|
I finished my last bit of finals and schoolwork for the term, so I finally have time to get through some of these longer, more thoughtful posts... I still need to work on some kind of "top whatever" list, but I can get other things out of the way now. [concerts] I didn't go to as many shows this year as last, and didn't experiment as much with concerts or music in general this year, but I still made an effort to get out of the house now and again. There are still 20 days left of the year, thus still room for activity to occur, but... these are the shows I went to this year: 01. Black Eyes & Neckties - Black Elk - Red Fang Unlike last year, I didn't have a ride available for the vast majority of these shows. Similarly, I wasn't up to spending money on cabs. Most of the shows I absolutely need to cab home from end up being "free" or 5-15 dollar small venue shows, and I definitely would spend a fuckload more on a cab than that. It doesn't seem congruent. Ultimately, I ended up skipping a bunch of small, experimental shows I had been interested in from afar... I also skipped part of/all of bands' sets just to avoid cabs. I learned a lot about my relationship to concerts, venues, live bands, and crowds last year, too. There wasn't much newly discovered this year. My attitudes about live shows have mellowed out for the most part. I did go to two new-to-me venues this year, though... neither of which I particularly cared for. I still have a few more major venues I need to visit. This year I experimented a bit with recording shows. I tried a crappy digital recorder the first show, but it didn't turn out. The next one, I tried a video camera. It was too dark in the room and I quickly learned I didn't have enough space on my memory card to record even shitty video, but it worked really, really well to help me write up a setlist. I ended up recording pieces of several more shows... Most of the video sucks, but most of the sound is great (for what it is). I'm impressed with my camera's microphone for sure. Naturally, this has drawn me attention I don't like. I don't think I've taken any photos/video without being either in the back of the room or on the very side of the stage, so to prevent being the distracting light in the room... so hopefully I haven't pissed off any bands. I'm trying my damnedest not to be "that guy" just because I like having a proper setlist. A few times, though, the camera resulted in "conversation"... which I don't find is really a good reason to start talking at me. So... Obviously, the best show of the year for me was Gojira. I got to shake everyone's hand, got my ticket signed, got a one-of-a-kind shirt, and smiled my ass off at Joe. Plus, the show itself was one of the best I've been to, ever. I was incredibly high after that concert, something I hadn't been in any situation in quite a while. The most unexpectedly good band live was Sandrider. I don't remember the details anymore to really properly compare them to anyone else, but I was very into their entire set. Seeing as how I'd only heard their myspace posting of "The Corpse", the fact that I was really into them on literally my first listen to all of their songs really took me off guard. Perhaps the fact that I've been listening to Akimbo a lot the last year helped, but I got a more concise "feeling" out of Sandrider... And it was good. Really looking forward to seeing them again. Also unexpectedly awesome was Nether Regions. I didn't know anything about Nether Regions before I saw them. I got lazy and, though I brought up their myspace, didn't really give them a good listen before I saw them live. I'm not really even sure I'd heard OF Ditchliquor before, even though I must have considering I'd been reading show/ticket lists for years. Beyond that, myspace just doesn't do them justice. Expectedly awesome were Tweak Bird, Black Cobra, and Red Fang... especially Red Fang's MFNW show. Weedeater also was great on the soul my second time around seeing them. I love how fuzzy they get. The best all-around show, in general, was Melvins 1983+Houdini. I was a bit sick coming into this from the night before, and I'm not sure the crowd was really into them, but I came away from this a hell of a lot more impressed than I was either time I'd seen the Melvins as Melvins+Big Business. Even being as zoned out as I was, I still had fun and got to lose myself in the show and in the new-to-me music mixed with old familiar. Oddities of these or other shows include getting offered a pass into a couple of shows. I couldn't go to either one, but I did get the sense of there being some kind of odd conspiracy/coincidence regarding this. Both bands know each other, and they asked me in a very short time of each other. At one show, on the way out, I believe I was offered some social time with a member of one of the bands I'd just seen on stage. I had to get going, but that was "interesting". At several shows I had interactions with a local musician ranging from a distracted grimace to a sentence or two regarding music. I need to work on my social skills for sure, but I'm doing better. At one show I finally properly met a local musician. At one show I found myself standing next to another local musician, and finding it incredibly ironic because of where we were. After-the-fact, I've been googled or simply read by bands a few times because of show "reviews". Most of them have been local, and most of them didn't say anything to me, but I did get a good comment or two. One of them reused a couple of my photos. All in all... a good year for me regarding concerts. Not spectacular, as I did miss some (in theory) really good shows and still need a car to keep a good pace with live band experiences, but I liked and gained something from all of the shows I attended. I sort of expected a concert lull of sorts after last year, where I practically over-did "going to concerts", and all in all I seem to have met with the next logical step. No idea what the next year will bring me in regards to concerts yet, but we'll see, won't we? |
|
Leave a comment