Bleeding Eardrums

Last week, I was able to hit up Alpine Valley Music Theater not once but twice. The first time was for my annual Dave Matthews Band show. Normally it is two nights, but stupid Evan and stupid Marcy just HAD to get married on night one. So I only made it to Sunday night. Great show, won't go into the details but after 70+ times seeing the band, they can still find ways to impress me. 6 Days later, I was back up there for a night with Coldplay. I've only gotten into the band quite recently, but I find their work impressive, and their most recent album is one of the more creative efforts I've had the pleasure of listening to. Here's two pics, the first is them playing "Yellow", where some workers pulled out huge yellow balloons and tossed them into the crowd during the song. The second pic is from "Lovers in Japan", off Viva la Vida, and the multi-colored confetti is cut into the shapes of butterflies. Pretty cool.




I happened to mention this in the area at work the other day, and the fact that I saw Coldplay and Dave Matthews was met with some derision from Ron "where's my fucking money?" Bradbury. "Coldplay is for fags", said Ron (who is actually a good guy, just looks like Bald Bull from Super Punch Out). I'd heard this kind of abuse before, as Dave Matthews is the type of band that is either loved or reviled. I've given up on trying to defend the two bands, if you dig em; cool. If not, you can't save everybody. So I laughed it off, but it got me thinking about the last time I'd seen a band that wasn't "for fags." I used to go see rock and metal shows about once a month a few years ago, but the frequency of that has tailed off. I still see DMB at least 3 or 4 times a summer, but the System of a Downs and the Slipknots have been replaced by Coldplay and Hootie and the Blowfish. Last week I even had a chance to see Incubus, but passed it up. Am I getting old? Too old to show up at a rock show? Ugh. The thought of turning 30 and being "that guy" at a rock show scares the shit out of me.

I always wondered if I would get to the point where I wouldn't want to bother with going to live shows anymore. I really don't think that I'm at that point yet, but I'm eager to prove to myself that I can still rock out. I would have gone to Lollapalooza this year to see Tool and Jane's Addiction, but that's the night of my bachelor's party, so that's out. I think the next chance for me to be metal will be later this year when the Deftones (my second favorite band) new album drops. There will be a fall tour for sure, and I can prove to myself that I still rock. Or I'll go there, stick my fingers in my ears, and glare at all the damn kids who keep elbowing me in the side. Either way, at least I'll have an answer. And just to remind myself of how much I used to rock, I compiled a list of all the bands that I've seen live. It's a pretty solid list, if I do say so myself. Feel free to peruse and comment:


The Live Band List (alphabetized)

# indicates number of times seen

Alice in Chains: 2 (once with Layne Staley, once with the new guy)
Alien Ant Farm: 1 (Q101 show)
Audioslave: 1
Beastie Boys: 1
Beck: 1 (Farm Aid) (seriously)
Ben Harper: 3 (opening up for DMB)
Ben Kweller: 1 (opening for DMB)
Blues Traveler: 2
Breaking Benjamin: 2
Bush: 1
Cold: 1 (Q101 Jamboree)
Coldplay: 2
The Cure: 1 (Q101 Twisted Xmas)
Dave Matthews Band: 76 (in 6 different states)
Days of the New: 2
Deftones: 11 (they fucking rock live.)
Disturbed: 1
Dope: 1
Eminem: 1 (not a big rap fan, but was impressed)
Everclear: 2
Filter: 1
Foo Fighters: 2 (Dave Grohl is the fucking MAN)
The Fray: 1 (DMB Opener)
Fuel: 1
Gin Blossoms: 2
Gravity Kills: 1
Green Day: 0 (this is a crime that I need to fix)
(hed) p.e.: 5 (if you don't know them, you wouldn't like them)
Hootie and the Blowfish: 3 (best bar band ever)
Ill Nino: 2 (best Mexican metal band ever)
Incubus: 5
Jane's Addiction: 1
KoRn: 6 (5 good ones, one awful one. I have high hopes for the new album)
Limp Bizkit: 4 (Number before Fred Durst became a douche nozzle: 2)
Local H: 1
Marilyn Manson: 1
Matchbox 20: 1 (I did this for a girl)
MC Chris: 2
MC Hammer: 0 (not that I'm not trying)
Mighty Mighty Bosstones: 1
Mudvayne: 2
Nine Inch Nails: 1 (some reason, not a huge fan)
Nirvana: 0 (to my eternal regret)
OAR: 2
Orgy: 1
Our Lady Peace: 1 (should be more. love this band)
P.O.D: 1
Papa Roach: 2
Pearl Jam: 1 (but it was in Canada, so only like 0.67)
Queens of the Stone Age: 1
R.E.M: 1
Radiohead: 0 (want to, but only if they stop ignoring The Bends)
Rage Against The Machine: 3 (and the closest I've ever been to being in an actual riot)
Red Hot Chili Peppers: 3 (wow. Just wow.)
Rob Zombie: 1 (Giant fire breathing robots w/strippers= good show)
Robert Randolph and the Family Band: 3
Sevendust: 1
Silverchair:1
Slipknot: 3 (craziest band ever)
Smashing Pumpkins: 1 (meh)
Soundgarden: 1 (last show in Chicago)
Stabbing Westward: 1
Staind: 4 (used to love this band before lead singer got happy)
Static-X: 4 (KEEP DISCO EVIL)
Stephen Kellog and the Sixers: 1
Stone Temple Pilots: 4 (my second second favorite band.)
Sugar Ray: 1 (before they got gay)
System of a Down: 2 (hopefully more soon)
Tool: 1 (words don't do it justice)
U2: 1 (Giant Disco Lemon)
Velvet Revolver: 1 (Slash and Scott Weiland= Genius)
Weezer: 0 (another crime)
311: 2


I'm pretty sure thats all of them. If I missed some let me know (Roper).