Last Friday night I went to my first ever concert…
No kidding.
At 43 years old I went to hear The Waifs, John Butler Trio and someone else I didn’t get the name of and got there too late to hear anyway.
Why your first concert so late in life?… you may ask.
Well, as much as I enjoy some music I have never really been much up for listening to live bands, or spending money on live gigs. I’d rather go to dinner, movies, theatre, speedway… ok so I don’t go the speedway… but I might if I could!
In the past I have also thought it more prudent to buy two CDs than pay for a concert ticket. (I know – it doesn’t work that way!)
I realise this will disappoint many people and your opinion of me well sink lower than ever… but I left last night quite underwhelmed. *Hamo ducks rotten tomatoes from disbelieving music lovers & other concert goers* I completely understand how people enjoy this type of event, but for me it just didn’t raise a sweat droplet on the enthusiasm meter. Pleasant, enjoyable, all that, but I could happily have stayed home and read a book.
I was certainly able to appreciate the musical talent of Butler & crew who were obviously brilliant musos, and I really liked the Waifs great vocals, but the highlight for me was catching up with the friends who we went there with. I found myself waiting for the speaker to come out… but he never showed… my life of church involvement has conditioned me!
When Danelle and I used to go the basketball she would always tell me what the ‘tiger’ was doing or what the other team’s mascot was doing, or what the cheersquad was wearing. She didn’t really get into the game and while she could tell you (sometimes) who won or lost, everything else was a blur. She missed the moments of brilliance and the set plays that turned the game around. As a basketballer from way back I was always engrossed and would leave feeling full of energy and almost like I had played the game myself. I appreciated the intricacies of the game and the finer points. Danelle had a nice time, but she could probably have stayed home and read a book…
I think the comparison is kinda like what happened on Friday night.
The concert was like background music to the conversations I had over the night, but as Butler came on it got much louder and harder to chat. Rather annoying really…
The fact that it was a hot steamy day certainly didn’t help my virginal concert evening. It was still 32 degrees C at 7.30pm and blowing the humidity meter off the dial. I had a shower just before coming but still felt pretty hot & stinky all night. Obviously no one told the guy next to us that it was hot (in the beanie) because he came ready for winter!
As one who feels heat & humidity badly my judgment of the evening could be somewhat skewed by that factor, but when all’s said and done it probably just isn’t really my scene. I could happily go to another concert with Danelle, but I would be equally content if the rest of my life was concert free.
Fortunately my other more significant virginal experience did not result in a similar response.
With you all the way on this one. I don’t care for large crowds that much anyway but, seeing as how most of my concert days were in days of drug usage, etc., crowds of annoyingly drunk/stoned people REALLY do nothing for me. I’m concert free for many years and plan to stay that way
Gosh, maybe I’ll make it to a concert by the time I’m 43 too.
Here I thought we were going to be exposed to your ‘occasional naughtyness’. . .
It was good to see you there Hamo, although as you have now confirmed in this post I could tell it definitely was not your scene. The music quality was not as good as when I heard JBT in the Perth Concert Hall but overall it was a great outdoors music festival experience for me. In fact I’m heading back to the Belvoir in a couple weeks to see “The Cat Empire”. Different strokes…
it’s ok mate, there’ll be plenty of time to read in the old people’s home, which it sounds like you might be heading to pretty soon 😉
Take memo: don’t invite Hamo to next years Wignalls concert.
Andrew, Going to see The Waifs and the John Butler Trio is the equvalent of going to see the local under tens footy. If you want to experience a great concert go see see some great bands! I flicked on the box on Australia Day and the 1985 Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium was on ABC – I was hooked! And the line up was awesome – – U2; The Police; Genesis; Queen; Madonna (Though she was pathetic I admit). The highlight for me was Bob Geldoff singing “I Don’t Like Mondays.” That was truly an historical moment. I would love to have been there – but then, I would have fallen asleep during the basketball. Each to his own 🙂
The Waifs and JBT are two of the best acts to ever come out of WA. Seems all you can appreciate are the pop acts the TV tells you to appreciate Wayne. :-p
“It was still 32 degrees C at 7.30pm and blowing the humidity meter off the dial.”
Clearly the pollies are thinking of the social benefits in pushing daylight saving. 🙁
How anybody could see The Waifs AND JBT and not be in a state of perpetual ecstasy (the happy kind, not the pill kind) I have no idea! Inconceivable!
Andrew, have you seen TCE live yet? My absolute favourite live band. Ever. Bar none.
The funny thing is, after going to see live bands, and gleaning the exact same feeling I did from mainstream pentecostal church praise & worship, I figured some of that feeling isn’t actually God but the emotional pull of music. It’s actually taught me to discern emotionalism vs God. Which is a good thing. 🙂
Oh, and if anybody’s interested, I learnt some fairly profound (for me) lessons from my last JBT concert. So much so I blogged about it.
After years of believing what I’d been told – that “secular” music is evil – I find it amazing how much I learn about God from it!
And TCE would stand for?… 🙂 Sorry – I really don’t know!
TCE = The Cat Empire. That was directed to Andrew. 🙂
Nope… never heard of em… 🙂
No I’ve never seen TCE live but can imagine they will be energetic and awesome. I’m really looking forward to it. There aren’t many bands out there nowadays that major on keyboards, brass and percussion so it should be a hoot!
Andrew, if you love JBT you will very likely love TCE.
I’ve seen them live now probably half a dozen times. Their show this week will be the first time I’ve missed a tour to Victoria in four years. 🙁
Just a word of warning – Harry (trumpet/vocals) is completely insane and if you are too close to a speaker you won’t be able to hear for days because he blows his trumpet ridiculously loudly into the mic. Oh, and the expressions that cross Ollie’s (keys) face are priceless. You’ll know what I mean when you see them.
If you are the dancing (in my case more of a “jumping around like a crazy person”) type, head on down towards the front early on with the nutty fans, otherwise you’ll never get near the front. And wear closed-toed shoes. I made the mistake of wearing thongs once. People aren’t very careful with their feet, and it hurts.
Apologies for the shameless self-promotion, but Andrew might be interested in this. I also have a music review blog that I run with a friend – you can see reviews of The Cat Empire (and Harry’s side project Jackson Jackson as well as Ollie/Ryan/Will’s side project The Genie) there. it’s http://melbournelive.net 🙂
Self promotion over. It won’t happen again. Apologies to Hamo for filling the comments section with babble that probably reads to him like “blah blah blah blah music blah blah blah shoes blah blah”.
Oh… you were speaking to that ANdrew!
LOL! So sorry, I’ve never actually read your “about” page until I saw this and thought I’d better check. Didn’t realise you were Andrew too – I’ve only ever known you as Hamo.
That’s the problem with too many Andrews. We know a few IRL too. And there are FAR too many Matts around the place. We know at least half a dozen quite well, and it gets really confusing when we say “I spoke to Matt today…” – it ends up with “No, not THAT Matt. The other one. No, not that one either – Leanne’s Matt.” “Oh, THAT Matt! How is Matt?” 🙂