Restless with spring fever, I went through my clothes and realized I had amassed a decent collection of band T-shirts over the years from concerts, festivals and as gifts from friends. Sooooo I thought it would be fun to create a feature on my Twitter feed called T-Shirt Tuesday! Every Tuesday night starting on March 25, I’ll randomly select one of my music T-shirts and post a photo of it with a mini blurb. If you want your band featured on T-Shirt Tuesday send me a tweet or WP comment.
Tag: concert
Life Is a Dance Floor
Jane at her first concert ever.
My friend Jane is 33 years old and she had never been to a concert – a scenario that was hard for me to comprehend!?! An avid music fan and longtime concertgoer, some of the greatest times in my life have come from seeing different genres of artists/bands perform at big and small venues throughout the world. It was my mission to take Jane to her first show. Knowing she likes gritty pop/R&B, I had the perfect artist in mind – P!nk. I thought her raw vocals, dance music and Cirque du Soleil style performance would provide an entertaining experience. Jane appeared to be having a good time dancing and singing along, but when the concert was over I couldn’t wait to hear her reaction. She said she “had a blast, beyond expectation!” On the walk to the metro after the show she was already talking about other concerts she’d like to go to next. Mission accomplished.
BONUS TRACK: The surprise of the night for me was the opening band The Kin. I really liked their pop/alt rock sound. When I read that they worked with legendary producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie) and Nic Hard (Joey Ramone, The Church) I was like ahhh, that explains why I like their sound! Shakerleg, their percussionist, is SUPER impressive – he plays with intensity using his hands instead of drumsticks. I look forward to seeing them in concert again sometime.
Summer Tradition
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- Goo Goo Dolls … my homies.
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- Selfie of me and Jerri
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- Matchbox 20
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- Matchbox 20
My friend Jerri and I have an annual tradition of attending an outdoor concert together at the end of summer. There’s nothing like listening to live music performances on a warm summer night. This year we saw my hometown boys the Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox 20. Both bands put on a solid and entertaining show. Johnny debuted a new song GGD will be releasing. I love this lyric from the song … “When we’re old and near the end, we’ll go home and start again.”
Ending on a High Note
The Cure put on a phenomenal show closing out the last night of Lolla. Robert’s pitch was perfect and his voice was strong. He was in a frisky mood — poking fun at the strict time limit they had to perform. He entertained with his signature expressions and quirky movements. Sadly, he appeared bloated. The trio of peeps standing next to my friend and I were cool. Special thanks to the tall guy who shot the video clip with my phone due to my vertical challenge. He felt bad for me because a super drunk chick in front of me kept pumping her fist in the air.
Set List: Plainsong, Pictures of You, Lullaby, High, The End of the World, Lovesong, In Between Days, Just Like Heaven, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, The Walk, Mint Car, Friday I’m in Love, Doing the Unstuck, Trust, Want, Fascination Street, The Hungry Ghost, Wrong Number, One Hundred Years and Disintegration. Encore: The Lovecats, The Caterpillar, Close to Me, Let’s Go to Bed, Why Can’t I Be You? and Boys Don’t Cry.
Lollapalooza Photo Gallery
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- Early view of Lolla entrance before the crowd descended upon it.
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- Offsite Fender stage location.
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- Cool Fender guitar.
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- Filming notice when we entered Grant Park.
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- First stop — bag check
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- Second stop — wristband scan
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- Tracy and me ready to rock out!
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- There were many many many “Ask Me” helpers wondering all over the place.
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- The crowd at the Bud Light stage went nuts for Palma Violets.
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- Palma Violets — a young British band similar to the Clash or DD.
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- Two Door Cinema Club
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- One of the yummy Chow Town areas.
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- My hydration beverage of choice. The crochet koozie they came in cracked me up … and worked really well!
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- Tons of cool event and band merch to choose.
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- The merchandise mannequins were a wee bit creepy.
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- My access wristband to meet Phoenix.
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- Phoenix signing autographs — nice and funny guys.
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- The Vaccines, a young West London band, at the Petrillo stage.
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- One of the porta-potty areas. (Major props to my bladder for staying strong so I never had to use one!)
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- These “Boxed Waters” were everywhere. They are supposedly better to recycle than plastic and don’t hurt as much if you got hit with one flying thru the air. :/
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- Small sampling of the MASSIVE crowd.
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- In a crowd of more than 100,000 there are bound to be some characters.
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- The Cure
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- The Cure
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- Farewell Lollapalooza … thanks for the memories.
Lollapalooza … Then and Now
THEN…
Date: August 7, 1991
Location: CNE Grandstand, Toronto, ON
Major Bands: Jane’s Addiction, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Fishbone, Ice T & Body Count, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, and Violent Femmes
Ticket Cost: $33.05 (paper ticket)
I saved my money from my part-time job at a local record store, piled in a car with a group of my friends, and drove up to Canada for my first music festival.
NOW…
Date: August 4, 2013
Location: Grant Park, Chicago, IL
Major Bands: The Cure, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Knife Party, Grizzly Bear, Major Lazer, Dog Blood, Two Door Cinema Club, Tegan and Sara, Beach House, Cat Power, 2 Chainz, Alt-J, The Vaccines, DIIV, Alex Clare, Baroness, Lianne La Havas, Wild Nothing, Angel Haze, Wavves, Alvin Risk, Jake Bugg, Wild Belle, Art Department, MS MR, Guards, Kill the Noise, Skaters, The Orwells, Palma Violets, Astro, Machines Are People Too, Yawn, Half Moon Run, The Mowgli’s, Nightmare & the Cat, Bear Mountain, O’Brother, and Makeshift Prodigy
Ticket Cost: $103.75 (wristband with micro chip)
I saved my money from my full-time job and hopped on a commercial flight to Chicago to meet my best friend from college for festival fun! More to come…