A big part of my yearly budget is dedicated to live music, and no time of the year more so than summer. My summer live music tradition started back in high school when I took my favorite concert companion, Mini Deal, to her very first concert – Tom Petty. Since then, we’ve made it a summer tradition to see one of the following: Tom Petty, John Mayer, Guster or Michael Bublé. It’s been hard since she moved to B’more since Mini likes pretty much every artist I do (except maybe David Bowie) and was a guaranteed concert companion. However, this summer I’ve finally managed to (almost) fill her shoes with various friends.
The theme of this summer’s concert experience would have to be “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Bublé”
- Something Old
New Found Glory was my first musical love. Back in 1998, I randomly happened upon them at the El N’ Gee, and it was love at first hearing. Fast forward to 2001 at Radio 104 fest to a girl with bright green plaid pants and purple hair, jumping and singing every word of every song they sang in a crowd of people who really didn’t know them. Over the next 9 years, they’ve been replaced in the music industry by sorry imitations of these pioneers of the pop punk genre but never replaced in my heart. When I saw that one of my new favorite bands Paramore was touring this summer (and Hayley Williams of Paramore happens to be dating Chad from NFG), I was immediately excited that there may be one of the greatest pairings in my musical history occuring. Luckily for me, my wish came true. I was also lucky to have a great concert buddy in Nicole’s husband Joey, whose love of NFG is probably the closest on the Earth to mine and whose love of Paramore Hayley Williams exceeds mine. When the band announced their intention of doing a meet and greet after the next band, Joey pushed his way through the crowd and got us a spopt right at the front of the line. We waited over an hour in a crowd of kids who weren’t even alive when NFG started and probably couldn’t name a single member other than Chad, but we didn’t mind because our dreams came true!
Joey started out patient
Wat a gwann! Stop cutting the line!
I’m exploding with excitement as NFG emerges
It was probably the greatest night of my life (sorry Kevin, but its true). Oh yeah, then Paramore came out and rocked (and made Joey drool).
- Something New
While en route to Wales for our fabulous weekend away with Sarka and Al, they introduced us to a favorite road trip artist Frank Turner. Part of a growing movement of former punk musicians turned folk music, his music is dominated by punk cords played on an acoustic guitar. It may seem a strange change of pace for a musician, but punk music (like folk) started as a social and political commentary of the times, much like folk music. Nevertheless, Frank Turner (and his counterparts) appeals to my love of angst filled music and acoustic guitars. Knowing that my friend Doyle shares a similar love, being a fan of Turners American counterpart Tim Barry, I introduced him to Frank Turner. Its a good thing I did, because he spotted an appearance by Frank Turner at the Webster in Hartford. I very quickly agreed to attend, and even got our friend KLF to go as well. The show happened to be in the underground part of the club which worked out perfect for us. For one, there was a bar inside that sold 16 ounce cans of High Life. It also allowed a fantastic up close look at Frank Turner as he enjoyed his American favorite PBR with the rest of us while waiting for his turn. Another reason why I love the man – he’s a musician of the common folk. Also, the venue only holds about 200 people so there are no bad places to stand. A small underground venue works great when you have a musician with just his guitar. I loved Frank Turner so much, I conned Kev into taking me to his show in Kendal when I’m in England next.
Katie’s favorite Frank song of the night. She did not however appreciate the stomping.
- Something Borrowed
When Doyle sent out an email about Frank Turner, he also included an appeal for people to go with him to see Gaslight Anthem at Lupos. I will admit that I had no idea who they were, but since Doyle and I have very similar taste in music, I quickly agreed to go. The day of the show, I decided I should probably listen to a few of their songs so I would have an idea of what they were about. The opening act was one of Doyle’s favorite – Tim Barry (the American equivalent to Frank Turner). A former punk rocker, he sings about social issues and his time riding freight trains around the country. I found I really like him (but not quite as much as Frank). The second band was horrible. They managed to make every one of their songs sound exactly like some other bands song, but with different lyrics (and it wasn’t always the same band). Also, the lead singer had a huge collection of cheesy lead singer moves that he busted out the whole time they were on stage. HORRIBLE! I began to worry that I would not like Gaslight Anthem, especially when Doyle told me that they are friends with and have played with Springsteen. I HATE The Boss. I was greatly pleased when they came out and started playing. They are a great Old Time American Rock N Roll band. It doesn’t help that the lead singer appeals to my love of tattooed rockers that also play guitar. The only downside was the superlarge superdrunk superfan in front of us who felt the need to stand on her barstool the entire time screaming, pointing and just in generally being annoying. Even my screaming “CHAIRS ARE FOR SITTING IN!” didn’t phase her. Her giant melon head blocked the band most of the time. Rrrr…some people need to learn concert etiquette.
One of my favorite songs of the night
Check them out – even Kevin with his terrible taste in music loves them:)
- Something Bublé
Anyone who has met me for even 5 minutes knows of my love for Michael Bublé. Mini Deal and I saw him before his first album even came out at Foxwoods and fell in love. I even somehow convinced Kevin to use his song “Everything” as our wedding song. Not really sure how I managed that one since Kevin really hates The Bub. Up until this summer, we had seen him 5 times, and each time got better and better. So when I saw that he was going to be at Mohegan Sun over 4th of July weekend, I quickly informed Mini so that she could start making plans to come home. Even though I know I could have found someone closer to go with, there’s no one I’d rather see The Bub with than my sister. One benefit of being a superdorky superfan who belongs to the Michael Bublé fanclub is ticket presale. Since the rest of the world (except Kevin) has jumped on the Bublé bandwagon, its become harder and harder to get tickets. However, since I belong to his fanclub. I got the opportunity to purchase ticekts 2 days early, and managed to score 2 floor seats, affording me and Mini a fantastic view of the dreamy Bublé.
Can you see how close we are?? He literally walked 10 feet from us to get over there
The best part about his concerts is that they are always different, he always tells ridiculous stories and he ALWAYS plays some obscure song he never plays when Mini requests it. This time, he played Mack the Knife literally right after Cailin said she wanted him to play it. Maybe she should use her mind powers to request that he show up at 13 Bolles Avenue…
So as you can see, music keeps me busy while Kevin’s gone.
The Gaslight Anthem reminds me of the Goo Goo Dolls, which I suppose isn't a bad thing. hehe -Don
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