2009 Concert Year In Review. Hah.
Last year I attended 20 concerts, and that was the third consecutive year that my total dropped from my highwater mark of 51 in 2005.. Well, I've blown that out of the water with 2009, when I made it to a scant 10 concerts. 10! Sheesh. I'm basically become 'that guy who used to go to shows'. Heck, my count of 10 includes a book reading with live music (the Palimpsest show) and the Cleveland Orchestra doing Bugs Bunny on Broadway. So you could make a strong case for it being just 8 concerts.
Even worse in some ways is that of the remaining 8 concerts, most of them had headliners I'd seen before in some form or another. For instance, I saw the Black Keys again, then I saw Dan Auerbach solo, and Patrick Carney's other project, Drummer. Fortunately, all three of the shows were very good, but still. Then I saw They Might Be Giants, The Sadies and Fred Eaglesmith again, so now I'm down to just 2 new headliners that I'd not seen before. Again, all of these bands were good, but none of them did anything I hadn't seen before.
On the plus side, those last two headliners knocked it out of the park. Mudhoney tore the Grog Shop apart. It may have been a 'nostalgia' show to a certain extent, but somebody forgot to tell them that. The other headliner was my favorite Studio-A-Rama headliner of all time: Mission of Burma. They were fucking amazing. This was hands down the best show of 2009, and would have been the best show of many other years as well.
So on the face of it, the story on 2009 was quality over quantity. But if I look closer, I can see that a lot of those bands are starting to grow old with me. I love Fred and he's always fun, but I don't really need to see him again for a while. Ditto for They Might Be Giants, who at this point are phoning it in; the difference is that when they phone it in they are still better than most other bands. The Sadies were great (as was their opener, the Waco Brothers), but even the mighty Black Keys are starting to drag live for me.
So my concert resolution for 2010 has three parts:
[1] Go see more shows.
[2] Show preference to bands I've not seen before.
[3] Take some risks. Spend $8 to see a band I've never heard of before.
This approach has some advantages, namely that bands I've never heard of are usually a lot cheaper. And if I see skip shows for bands I've seen lots of times already, that frees up cash & time for other shows. The concert calendar I posted yesterday is a step in the right direction; now I just have to follow up. Of course, this requires me to have funds, which may mean cutting back on movies or eating out. I think it's worth it. A good concert is almost always more fun than a good movie.
Anyway, here's the full list:
Concerts - 10
Bands - 22
The Black Keys - F 1/30 - Agora Theater
Dan Auerbach - R 3/5 - Beachland Ballroom
The Sadies w/The Waco Brothers - S 3/7 - Beachland Ballroom
Palimpset w/SJ Tucker & Catherynne M Valente - M 3/16 - Mac's Backs
Fred Eaglesmith - Su 4/26 - Beachland Ballroom
Mudhoney w/National Suicide Day - S 5/16 - Grog Shop
Studio-A-Rama 2008 - S 9/06
Chief Bromide, Neon Tongues, Flowers In Flames, Uno Lady, The Kyle Sowashes, Mike St. Jude and the Valentines, Kid Tested, Megachurch, Mission of Burma
The Cleveland Orchestra "Bugs Bunny on Broadway" - Su 9/06 - Blossom
They Might Be Giants - R 10/15 - Beachland Ballroom
Drummer w/Other Girls, The Royal Bangs - Beachland Ballroom
By the way, The Royal Bangs totally suck. I've seen them twice now and they've got nothing. Avoid them.
Even worse in some ways is that of the remaining 8 concerts, most of them had headliners I'd seen before in some form or another. For instance, I saw the Black Keys again, then I saw Dan Auerbach solo, and Patrick Carney's other project, Drummer. Fortunately, all three of the shows were very good, but still. Then I saw They Might Be Giants, The Sadies and Fred Eaglesmith again, so now I'm down to just 2 new headliners that I'd not seen before. Again, all of these bands were good, but none of them did anything I hadn't seen before.
On the plus side, those last two headliners knocked it out of the park. Mudhoney tore the Grog Shop apart. It may have been a 'nostalgia' show to a certain extent, but somebody forgot to tell them that. The other headliner was my favorite Studio-A-Rama headliner of all time: Mission of Burma. They were fucking amazing. This was hands down the best show of 2009, and would have been the best show of many other years as well.
So on the face of it, the story on 2009 was quality over quantity. But if I look closer, I can see that a lot of those bands are starting to grow old with me. I love Fred and he's always fun, but I don't really need to see him again for a while. Ditto for They Might Be Giants, who at this point are phoning it in; the difference is that when they phone it in they are still better than most other bands. The Sadies were great (as was their opener, the Waco Brothers), but even the mighty Black Keys are starting to drag live for me.
So my concert resolution for 2010 has three parts:
[1] Go see more shows.
[2] Show preference to bands I've not seen before.
[3] Take some risks. Spend $8 to see a band I've never heard of before.
This approach has some advantages, namely that bands I've never heard of are usually a lot cheaper. And if I see skip shows for bands I've seen lots of times already, that frees up cash & time for other shows. The concert calendar I posted yesterday is a step in the right direction; now I just have to follow up. Of course, this requires me to have funds, which may mean cutting back on movies or eating out. I think it's worth it. A good concert is almost always more fun than a good movie.
Anyway, here's the full list:
Concerts - 10
Bands - 22
The Black Keys - F 1/30 - Agora Theater
Dan Auerbach - R 3/5 - Beachland Ballroom
The Sadies w/The Waco Brothers - S 3/7 - Beachland Ballroom
Palimpset w/SJ Tucker & Catherynne M Valente - M 3/16 - Mac's Backs
Fred Eaglesmith - Su 4/26 - Beachland Ballroom
Mudhoney w/National Suicide Day - S 5/16 - Grog Shop
Studio-A-Rama 2008 - S 9/06
Chief Bromide, Neon Tongues, Flowers In Flames, Uno Lady, The Kyle Sowashes, Mike St. Jude and the Valentines, Kid Tested, Megachurch, Mission of Burma
The Cleveland Orchestra "Bugs Bunny on Broadway" - Su 9/06 - Blossom
They Might Be Giants - R 10/15 - Beachland Ballroom
Drummer w/Other Girls, The Royal Bangs - Beachland Ballroom
By the way, The Royal Bangs totally suck. I've seen them twice now and they've got nothing. Avoid them.