Tag: concert

Got ‘Em

I was really hoping for this… 90’s alternative rock nerd boy just scored two tickets to see Belly in October. Now I just need Throwing Muses to announce North American shows and my 2025 musical life will be complete. I want to see both halves of Throwing Muses this year.

I did not see Belly when they were together in the 90’s and I did not see them when they got back together a few years ago and I did not see them when they played in my freakin’ back yard (Lowell, MA) last year. This will correct this gross oversite on my musical obsession bingo card. I saw Tanya Donelly shortly after Belly split, and once more years later with Jen, and once with Throwing Muses back in 1989, but I’ve never seen Belly.

I’m trying to remember all of the Muses related shows I’ve seen…

  • Opening for REM at Great Woods in ’89
  • At the Hatch Shell in Boston (a free show) in… ’95? I think. It was before Limbo came out
  • At an in-store mini set at Newbury Comics in Harvard Square on the day Limbo came out in ’96
  • At the Middle East on the day that Limbo came out in ’96 (yes, I saw them twice on the same day)
  • Tanya at The Paradise… either just before or just after her first solo LP came out
  • Kristin Hersh at The Paradise playing solo acoustic around the time Strange Angels came out… I think.
  • Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave at The Middle East on August 11, 2006
  • Kristin Hersh at Hy N Dry Studio on May 27, 2007 with Jen
  • Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly (separately and briefly together) on October 6, 2007 at The Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA

Damn… that list is a whole lot shorter than I thought it would be. I’m pretty sure that’s it though. Hopefully this year we’ll be adding two more shows to it. Hopefully… if Throwing Muses would just announce a nice Boston show to go along with their already announced European shows.

Happy concert tickets day, everyone.

Live Music in 2025

My New Years resolutions speculations post from a few weeks ago included seeing more live music this year. I’ll use posts like this one to sort of take notes on shows that may be coming to my neck of the woods (or not) that I would like to try and work up the energy/courage to go see. We’ll see how this list develops over the course of the year.

  • Tsunami on March 23rd at the Crystal Ballroom in Somerville Theatre
    • Yes I want to see this show. Will I? I don’t know. Tickets are already on sale.
  • Throwing Muses
    • No US dates have been announced though there are shows on the books in Europe. If they play in the US you are probably going to have to chain me to a wall and lock me in a dungeon to keep me away.
  • Steven Wilson
    • No US dates have been announced though there are shows in Europe (a lot of them) and word is that US/North American shows are coming. I would like to see him but how badly I want to go depends on his next record, which comes out in March. If it’s really good, then I will try to see a show, assuming he plays in/around Boston.
  • Lizardfish
    • Duh

More to come as the year rolls on. I want 2025 to be a more musical year, but how badly do I want that? I’ll let you know as things develop.

Tough Day Ahead

Today is going to be long and difficult. It’s 9:28am and I am already exhausted. Yippee, right?

I got home at about 12:20am this morning. I had a glass of water and went to sleep a little before 1:00. I woke up about 5:30. Yeah, I’m tired.

The show was fun. I think for the first time I may have seen Iron Maiden showing its age a little. We know the drummer had a minor stroke not long ago, and he’s let it be known that there are things that he used to be able to do that he is no longer physically able to do. Was that why the set was somewhat lacking in classics? Maybe. Was that why the band was… and I mean this in the most respectful way possible… somewhat less than tight? Probably not. I mean, as great as a live band as they are let us be frank with ourselves and admit that they were never really that tight. They always had their moments where things would lock in and the results would be spectacular, but over all? Yeah, they could be sloppy. Rhythmically, mostly. Tempos were always a little weird. Guitar leads and vocals would slide in and out of time here and there. These aren’t criticisms at all. Not at all. It’s just how they play. Always has been. It’s just that last night those moments seemed maybe a little more frequent and maybe a little more obvious. Vocally there were some struggles. Timing wise for the most part, but pitch wise too. Bruce is 66 years old. Over all he was amazing, as usual… he just wasn’t quite as perfect as he used to be.

Again, these are not complaints at all. Not even a little bit. They are just observations from a picky music school nerd who clearly loved every second of the show… and I clearly loved every second of the show. It was great.

The highlight for me was Fear of the Dark. I used to think I was the only one around who really dug that song, but the crowd went berserk when they played it. We were in the back row of the middle level and couldn’t see the stage at all if we stood up. Still, when Fear of the Dark started half of the people in front of us stood up and went nuts. I guess I’m not the only one who loves that particular song.

They only hit the first record (still my favorite) once. They played Iron Maiden… the song from the album of the same name from the band of the same name. It was one of those moments where the tempo was alarmingly slow, and Bruce let the crowd sing a lot of it. Totally understandable, but the second that Dave Murray started playing it, your humble narrator here was on cloud nine.

Now if he can also just get through the work day so he can get himself a little more sleep. Hang in there, tired people!

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal

The 1980’s live forever ’round these parts.

Not really, but also kind of really.

Back then we used to go to see most of the big concerts at the Worcester Centum in Worcester, MA. Most bands avoided Boston itself and went about 60 miles to the west to put on their shows at the Centrum. Partly because Boston is tough to get around in a big tractor trailer truck, but also because the only real place to play in the city at that time was the old Boston Garden and Billy Joel said it best when he said even hockey games sound terrible at the Garden.

