Big concerts

It's been a long long time since I've seen any headline acts at a concert. The only concerts I go to these days are small ones like The Bobs. Big bands that everyone's heard of, however, I don't generally see, not because I'm not interested. It's just that on top of the high cost and long drive, there's a huge crowd of noisy people crammed into seats that are, compared to me, tiny. There's not much opportunity to be comfortable enough to appreciate the music, let alone the performance.

Which is a pity because I really like concerts. In my youth I managed to go to a few, but usually I had to get nosebleed seats in Nassau Coliseum, both because I couldn't afford better ones and I also couldn't get to wait in line a day ahead. I didn't see many: Journey, Rush, Jethro Tull twice, Duran Duran, and that's all I can remember. In my adult life I got to a few big concerts with Siobhan in outdoor venues in Stowe, but avoiding the tiny folding chairs (which would probably have crumpled under me back then, still might) meant we were up on the hill, and since everyone else stood up for the entire show, we had to as well, which is hard on the back.

If I could get to a big concert of a big name, though, it would have to be Rush. After thirty years in the business they still put on a great show: lively, not overproduced and overchoreographed but not a dull recitation of their biggest hits, and their musicianship really shines through. And of course there's the chance to see Neil Peart reminding us how the rest of the drummers in the world only get to compete for distant second place. I saw them once long ago, in the tour after Signals, but I was so far up in the back of Nassau Coliseum that I might as well have been at home watching it on TV; even so it was a great show, I just wished I could have seen more of it!

Maybe I'll watch for a chance to see them and find out if there's a way to pony up even more for a good seat that's comfortable enough to enjoy the show, now that my financial means far exceed what they were in my college days. If it's a once-in-a-decade thing, maybe it would be worth it.