Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

posted by erin on Jun 8

Next time I go to a concert I MUST bring a notebook and pen. There is more blog fodder at a concert than I have time or memory to put to words. Oh.My.Goodness!!! Going to the Boston concert was worth it just for the people watching. I went thinking that it would be tame, most of the people are in my parents generation. Jer laughs and says, “I guess there won’t be any moshing tonight!” Well, we were both a little surprised by the exuberance that Foreigner and Boston songs bring out in people. I think the young girls in front of us with their parents were also a little surprised and more than a little embarrassed by their father’s happy little jig he was doing to the music. Here are some highlights:

- Mr. Leather Pants in front of us. WWWOOOOOOOOOOO (hands shooting in the air with the rock and roll hand symbol)….YeeeeAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! Always about a beat and a half behind, but singing at the top of his lungs. You go man.

- Mr. I’ve had FAR too many beers also sitting in front of us. He fell over into his chair 6 times in a row, and always got back up to sway to the music. Nothing was going to keep him down. That’s perseverance, I tell ya.

- Mr. Leather Pants and Mr. I’ve had FAR too many beers high fiving each other even though they weren’t together, weren’t even sitting close to each other. I think the excitement was just far to much for them to handle and they saw kindred spirits in one another.

- The lights going down and not even 2 minutes later…the scent of pot. Somebody was REALLY reliving their past. I could have done without it, that’s for sure.

- The largish, aging man with crazy grey hair who walked onto stage with the other band members and my first thought was, “Roadie” and then he picks up the microphone and I gasped. THAT is Lou Gramm?!? Hee, hee…ahem, I mean, wow, he’s getting old…er…older. But boy, can he sing.

- All the people my parents age and older dancing to the music of their youth, remembering those long hot nights, their fevers of 103 and no doubt their tight pants (good thing the 80′s are back in style, because they almost looked normal being dressed that way). I’m sure many a child was conceived to “I Wanna Know What Love Is.” And the way they were dancing…this dance seems to be a learned dance in that generation. How to describe it…swaying, head bobbing, arms and hands flapping almost in a chicken dance type movement and all completely lacking in any rhythm. I wouldn’t even call it dancing, except they ALL do it. My apologies if I’ve insulted any blog readers in that generation who love to dance. You probably dance WAY better than all those people, I’m sure you do, because I only have the coolest of readers here. And you know, if you do dance like that, there’s no shame.
- The bleach blond 40 something woman with high waisted pants and crop top, waving her hands in the air, eyes closed, no doubt remembering her first time. It was rather touching. And I’ll add she was the only one standing during that song. In the whole arena.

- The guy behind us (who was a fount of very useful information about Boston and all members past and present, much of which I discovered after searching on Wikipedia, was incorrect) who, when cheering for Lou Gramm (Foreigner’s front man) sounded like a cow. He had a very low voice and kept bellowing what I actually first thought was “Boooooooo” and I’m thinking, “What a jerk to come to a concert and boo at them after every song. Then I realized he was yelling “Looooooouuuuuuuu” but it sounded a lot like “mooooooooo.” I burst into fits of hysterics more than a few times.

And this, people, was only during the opening act.

Boston followed with a very good show and I was enjoying the music too much to really take note of too many crazy things. The new lead singer was “rescued from a cubicle at Home Depot” when he posted some of his Boston cover tunes online and was discovered by Tom Sholtz (Boston’s one remaining original member). How crazy would that be? Living your 9-5 life, goofing around with your music and then the band actually thinks your good enough to sing for them? Maybe if I post some of my Singstar awesomeness I’ll get discovered and really become a superstar! Yeah!

Anyway, I LOVE their tunes. It was a total flashback for me as I spent many, many evening sitting in on my dad’s band’s jam sessions as they played Boston songs…”Amanda” (Erin bellowing at the top of her lungs waving her pretend lighter in the air, “I’m gonna say it like a man and make you understand AMANDAAAA, I LUUUUUV YOUUUUU” good times! Hey it was dark in there, and there’s no way I looked any dumber than half the crowd in there, so yeah.). I tried to post the Youtube video for this song so I could share the goodness with all of you, but it’s not letting me, so you can click here and go watch it if you wish. It’s such a great song, sigh. Other goodies include “Cool the Engines,” “More Than a Feeling,” and “To Be a Man.” I think I listened mostly to their “Third Stage” album back in the day, at least it’s the songs from that album that sticks in my mind probably because I was just getting really interested in music at that time. Scary how 20 years later, I still know all the words and guitar riffs and key changes. And it still makes me happy.

All in all, good times. I know my dad really enjoyed the concert (he was there too with his brother and a friend of theirs). It was a good old fashioned rock concert. No flashy stage set. No choreographed dancers. Just them and their instruments and the music. And it was good.