concert going

[fflo]

I'm late to the meme, in blog time---it's rather yesterday.

From other people's lists:
Ani DiFranco [she's on almost everybody's list]
Betty
Uncle Bonsai
Jeffrey Krause (if you count him singing in my living room)
Into the Freylakh
Dar Williams
Elton John
The Pretenders

some others off the top of my head:
Ella Fitzgerald
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
The Count Basie Orchestra
Pete Seeger
Arlo Guthrie
Elvis Costello
Robert "Escalator of Life" Hazard (on the bill with Elvis)
U2 (just before they hit it big in the U.S.)
Bette Midler
k.d. lang
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra & guests there like Hilary Hahn, Radu Lupu, Evgeny Kissin
El Duke-O
Alison Krauss
Mark O'Connor
Bobby McFerrin
Tito Puente
Natalie McMaster
Etta James
the line-up at that March on Washington stadium show, including k.d., Melissa Etheridge, George Michael, Chaka Khan, the Pet Shop Boys, and Tipper Gore herself

embarrassing, unsatisfying, and/or "eh":
Billy Joel
Van Halen
David Bowie
Melissa Ferrick
Flock of Seagulls (with Elvis & the Escalator guy)
White Zombie (some goofy metal band Barry got free tickets to)

Comments

[disclaimerwill.livejournal.com]

What was wrong with Bowie?! When did you see him? (I'm not asking that combatively, because he's certainly gone through a few really embarrassing phases.) I thought he was fantastic when I caught him in 2002.

[andystardust.livejournal.com]

Ditto that. On the other hand, if it was the Glass Spider Tour, then say no more ...

[fflo.livejournal.com]

see above

[fflo.livejournal.com]

er, below

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is where queerbychoice finally throws me off her friends list (if she hasn't already cuzza my irreverence here). Her Bowie thing, to tell you the truth, is the biggest factor that makes her remind me of Txxxza Twxxk*. But that's another tale.

I rather did get into Bowie at a time, and I still appreciate a lot about the guy---like music from a number of his stage. I saw him during the Something-like-Incredible Moonlight tour. What the hell was it. Fabulous Moonlight? Crap. Too lazy to look up the l.p. The record was a very polished thing that Stevie Ray was on, as I recall, right before he died. It had awfully poppy hit production, though. "China Girl" was on it. But it was actually the concert itself that blew.

It might as well have been a holographic video. Choreographed to the hilt, oh-so-"sharp" costuming that seemed to me to be affecting casual, off-hand elegance, but there was nothing casual about it; sounded NOTE FOR NOTE like the records. Fuck that! It had none of the glory of the theater of Ziggy Stardust, and tons of pretension. Shallow, surface, fake, soulless. The worst was how carefully hitting-the-mark planned a number of faux "break-out" moves were. Like now he's going to go exactly 6.5 feet to his left, where the guitarist will meet him, and they'll fake some spontaneous grooving on each other to the perfectly synchronized lighting. That kinda shit.

I think it was probably the worst tour of his I could have seen (unless maybe the Glass Spider was worse, Andy?)---I'd almost rather see Sesame Street On Ice. At least there Ernie might fall on his ass or something.

*Name scrambled to protect the not-so-innocent---or avoid a hit in her high "weird name" Googlability. NB: Just a tidge of my disdain for the Bowie concert may have had to do with Txxxza's fanatical fondness for (and bizarro [deluded] identification with) him, along with my then-increasing understanding of just how messed up that girl was---and how phony.

[disclaimerwill.livejournal.com]

If I saw Ernie fall on his ass, I might very well cry at the inadvertent metaphor for my lost childhood...

Yeah, that wouldn't have made for a very good Bowie show; I'd probably come away from it feeling the same way. When I saw him, though, there was none of that- no tricks or choreography, a surprising amount of spontaneity, and he was so talkative and friendly that his band frequently had to just start the song without him to shut him up in the hopes of finishing the set on time. I had a lot of fun. Though he didn't play "Space Oddity," my favorite song ever, so I grumbled afterward more than I should've.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

To my recollection there was not a WORD of talk at this production. Not even "hello Cleveland!" or wherever the hell we were. That would've been way too customized.

I love "Space Oddity" too. Hey, do you like "Kooks"? One of the few songs about parenting I can stand. ("I'm not much cop at punching other people's dads..." --- love that)

[disclaimerwill.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that I know "Kooks." I can't remember whether I even own Hunky Dory... It's been too long since I've given my Bowie collection a workout, actually. Maybe that'll be my project for the next week or two.

[groovesinorbit]

At least you weren't dumb enough to throw out all your Bowie albums when you broke up with her. *slaps head* Stupid, stupid.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I gave away all my bootlegs after seeing Diva... !

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I didn't even see this comment until just now, three months later. ;-) But I'm not even the tiniest bit inclined to throw you off my friends list for it - if I'd gone to a Bowie concert and he had said hardly a word and played everything exactly like the album versions, I'd be upset too! The times that I've seen him, he's always been extremely talkative, extremely funny, joking around the whole way through and sometimes playing joke versions of songs and then stopping halfway through them to switch to something more serious.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Wow. You're hardcore in the back reading!

I was debating whether to reply to your most recent post (about the resurgence of lezbo attraction) but feel funny chiming in to chat about such a thing in the life of someone I know only this way. I know you're quite adept at being frank with people online & all, but I felt squeamish nonetheless.

Anyway, yeah, other people have told me other concerts have been much more lively and spontaneous and personal. Guess I just hit him at the wrong time! I swear, it was like freakin' Ice Capades or something.... all choreography and costumes, and the music coulda been canned for all we could tell.