Wednesday, September 21, 2005
In the past few weeks I have seen three very different concerts. Here are my reviews.
Rolling Stones. 08/26/2005. Hartford, CT.
This was the first big media concert I've been to in years. To tell you the truth, I didn't miss it at all. The parking was atrocious and the throngs of people were intimidating. It was played at the new open air Rentschler field in East Hartford. This is UCONN's new football stadium. Rentschler field is Pratt and Whitneys old airplane testing strip and, as we arrived a little late, we ended up being directed to park at the very end of the strip. When Aleana and I got out of the car the stadium was about the size of a dime on the horizon. We literally had to walk through two miles of drunken miscreants to get to the stadium. But that is where the molestation ended, almost. I say "almost" because once we filed inside and took our seats those Maroon 5 crybabies sauntered out on stage. Mick, bad choice. Anyway, the Stones eventually came on after displaying a painful video introduction on their big screen above the stage. Lots of fire and pomp and they took the stage with aggression. Mick ran around like a man possessed the entire time. It really was quite incredible for his age. Keith "Koffin" Richards had both his feet in the grave but somehow kept his nose out of the tomb for the entire concert. We were on the floor with pretty good seats. They looked strangely like marienettes from the distance. Sort of like stick figures. About halfway through the concert they all got on this platform in the middle of the stage and it started moving out into the crowd. It travelled along a pier in the crowd which no one had really noticed and stopped at the end right next to us. There they were. The biggest rock'n'roll band in the world about 10 feet away. My mother almost had an aneurism. All I can say is that they looked ancient. They were all skin and bones and ligaments. Naturally, Koffin looked the worst. He gave his guitar pick to the oldest most bedraggled lady around us. It was really kind of funny. They certainly weren't the Rolling Stones I thought of from all those magazine covers and MTV videos. Either way it was pretty cool.
The music was good, at least as good as massive stadium sound can get. I guess it was really just loud. However, there was lots of background noise. It most certainly was not just Mick, Kieth, Wood, and Watts. I guess you need to do this for an ailing 60s band. They even let Koffin have the mic a few times and it was anything but intelligable. Koffin also played some of his songs off the new album. These were not the sort of songs people will remember. At least I can say I saw the Rolling Stones. They will probably start expiring by the end of the tour. I'm just glad we saw them at the second concert before they got all tuckered out.
Apocalyptica. 09/15/2005. Boston.
Now this is something to appreciate. To start, it was at the tiny Paradise near BC which is a great venue to see bands up close. Apocalyptica is like Beethoven plus Rammstein. They are four cellists and one drummer. And they only play metal. And they're all Germans. And they only play metal. The opening band was some screaming death metal band from California but it was too loud to bare as I had forgotten ear plugs. Anyway, Apocalyptica started off with a Metallica cover that had the place rocking immediately. And they continued like this for most of the concert. They did a couple of slower ballads but it was only cellos and a drum which had a rather primal effect. They also had distortion they could turn on and off for their cellos to make them sound like electric guitars. They also controlled the volume of the cellos to make one stand out more than another (as Aleana pointed out, being a seasoned cellist herself). Besides some fat guy that occassionally started moshing around, the concert was entirely enjoyable. I haven't seen a band that put on such a rocking unique concert since Reverend Glasseye. Be sure to check them out if they're ever around your area.
The Proclaimers. 09/16/2005. Boston.
Yet another personal show at the Paradise. I remember seeing the video for "1000 Miles" years ago on MTV and really enjoying it. I had since forgotten about the Proclaimers but when I was looking for Apocalyptica tickets I saw they were playing the following night. So I decided to see them as well.
The opener was a drag. Some weird slow country with only a guitar, a keyboard, and a drummer. They left and on came the two twins and the rest of the band with enthusiasm. We soon noticed that the bar at the back was filling with green jersies. Glasgow Celts jersies to be exact. So eventually there were a bunch of wasted Scotsmen running around. They seemed to know all the words and individually drank more Bud bottles than KP himself ever could. The Proclaimers played fast and slow songs and, to everyone's delight, even "1000 miles". A man in a kilt danced around on stage until he was thrown out and the Scotsmen chanted Celts cheers between songs. It was all quite silly and a pretty good time.
Words of the Day
pathos - a quality that arouses emotions
flunkey - a male servant: lackey
genuflect - bend at the knees and bow (as in church)
purloin - make off with belongings of others: pilfer, cabbage
virulent - extremely poisonous or injurious: deadly, acerbic
Rolling Stones. 08/26/2005. Hartford, CT.
