Saturday, as we were bringing August back from Newton, I realized that it was seven years (to the day) since the first concert I went to. Which got me reminiscing about concerts, and I thought that would be something interesting to put in my blog. So here are the concerts I’ve been to that stand out the most (in no particular order):
The Smashing Pumpkins - August 6, 1998 - Oven’s Auditorium, Charlotte: I was sixteen and this was my first concert. It was cool that we got fourth row seats, even if they were off to a side. If it had happened today I don’t know if I would have thought it was such an awesome show, since I am not quite as infatuated with any band as much as I was with The Smashing Pumpkins when I was a teenager (and I doubt I ever will be).
The Smashing Pumpkins - May 2, 2000 - War Memorial Auditorium, Greensboro: I’m mentioning the two Smashing Pumpkins shows first only because they are the first to come to mind. And no, I didn’t need to dig up my t-shirts to remember when and where these shows were. This show was better than the other SP show, but we had much worse seats and the ushers were jerks (they told us to sit down--at a rock show!). They closed the show with my favorite song (Mayonaise).
Our Lady Peace with American Hi-Fi - April(?), 2001 - Cat’s Cradle, Chapel Hill: This show really stands out in my mind because I had one of those moments where it felt like Raine Maida was speaking directly to me. It was during “Are You Sad?” actually.. it was during one of those relationship-turning-bad times..
Athenaeum - 2000-2004 - Raleigh/Chapel Hill/Winston-Salem/Charlotte: We saw Athenaeum dozens of times during college.. those shows will always have a special place in my memories. If any single show stands out in my mind, it was the one at Ziggy’s in Winston-Salem, sometime during Christmas break of 2003-2004 I think. I believe that was also the bass player’s last show with the band.
Thursday - late July/early August, 2004 - The Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh (I think): One of the best shows I’ve been to, hands down. I don’t remember any one thing that made it so great.. there was just lots of energy. My inability to describe how awesome it was is really downplaying it.. so just trust me, it was awesome.
Blink 182 - ? - Alltel Pavilion, Raleigh: We saw Blink twice here (or maybe one show was in Charlotte?), once during the “Take Off Your Pants And Jacket” tour, with New Found Glory, Midtown, and Mest; and once during the “MTV Pop Disaster” tour (or something like that), with Green Day and Jimmy Eat World. Both times they put on great shows. Definitely the funniest concerts I’ve ever been to. Nothing beats a giant flaming F-word for pure comedic value. If you’ve ever heard any of their live CD, you’ll know what I mean. Unfortunately, New Found Glory was the only one of the other bands with them that was any good. Not that I don’t like Green Day and Jimmy Eat World. But I didn’t like either of them live. And the guy in Mest took off his pants and walked around in his underwear. That wasn’t so cool.
SR-71 - October, 2002 - Dorton Arena, Raleigh: Almost forgot one of the best! This show was at the State Fair, in a pretty small arena. Everyone was sitting on floor seats, but there were about as many people there as you usually have in a club show, so Mitch very quickly told everyone to just come up closer and stand in front of the stage. So we had the intimacy of a club with the acoustics of an arena, which worked very well. It was just SR-71, no crappy opening band to sit through. You could tell the band was enjoying the show, which made it even better. I remember Mitch saying it was the longest set they had played in years, I think over two hours long. If I really had to rank the concerts I’ve been to, I think I might give this one the number one spot.
Jimi Hendrix - August, 1969 - Woodstock, NY: Just making sure you’re awake.
This has turned into quite a long post. I’ve been working on it during spare moments at work since yesterday. If you actually read all of this, congratulations. Originally I was going to list some concerts that I felt most let down by, but I think I’ll save that for another post.
Ah, nostalgia
