A Rumination on Rock Concerts

Ed and I went to a Mötley Crüe concert this evening; the band is retiring (after 33 years) and currently going on a final tour, appropriately titled "All Bad Things Must Come to an End." Alice Cooper was their opening act, which was highly appropriate - lots of costume changes and general loudness. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously; when we got home we contemplated various aspects of our only-somewhat-misspent youth, remembering the bad music we listened to, the weird friends we had during our junior high and high school years. It was a fun evening, but I had a few thoughts during tonight's concert.

listen to ‘Alice Cooper - "Poison" (live)’ on Audioboo

("Poison" is one of the few Alice Cooper songs I know, and I rather like it, although we were remarking to each other that we both had a few moments of, "Oh, I know that song!" I had that reaction specifically during Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy.")

For starters, as I was the only one actually sitting (because the cost of an actual seat was the same price as the cost of a non-seat on the lawn) while Mötley Crüe did their thing, I felt my chair vibrating because of all the bass. I realized I was rocking out wrong. Plus, I'm pretty sure that we shouldn't have been wearing ear plugs, even though they were really helpful.

listen to ‘Mötley Crüe - "Dr. Feelgood" (live)’ on Audioboo

("Dr. Feelgood" is the song I remember and know best.)

Second, at various points during the concert, I thought about an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer attends Rock-n-Roll Fantasy Camp; various rockers (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Tom Petty, and others) teach Homer how to rock out. At the end of camp, Homer gets invited to their concert as an honorary roadie, although of course he misinterprets their invitation, usurps their concert, and starts to rock out, thus eliciting their anger. The rockers hop aboard a devil-shaped car and chase Homer around the stage. As mayhem ensues, Moe remarks that it's good to see the spectacle back in rock.

There were a lot of fireworks during the show, and quite a bit of fire as well. There was also a lot of beer, a lot of tattoos, a lot of big hair, and a lot of cursing coming from Vince Neil.  I almost felt over dressed and too well-mannered (except that every other concert goer I talked to was really nice).