The Centrum was smaller but easier to get around. Almost all of the big arena bands played there. The stadium bands played the old Foxborough Stadium, but the arena acts went to Worcester.

My first show ever, Triumph was at the Centrum. My first four Rush shows were there. I saw Boston there when they played six sell outs on six consecutive days. I saw the eight man version of Yes there on the Union tour. Absolutely stunning show touring an awful album. I saw a ton of great shows there.

My friends Larry and Mike saw Iron Maiden there in 1988 (I think) when they were touring the Seventh Son album. They asked me if I wanted to go, but I hadn’t caught on to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal thing yet. By the time Maiden returned in 1990 I was fully on board and we all went back to Worcester to see them.

The Worcester Centrum is now called the DCU Center but it’s still the same building. The last thing I saw there was an AHL hockey game back in… 2001? Maybe? I don’t think I’ve been back since.

That changes in November. I just bought tickets for me, Mike, and Larry to go see Iron Maiden once again. It’s going to be freakin’ epic. I saw them that time in 1990, then again on the first tour after Bruce and Adrien rejoined in (I think) 2000, though that show was in Portland, ME. I saw them again at the venue formerly known as Great Woods shortly before the pandemic hit. Was it August 2019? It might have been 2018, but I think it was 2019. And now, come November, I am going to see them yet again at the venue formerly known as the Worcester Centrum, yet again.

Bring on that New Wave of British Heavy Metal one more time, people.

Do you think they’ll play Die With Your Boots On?

I hope they play Die With Your Boots On.

Get Well Soon

We have a cat named Robin. She was not named after English guitar hero Robin Trower*.

Robin Trower had a US tour booked for this fall and he has a 50th anniversary expanded edition of his biggest record, Bridge of Sighs, due to hit the stores tomorrow. I did not buy tickets to his show in my neck of the woods, on October 5th (which is also my sister’s birthday), but I was thinking about it. Strongly. I saw him live once in 1988 (I think) and would love to see him one more time before he packs it in.

Unfortunately, just the other day he had to cancel the tour. He has a health issue that requires surgery and has the possibility of a long recovery period. It seems I may have missed my chance to see him one more time. Crud.

Get well soon, Mr Trower. Come back and see us soon, and maybe bring a Les Paul with you. I mean you used to play Gibsons back in your Procol Harem days. I know you’ve been pretty much 100% Strat since then, but maybe it might be fun to be nostalgic for the old days, eh?

*Robin the cat was not named after Robin Trower. She was named after Robin Sparkles.

Random Pics from Last Night

I took a few pictures with my iPhone last night. I figure I’ll share a few of the decent-ish ones. It has been almost exactly four years since I’ve experienced live music. I knew I missed it, but I wasn’t aware of how much I missed it. I am not going to be able to wait four years before I get more. I did wear a mask through the whole show though. Some things have definitely changed over the last four years.

Anyway, random pics:

Live Music!

The last concert I attended prior to the pandemic was Letters to Cleo’s (sort of?) annual November reunion at The Paradise in Boston.

Tonight? We’re going to see Letters to Cleo again. Live music! I almost forget what it feels like. The only downside of The Paradise is there is no parking so you have to go early and hunt for one. Outside of that, tonight should be epic. Epic, like you’ve read about.

November 23, 2019. My last concert before the pandemic.

Flash Fail

I don’t like using a flash when I take pictures. I just don’t like the way it looks. I use it sometimes, all of the indoor Christmas decorations pics from yesterday (except the owl) had the flash on, but generally speaking I avoid it as much as possible. When I was a kid and we had our cheap little point and shoot camera I thought the flash was a requirement. When Dad bought his SLR he had a separate flash that mounted on top of the camera but I don’t really remember him using it at all. The only times I remember him using the camera were outside during the day. Specifically, our one trip to Niagara falls where he let me use the camera for a while and I realized I kinda loved it.

When my sister found the camera in Dad’s dresser the flash was there and I took it with the rest of the stuff. I never tried to use it though, until today. I knew from my million or so viewings of how-to-use-your-manual-slr videos on the youtubes that there is a shutter speed setting for using an external flash. What about the aperture though? How do I know how to set that? Back to the youtubes I go. I watched a couple of videos this morning and it made perfect sense. The flash has an ISO setting and when you set it to your current film speed it tells you what aperture to use and the approximate distance the flash will be effective.

I set up my film camera, which currently does not have any film in it, to see if I could at least get the flash to flash. The unit wouldn’t turn on so the batteries must have been dead. I found the battery door, opened it up and… The last time the batteries were changed was probably some time in the mid 80’s. They have been sitting there all of those decades and one of them leaked like crazy. I was pretty surprised that only one of them leaked, but it was enough. The terminals are all corroded and changing the batteries didn’t work. I watched still more youtubes on cleaning battery connections and I know what I need to do before I try again, I am just not entirely sure I want to bother trying. Like I said at the start, I don’t like using a flash. I might try to use it on Christmas morning, or something, but other than that? I don’t really see myself going through the trouble of setting it up. Maybe this weekend I’ll try to clean the terminals, just to see how that goes. Until then, I am not going to worry about it.

On an unrelated note, our plans for New York this weekend have been canceled. Not because of Covid-19 paranoia, but because of some back pain issues. We’re still planning to go to Bellana’s concert in Vermont on Sunday. We’ll have to see how it goes. I doubt I’ll bring a film camera there. It’ll be too dark in the room and I don’t want to use a flash.