What Happened to Rock & Roll??

I went to a concert on Tuesday night. I LOVE live music. Love, love, love live music!

And it’s because of this love that I’ve been to a number of concerts in my life. The problem is – I’m short. And the problem with being short at a live show is missing 90% of it because stupid tall people would stand in front of me. So I got good at “fists up”. I’d fight my way through the crowd, any crowd. And I’d take along whoever could survive it, but it wasn’t a feat for the faint of heart. Most people made it halfway up and then couldn’t take it - they'd turn back. Well, see ya later then. If I'd notice, I'd hardly care.

I’d get pushed and pulled and blocked and elbowed – by the time I got to the front I’d have a black eye, two broken toes, thirteen beers spilt on me and have lost at least one article of clothing, be it a hat or a shoe or whatnot – but I didn’t care – I WAS AT THE FRONT!!! Two feet in front of me – guitar strummin’, drum bangin’ talent. Raw, alive, real.

And in between me and that talent….Security. More bouncers than tattoos at a biker bar. And tough too – they had to be.

So, this is what I expected when I went to a concert on Tuesday night. But do you know instead what I found between me and that talent??

Twelve hundred teens and twenty-somethings……..texting. WTF?!?

Texting their facebooks and tweetering their twitters to tell their friends how awesome it was.

I felt the need to yell, "How the hell do you know it’s awesome kid?? You’re missing the whole thing!"

I didn’t see one security guy. Not one. And yet, no one got trampled, no one jumped on the stage screaming and tearing at the lead singers clothes, no one flashed their tat-tats. No one.

Kids sat civilly in their seats. Yes…you read that right – they had SEATS. It was the oddest thing I’d ever seen.

In my day, people with talent were supposed to stand on the stage and make us feel like we were witnessing something freakin amazing and we were there to make them feel like Rock Stars! That was the deal. It was a good deal.

And we still feel like that when we go to concerts. I went to a Glass Tiger concert only a few years ago. Now Alan Frew – hmmm, if you aren’t familiar with Alan Frew well, he wasn’t exactly a George-Clooney-look-alike back in the day, never mind now – anyhow, he came on stage – I think he was 60 or 80, but still dressed like it was 1986 (but a few sizes larger…yup – leather pants – yum). Anyhow – it was in a little hall in Regina. There were about a hundred people.

THEY had security.

And they needed security, cause about ten minutes into the show, people were flinging their panties and trying to rush the stage! Naturally….

I'll never forget that night. Just as we, that night, never forgot the passion.

So kids, if I could, a little advice – turn your stupid cell phones off and start flinging your gotch at the people on the stage in front of you. You’ll never forget the moment when your best friends underwear go flying past your head while you’re rockin’ out to “Don’t forget me while I’m gone…I have loved you for so long…”

Never.



happy friday!
tanya