Reflecting on Concerts

Man, I really love concerts. I mean, I reallly, really love them. Most of my family and friends know I like going to concerts, but only a few friends share my love of live music. I've been seriously deprived while living in Germany, and now that I'm gearing up to move home it has really hit me that I've been missing out on doing something I really love.

But, all that's going to change in June!

Pearl Jam announced tour dates for 2008 and they're stopping DC on June 22nd! I just happen to be arriving in DC for work on June 21st! So, I had some luck and scored some tickets from Ticketmaster (no link for them -- their surcharges are ridiculous) I'll be rockin' out with Eddie & the boys the night before my work training course.

This will be the first real concert I've been to since moving to Germany. I'm not counting a Meatloaf concert I saw here -- that was a combination of being a good husband and being desperate for live music. But, I've been lucky to have notched quite a few memorable shows in my belt so far:

The highlight is obvious: Phish. New Year's Eve 1999. Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation. Nothing can top 3 days of camping with your best friends, 2 days of music, and a 7-1/2 hour midnight-to-dawn set to ring in the new year!

But, I'd be remiss if I didn't also count the 3-day Hampton Reunion run in 2003. Fresh off their hiatus, Phish still had a little rust to shake off at these shows. But well worth it.

And my first Pearl Jam show, of course! Man, I paid $160 for that ticket. At the time, Pearl Jam was boycotting TicketMaster and I was worried it might be the last time I
could see them live.

Finally, getting to see Pearl Jam in a small(ish) venue in '98 at the D.A.R. Constitution Hall at the Voter's For Choice benefit concert is one of the highlights.

The neat thing about shows is they serve as a snapshot in time. To me, music has a temporal quality -- play the right songs in the right setting and it's like a my mind gives a wink and a nod to my conciousness, saying "Don't worry, I'll be right back." Then I get this feeling of being sucked back in time and the feelings and emotions of that time period wash over me for a couple seconds. Combine that with the friends you saw the show with and you've got a nicely packaged representation of your life.

So, to all those that spent these moments with me, thanks for coming along.