts I attend usually fall into one of three categories:
Current bands that I would actually enjoy seeing live: basically consists of Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Vampire Weekend, and the Avett Brothers. However, EVERY single time the Avett Bros. come within a five-hour radius, I have some random event going on.....an out-of-town-wedding; 2nd-round games of March Madness; an erotic evening of eating cookie dough logs and watching DVR'd episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place. Vampire Weekend apparently hates Midwesterners; so they're out. Soooo basically I see Robert Randolph like once a year. Booyeah.
70's and 80's arena rock bands that I enjoy, but half the fun at this point is the getting bombed portion of the evening, not necessarily the music: I've seen Styx a bunch of times (if you were in my car with me from August 2000-June 2002, there was a 42% chance we were listening to Styx. If we were road-tripping to Fargo, that number skyrocketed to 93%. Their greatest hits CD lasted exactly from Grand Forks to Paul's parents' place in Fargo, almost down to the second. But I digress.) I saw Journey once and it mostly made me sad; it was shortly after Steve Perry left the band, and seeing Journey without Steve Perry is like going to Sonic and ordering a chili cheese wrap and NOT ordering a mayo cheeseburger with no tomatoes to go with it...along with a second chili cheese wrap. I saw REO Speedwagon once, and it was so terrible that honest to God, the greatest moment of the concert was when the warmup houseband, probably called Mikey J & the Fargodomers or something like that, played 'Green Onions' and the whole joint was bouncing in their seats and nodding along. (However, Paul pretty much made out with Jake's mom that night, leading to thousands of jokes and Jake calling Paul 'Dad' for the next four years....so it was basically a wash.)
Snoop Dogg: gets his own category, because I have never, and probably will never, experience a show like that again.
So last night's Rush show in Kansas City obviously falls into category #2. Scattered thoughts:
- It's amazing what the movie I Love You, Man has done for Rush. I don't want to sound snooty- I'm probably only in the 65th-70th percentile of Rush fans, there were plenty of songs last night that I was unfamiliar with- but there were hordes upon hordes of college kids who clearly only recognized like three songs, held up signs saying 'Slappa deh bess mon' and then stood around for the rest of the show. Again, I'm not trying to judge; it's the same thing that Big Daddy did for Styx, and Saving Silverman did for Neil Diamond, and Anchorman did for 'Afternoon Delight', and the 'More Cowbell' sketch did for 'Don't Fear the Reaper.' I just thought it was interesting. If I'm Foreigner or Boston right now, I'm getting Judd Apatow on the phone and begging him to have one of his characters in his next movie have a quirky obsession with my band. (Also, after the last song, and we were filing out of the outdoor arena, they played a 5-minute sketch featuring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel's characters from I Love You, Man backstage with Rush, and it was hysterical. As funny as anything in the actual movie. So there's that.)
- I frequently love to brag about my gambling prowess (just an FYI, I got $100 on LeBron going to Chicago, back when the odds were +125....last time I looked, Vegas had them at -400. I feel good about it) so it's only fair that I mention my huge embarrassing failures. We all threw $20 in the pot, and whoever's song got played first took it all. I picked 'Working Man', feeling so confident about it that I added a side bet of $5 with everyone that it would be the opener......three and a half hours later, during their third encore and final song of the night, they finally played 'Working Man.' Whoops.
- If I'm in the 65th-70th percentile of Rush fans, the guy who was sitting to my left is in the 100th. He was absolutely rocking out to every song, singing lead, singing backup, air guitar, drums, smoking copious amounts of drugs, etc. etc. Just a thrill to watch. And then the opening notes of 'Closer to the Heart' came on. And this guy had a breakdown. We're talking head in his hands, buddy consoling and hugging him, BAWLING his eyes out for the entire song. As soon as it was done, so was he. Back to rocking out again. Amazing transformation. I guess I'm telling this story because I've always joked about how certain songs can make me cry no matter where I am (the opening to 'Baba O'Riley', Vanessa Carlton's '1000 Miles', the theme song to Debbie Does Dallas) but I never meant it literally. This guy lost his shit, big time.
- Geddy Lee is without a doubt the nerdiest lead singer in rock history. Whereas someone like Robert Plant could've been an IRS auditor and he still would've had girls throwing their panties at him, Geddy talks and acts like an 8th grade social studies teacher, one of the pushovers who lets the popular girls manipulate him into canceling the pop quiz because they had a tough volleyball game the night before. His exact quote leading into intermission last night, in a grandfather-talking-to-his-six-year-old-grandson tone of voice: "OK guys, hope you're having fun! We're going to take a tiny break....well, scratch that, maybe slightly longer than tiny, because, you know, we're ancient....but we'll be back soon, so keep on having a good time!" It's a good thing he's awesome at music. Friggin' Canadians.
- Say what you will about the song 'Tom Sawyer' (Lane I'm looking in your direction) but goddamn, don't try and tell me it's not amazing live. Absolutely surreal. Possibly the greatest song I've heard live. I mean, there was the time I heard 'Gin & Juice' while smoking two joints at once and rapping every word along with some random MC Jazzy Fubu Jersey in Fargo, North Dakota.....or the time I heard 'Whole Lotta Rosie' at AC/DC and saw more boobies on the jumbotron then I had in my entire life up to that point.....but shit, 'Tom Sawyer' was ridiculously cool live.
- Five best songs from last night:
1. Tom Sawyer
2. YYZ
3. Spirit of the Radio
4. Limelight
5. Closer to the Heart
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Everybody have a good 4th. As Steg used to say in high school (usually just before we drank a bunch of beers and convinced his little brother to jump a Dyno off of a 75-degree ramp into Maple Lake):
"Let's keep it real while keepin' it safe."