This was the first big media concert I've been to in years. To tell you the truth, I didn't miss it at all. The parking was atrocious and the throngs of people were intimidating. It was played at the new open air Rentschler field in East Hartford. This is UCONN's new football stadium. Rentschler field is Pratt and Whitneys old airplane testing strip and, as we arrived a little late, we ended up being directed to park at the very end of the strip. When Aleana and I got out of the car the stadium was about the size of a dime on the horizon. We literally had to walk through two miles of drunken miscreants to get to the stadium. But that is where the molestation ended, almost. I say "almost" because once we filed inside and took our seats those Maroon 5 crybabies sauntered out on stage. Mick, bad choice. Anyway, the Stones eventually came on after displaying a painful video introduction on their big screen above the stage. Lots of fire and pomp and they took the stage with aggression. Mick ran around like a man possessed the entire time. It really was quite incredible for his age. Keith "Koffin" Richards had both his feet in the grave but somehow kept his nose out of the tomb for the entire concert. We were on the floor with pretty good seats. They looked strangely like marienettes from the distance. Sort of like stick figures. About halfway through the concert they all got on this platform in the middle of the stage and it started moving out into the crowd. It travelled along a pier in the crowd which no one had really noticed and stopped at the end right next to us. There they were. The biggest rock'n'roll band in the world about 10 feet away. My mother almost had an aneurism. All I can say is that they looked ancient. They were all skin and bones and ligaments. Naturally, Koffin looked the worst. He gave his guitar pick to the oldest most bedraggled lady around us. It was really kind of funny. They certainly weren't the Rolling Stones I thought of from all those magazine covers and MTV videos. Either way it was pretty cool.
The music was good, at least as good as massive stadium sound can get. I guess it was really just loud. However, there was lots of background noise. It most certainly was not just Mick, Kieth, Wood, and Watts. I guess you need to do this for an ailing 60s band. They even let Koffin have the mic a few times and it was anything but intelligable. Koffin also played some of his songs off the new album. These were not the sort of songs people will remember. At least I can say I saw the Rolling Stones. They will probably start expiring by the end of the tour. I'm just glad we saw them at the second concert before they got all tuckered out.
Apocalyptica. 09/15/2005. Boston.
Now this is something to appreciate. To start, it was at the tiny Paradise near BC which is a great venue to see bands up close. Apocalyptica is like Beethoven plus Rammstein. They are four cellists and one drummer. And they only play metal. And they're all Germans. And they only play metal. The opening band was some screaming death metal band from California but it was too loud to bare as I had forgotten ear plugs. Anyway, Apocalyptica started off with a Metallica cover that had the place rocking immediately. And they continued like this for most of the concert. They did a couple of slower ballads but it was only cellos and a drum which had a rather primal effect. They also had distortion they could turn on and off for their cellos to make them sound like electric guitars. They also controlled the volume of the cellos to make one stand out more than another (as Aleana pointed out, being a seasoned cellist herself). Besides some fat guy that occassionally started moshing around, the concert was entirely enjoyable. I haven't seen a band that put on such a rocking unique concert since Reverend Glasseye. Be sure to check them out if they're ever around your area.
The Proclaimers. 09/16/2005. Boston.
Yet another personal show at the Paradise. I remember seeing the video for "1000 Miles" years ago on MTV and really enjoying it. I had since forgotten about the Proclaimers but when I was looking for Apocalyptica tickets I saw they were playing the following night. So I decided to see them as well.
The opener was a drag. Some weird slow country with only a guitar, a keyboard, and a drummer. They left and on came the two twins and the rest of the band with enthusiasm. We soon noticed that the bar at the back was filling with green jersies. Glasgow Celts jersies to be exact. So eventually there were a bunch of wasted Scotsmen running around. They seemed to know all the words and individually drank more Bud bottles than KP himself ever could. The Proclaimers played fast and slow songs and, to everyone's delight, even "1000 miles". A man in a kilt danced around on stage until he was thrown out and the Scotsmen chanted Celts cheers between songs. It was all quite silly and a pretty good time.
Words of the Day
pathos - a quality that arouses emotions
flunkey - a male servant: lackey
genuflect - bend at the knees and bow (as in church)
purloin - make off with belongings of others: pilfer, cabbage
virulent - extremely poisonous or injurious: deadly, acerbic
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