Concert experiences

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elfsprin
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Concert experiences

Post by elfsprin » Wed Nov 24, 2021 9:56 pm

Share anecdotes about concerts you've attended?
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity - Simone Weil

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elfsprin
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Re: Concert experiences

Post by elfsprin » Wed Nov 24, 2021 9:56 pm

My first concert was Aerosmith when I was 15. A slightly older girl at work invited me, and her parents were going too. I didn't tell my parents anything about the band, just that the girl's parents were going. They gave permission.

While I was at the concert they saw some footage of the concert on the news: Steven Tyler dry humping a speaker.

They told me they saw this. I think I replied 'huh.'

We never spoke of it again.
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity - Simone Weil

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JohnClay
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Re: Concert experiences

Post by JohnClay » Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:18 am

In the year 2000 I lived on campus in an 8 bedroom flat. I was in my fourth year and had a crush on a first year student that lived in the flat. She was a big fan of Ben Harper. I downloaded lots of his songs from Napster that mostly weren't on his albums and I burnt them to 2 CDs - "Ben's mushy songs" and something like "Ben's rocking songs" - I gave them to her as a surprise present.

I saw a poster on the campus announcing his concert in Brisbane. I told the girl and then I got a kitchen knife. The poster had heaps of other posters beneath it so it was hard to cut through it all and remove the poster. Then I gave it to the girl.

I think the girl went to the mosh pit(?) [front standing area] and I sat on the seating by myself (for AU$40). Afterwards she said she liked "sexual healing" or something and I didn't share her enthusiasm. Anyway I just went because she was a fan - I'm not that much of a fan myself.

I've been to the Woodford Folk Festival a few times but that Ben Harper concert was the only dedicated concert for a singer I've been to.

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HighlyIrregular
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Re: Concert experiences

Post by HighlyIrregular » Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:30 am

I've never really been to one. I almost went to a free performance by Linda Ronstadt in Coney Island shortly before she quit singing. And I almost went with a friend to some concert because of the generosity of oxyjen, but my friend didn't want to pay the tolls to pick me up and bring me home just for tickets. A girl in High School played the violin with some big time orchestra that visited my school and I saw that, which probably counts, but I didn't appreciate it. People were saying she messed up but I didn't notice. I caught her crying afterwards.

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elfsprin
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Re: Concert experiences

Post by elfsprin » Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:37 am

I used to really like Ben Harper, but I haven’t listened to him in years.

Out of curiosity, is there a reason folks haven’t attended concerts much?

I’ve been to… many. I think … three times?… someone has gone with me, but other than that I always go alone. I love feeling music physically resonate through my body.

Right before COVID I attended the MN Orchestra performance of the Rite of Spring. Afterwards I sat in my car to cry for five minutes before I could drive. So good.

I think I’ve seen Ani DiFranco the most times (5?), but nothing especially significant ever happened at any of those concerts.

I saw B.R.M.C. at First Ave years ago (2006ish?) and the bassists Rob made prolonged eye contact with me, then pointed at me, came to the edge of the stage right in front of me, knelt down, turned the front of his guitar outwards, and played like that while making eye contact. Needless to say it was a huge turn on.

Oh, four times. In college I played ultimate frisbee and we always had themed parties, like ABC (anything but clothes). I was at a party where you weren’t allowed to drink out of any kind of conventional beverage holder, so I was drinking jungle juice out of a flower vase. Three of us including a crush of mine wandered to campus to watch a fellow teammate play violin in the opera. We sat in the balcony drinking out of our weird containers (we also had weird clothes on but I don’t remember the details/rules at that particular party), cheering (at respectful times heh) like the proles we were. It was great.
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JohnClay
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Re: Concert experiences

Post by JohnClay » Fri Nov 26, 2021 8:53 am

elfsprin wrote:
Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:37 am
I used to really like Ben Harper, but I haven’t listened to him in years.

Out of curiosity, is there a reason folks haven’t attended concerts much?
Well Ben Harper only cost AU$40 but others can be $100 or more. Besides the cost I didn't really feel enthusiastic about going there for hours. I thought recorded music has better sound quality. Or I could watch it on DVD (like my friend had a Cher concert on DVD that he'd play sometimes) - he turned out to be gay and he went on to live with a man in his 60s. Also the singer normally is hard to see in big concerts - though in some concerts I think there are big screens so you can see close ups of them.
I've been to some musicals though - they're ok.

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elfsprin
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Re: Concert experiences

Post by elfsprin » Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:38 pm

Hmm

I forget the entire world isn’t like Minneapolis, which has hundreds of concert venues. The most I ever paid to see a concert was 80/ticket, to take my dad to see Fleetwood Mac. Going to the orchestra is around $40. Most other concerts I’ve been to are $20-50.

The orchestra here does a series where you can go watch a movie, and the orchestra plays the score live. I guess I didn't count those as concerts in my prior posts. I’ve taken various partners to those over the years as fun gifts. Jurassic Park, Harry Potter movies, Star Wars, etc.

Earth, Wind & Fire played our state fair a few years ago and that was absolutely great.

For me it’s not about seeing the artist so much as it’s about feeling the music/it being really loud and enveloping.
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HighlyIrregular
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Re: Concert experiences

Post by HighlyIrregular » Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:52 pm

I hate loud music. I want to get married just so I can set the band straight and make them play at the volume I'm always wishing they were playing at weddings. And so I can have no alcohol and make all the alcoholics leave. I don't really want people around anyway so I probably wouldn't invite anyone. Maybe I'd invite my wife to be.

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elfsprin
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Re: Concert experiences

Post by elfsprin » Fri Nov 26, 2021 7:19 pm

Why do you hate loud music?

Someone once said to me, with a healthy amount of side eye, "that's the loudest I've ever heard someone play Chopin" after I took an introvert break to go sit in my car and listen to some preludes and nocturnes. They could hear it up at the house.

My wedding was fantastically weird. During the reception we had a music trivia contest. My spouse isn't really into music, except for scores and some other classical things. I consume all the music. So, we included some of his favorite pieces from scores and the guests had to give the name of the film they appeared in and the composer, bonus points for the formal title of the piece. I contributed about 25 cover songs from VSQ (Vitamin String Quartet), and they had to name the original artist and the song. It was great being able to play Closer and Possum Kingdom at my reception in such a way that folks who shouldn't know, didn't know :D

I guess this counts as a concert I put on for others, so this tangent *dubiously* belongs in this thread.

Lol here it is! Thank you spotify.

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HighlyIrregular
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Re: Concert experiences

Post by HighlyIrregular » Fri Nov 26, 2021 10:03 pm

I just do (hate loud music). Maybe there's some live orchestral stuff that I'd like loud but I'm not sure. Here's some traditional Hawaiian music that I recently downloaded. Maybe I'd like the typical concert hall volume.


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