I'm home this week. That is unlike the past two weeks where I have been gone, and unlike the next four, during which I will be mostly out of town. Ah yes, I'm living the dream, bringing music to the people. Ok, not exactly. I'm playing youth camps in places such as Leakey, TX, and Disney, OK. Spiritually it's been a great summer so far, but the camp locales, living situations, and sound men have been lacking. That's to be expected, and we make the most of what we get, I guess. July should bring some higher quality production teams, which frees us all to play better and lead as we like to.
I saw a concert Sunday night. These guys (Styx):
And these guys (Boston):
I will admit openly that I know very little of these bands. I know who they are, and how important they are in the scheme of music history, but there are certainly other bands I am more familiar with. So, technically I was only going for two reasons. First, I wanted to hear Boston sing "More Than A Feeling," and two, I wanted to see one of my childhood heros, Michael Sweet, of Stryper sing "More Than A Feeling."
It was a great show, even though I spent the whole time acting like I was a fan. I was originally going to buy a last minute lawn seat and just sit back for the evening. But, on my way to the gates, I was stopped by a scalper. Normally I don't get involved in that kind of thing, but I decided to at least see what he had. He said he had really great tickets and would sell them for $60. I'm pretty sure I had $60 on me, but I told him I only had $20 and that I would just get a lawn seat or sit outside the pavilion and listen (where it's free). So he asked me again how much I had, and I said $20, so he sold me a 12th row ticket for $20. I was half-way expecting to get to the gate and be turned away for having a counterfeit ticket, but they let me in, and I made it down to the 12th row. There was another guy next to my seat who asked me how much I had paid. I figured he had also bought a ticket from this guy, but turns out he had sold the tickets to the guy in the first place. He was shocked I got the tickets for so cheap. Eventually another guy showed up and joined our "party." We clapped and yelled and they sang songs as loud as they could. I tried to pick up on the choruses of the songs quickly so I could act like I deserved to be that close to the stage.
Styx was amazing. They didn't do the only two songs I know of theirs, but they were a great stage show. After the intermission, Boston came out and rocked. Two or three songs in to their set, both guys that were with me just left, so I was enjoying the concert alone without these crazies bothering me.
I was content to finish the evening alone, until a few songs later, an older, slightly inebriated woman came and stood next to me. I guess one of the guys had passed off his ticket to her on his way out. She would proceed to grab my shoulder and shake me, saying "AREN'T YOU JUST SO EXCITED!?!?!?!?" Cue the fake smile and "Oh yeah, this is awesome!"
Later she started pouring baby powder on the people in the row behind us. Not sure what that was about, but she got some on my shirt, and then started trying to rub it off. Awkward, but a nice gesture, I guess? A few times, I had to pretend to sing into her fist, which she held up to my mouth like a microphone. Refer, now, to the fact that I knew ONE song that was performed that night.
Eventually I was saved as a similarly intoxicated man joined her (taking my seat, of course), and they began dancing like people should only dance when no one is around. I'm pretty sure they had just met. By their second song together, they were making out, and continued a cycle of making out, awkward drunk dancing, and spinning in the isles until the usher sent them back to their seat.
So, I left after the set was over, and listened to the encore as I walked back to my car. It was a great night, very good concert, and all around interesting experience. I would recommend seeing this tour if it's coming to your area. Ok, I've done enough procrastination, it's time to work. Let's talk again soon.
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