Saturday, June 12, 2010

Concert Time!

It has been a long time since I have been to a rock concert. I've been fortunate in the past to be at some very interesting ones -- the last time Page & Plant played together; the U2 concert in Sun Devil Stadium that was filmed for the movie Rattle & Hum; and best of all the last great Pink Floyd gig, for which a friend and I flew from Moscow to London to see and it also ended up being filmed (it was called Pulse).

However, my two sons are now 12 and 10 and have yet to see a show, despite the fact that they have inherited my love of great music. We were teased terribly last summer. We found out that Green Day was going to play Phoenix the very day that we had to fly from Phoenix to Washington DC. Then in Washington we found out that we would miss both Green day (again) and Tool by just a day.

So, I felt bad and decided that we were going to see something no matter what. I searched for our favorite bands to see who was on tour. Green Day seemed to be the only good choice (though a great one, of course) since they would be travelling through Europe this summer. U2 were also going to be in Moscow in August, but that was at a bad time for us. So, we head out next Thursday for London.

I chose to see Green Day in London for a few reasons. One is that London is a fantastic city, and though I have been there many times, my family never has. Two, the concert is going to be at Wembley Stadium, and such a huge venue should lend added electricity to the show. We then got lucky and found that Pearl Jam got added to a big event at Hyde Park less than a week later, so we added tickets to them also.

I wasn't a huge fan of Green Day for their real punk years. It was only when the more accessible American Idiot came out that I began to change my mind. Seeing the Bullet in a Bible concert on DVD blew me away and I really became a fan (along with my younger son). Then their latest album also was great, so they are truly on a roll.

















I have been a Pearl Jam fan since the beginning. While I love many of their famous songs, I thought I should mention some that I love that never seem to get any attention. One such song is Tremor Christ. It has such a discordant musical beginning that it is easy to dismiss, but the vocals are amazing, even a bit haunting. A list of my absolute favorites is Thin Air, Yellow Ledbetter, Sad, Fatal, Dead Man, I Got ID, In My Tree, Green Disease, Better Man, Even Flow, Alive, and Oceans. That's just the ones with five stars in my iTunes! Check them out if you haven't heard them.

8 comments:

  1. I am so jealous! I wish I could go with you but London is just a tad bit out of my price range these days. Have a great time and tell us all about it when you get back.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Anne. I feel great, with the one exception that I just can't seem to do the writing that I should be doing. I hope I get over that soon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. London is an awesome place for a concert! You and the boys will have a great time. I agree that Green Day's recent stuff is better and saw their American Idiot tour.
    And you were at the taping of Pulse? That's impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Have fun, Ted! Love London, we're flying there to see family in January.
    Last concert I went to was a kings of leon concert (before they got popular). There were in a tiny venue and we stood right next to them. Too cool.
    Enjoy yourself!

    ReplyDelete
  5. A friend of mine just saw Green Day here in Oslo, and apparently the show was a blast, so you should be in for a treat. Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks all. I haven't been this excited about a vacation in ages!

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's exciting. Have a great time at both concerts! I've seen Green Day--they're awesome live. I haven't had the privilege of seeing Pearl Jam, but my husband saw them at the height of their popularity and said it was one of the best concerts he's ever been to--and he's been to over a hundred by now. (We have a bit of a rock concert addiction.)

    Thanks for joining my blog, btw!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks Roni. I wish I could go to that many concerts, but the bands don't often come to any of the countries where I am stationed. I usually have to fly to them...

    ReplyDelete