Live music is either perfection or hell. There is so much more than the performer on stage that makes up the entire concert experience. Finding good parking can make a mediocre event fabulous. The same goes for the negative. Seat or stand me next to an annoying ‘woo hooo’ fan and I’m gonna hate everything. There are times when the crowd can save the band as well. When all the planets are in line and all the cosmic pressures balance, magic happens. This year only three of those occured, but man oh man did they occur. Over the years I have seen many live shows and 2013 gave me ‘the show of my life’, and that’s no small feat!
The designation of ‘best concert of my life” goes to Morrissey on January 19th at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester New York. The Capitol is a great old theater with a fabulous staff and on this night everything was perfect. My sight line was stellar, Moz was on point and I have never felt so engulfed in musical utopia in my entire life. I am not sure if its Morrissey or what he represents that transported me right out of my mind and into his world. He looked angelic and days later would cancel his entire tour and puke up black bile- thereafter taking to sick beds and blood transfusions and all that jazz. Maybe we got the borderline dying Moz and he really was an angel- Im not sure but forever will that night be emblazoned on my mind.
Up next was a concert I would never have gone to and not only went but went alone. Surrounded by thug life was this middle aged white bitch in doc martins and a sneer for the stage spectacular of Pitbull at the Mass Mutual Center Springfield Massachusetts on May 24th, 2013. I can tell you the crowd was obnoxious Springfield latin community was loud and proud and liqured up to come see the Culo master. I stood 6 rows from the stage amazed at how different a ‘stadium’ show was compared to the tiny venues I was used to and mesmerized how Pit would do duets with a movie screen. Hell who needs holograms, we goin’ old school y’all. But the energy and the awkward dancing and the confetti and the sexual innuendo captivated me. I love Pitbull, he’s a fucking genius.
The next is also my most recent. Mr Elvis Costello. November 3, 2013 at the Calvin Theater in North Hampton Massachusetts. This was not my first time to see Costello but it’s the event I thought would never happen. See I have an unhealthy obsession with Mr Costello that has sparked the interest of his security team. He has always been my main crush and hey let’s face it- the guy aint aging well. In recent years he has bloated and I blame the husband / father role he now owns. He let himself go. His infamous snarky attitude which was so sexy and flippant turned in to grumpy old man babble- he lost his cool. Then after I dismissed him as a ghost of crushes past he goes and drops a ton, hanging with the cool kids (ie Quest and Roots and Fallon) and like a giant deflated balloon he shows up with the announcement of a solo tour. I debated forever if I should subject myself to the has been and had it not been for the ridiculous generosity of my partner Iman Lababedi and the looming birthdays of both Mary Magpie and Myself I would have never gone. But I did and as I sat there next to my kid, 30 years younger than me I realized something. Cool is immortal. She had the same jaw drop and sparkle in her eye as I did when I first saw him some 33 years earlier. He was older and rounder but taughter. He was charming and insightful and witty. He was cool and he was old and his pipes….perfection.
Yup, there were runners up but if I can’t recall them off the top of my head they didn’t leave a great enough impression. 2014? You’re up next.