Concert Going

I had the joy of covering San Diego's Street Scene, a large two-day festival downtown, for the LA Times Magazine. The festival was awesome- performances by the Dead Weather, Silversun Pickups, and personal favorites Ozomatli were enough to entice me to go, and the shows did not disappoint. While a full review will hopefully be published, there were non-review like observations I wanted to throw out there.

1) Concerts are fun. Even if you don't like dealing with crowds, there's something about live music that is exhilarating. There's always something different than the studio cuts, and there is a definite shared experience that is a good time. A good performance, live those of the Dead Weather and Silversun Pickups, can really make you like their music a whole lot more.

2)If you're a rock star, don't act like one. Live music doesn't always make you like a band more. The lead singer of Cake, for instance, was a total douchebag. He spent the first two songs complaining about the stage crew and things that went wrong, and acted above the crowd. Despite it being long past sunset, he wore his dark glasses and hat. We left after two songs as a result. Despite liking Cake's music, I'm going to have a sour taste in my mouth about the band.

3) Techno sucks less live. I'm generally not a fan, but the live shows (like Girl Talk and Chromeo) were a blast. Going back to point one, there is a shared experience there, and when it turns in to a giant dance party, it's awesome.

4) You can't spell Funk without Fun. The two most lively shows not named Girl Talk were Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Both bands had great front (wo)men, but seemed to be backed by a section of White Jewish dudes. Love it.

While I'm no concert connoisseur (this was my first multi-day concert), I'm looking forward to going to more live music in the future. Go see some shows, people!

Per usual, thanks for reading.

Dis