April Playlist - LIVE!

Oh, to have stumbled onto sexy x 2 randomly on the street.

Dave and I love live music, and our favorite dates are to see live shows.

First concert I ever went to was a free show at the Jackson County Fair, by a little known but up and coming parody artist. Perhaps you've heard of him, Weird Al Yankovic. We sat through the daytime concert for about 20 minutes as Al flailed between keyboards and an accordian, got to hear My Bologna and Oh Ricky before we decided deep fried fair food and watching boys on the midway was infinitely more interesting. I think it was 1982?

Nothing against Al, the quality of the shows have improved since then. There is nothing more electric than seeing your favorite song performed live and making the connection with the performer/artist/musician.

The following is a list of some of my favorite live performances.

Lenny Kravitz, Let Love Rule - Van Andel Arena. Anyone who has ever gone to a Lenny show (I've been to four), knows LLR is his 20+ minute groove, where he goes out to mingle with the audience, sing, whip everyone into a peace-and-love throng. Well last time I saw him, he finally came into my part of the audience and yes, Lenny had me in a partial embrace. *sigh*

U2, Elevation - Saavis Center, St. Louis. One of the best shows ever, and this song was the best live performance ever. They left the house lights up, and the band started playing as they took the stage. This song exploded and the crowd erupted. Wow.

Rush, One Little Victory - the outdoor St. Louis ampitheater I can't remember the name of right now. My husband is a Canuk wannabe, solely based on his love of this band. I remember the concerts on MTV, the spooky lime green strobes and Tom Sawyer. He insisted that once I went to a show, I'd get it. With an explosion of flashpots and the rapid-fire opening riff to this show, I got it.

Gloria, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Van Andel Arena. Fun song about hitting on a girl and trying to impress her by being in a rock and roll band. Another 20 minute story song, "her name was whispered into the wind, and it came to me... Gllllllllllllllloooooooooooooria!"

BB King, The Thrill is Gone - House of Blues; Garbage, Sex is Not the Enemy- Hard Rock Casino; B52s - Rock Lobster - We were out in Las Vegas for the 2005 ISI Adult Champs and turned it into a birthday/vacation. Out for five days, three skating events and one motorcycle rally, we packed as much fun as we could into our time, and shoehorned in three concerts as well.

We ended up in the second row for BB, and he gave me a guitar tack pin. It was crazy to see girls young enough to be his great-granddaughters going nuts, and he knew he was in control.

Garbage was SRO, and we ended up behind the soundboard, where the tech gave us the useless set list. Why useless? Being the last show of the tour, the show was organized chaos as Shirley got drunk and shaved a fan's head on stage while singing this song. Why - the fan was preparing to start chemo the next day. She also got the band's songbook out and started doing song requests. Intimate, rocking, thrilling.

B's were playing a casino way south of the Strip, and the band seemed disappointed to be playing to a house less than half full, no more than 1,000. So Fred got mad and told everyone to get up and dance. We were among the youngest in the crowd and no one moved. Then he shouted that everyone come to the front and we ended up smashed against the bandstand, dancing to to rock, rock lobster!

Paul McCartney, Here There and Everywhere - Silverdome. My first time seeing Mac was the best. Went with Dave and a handful of his childhood friends I was just getting to know. He did Drive My Car, and since it was not a favorite and wanting to pee, I dashed to the bathroom. I was finishing up when this song started and I bolted to back to my seat. One of my all-time favorites, half a song was better than none.

Ministry, Jesus Built My Hotrod - Pine Knob, Lollapalooza. One of Dave's favorite crazy bands, this song came out and was riding the 120 Minutes airwaves when we started a'courting. For as hard and heavy as this band is, this song was filled with melody and fun. With a line like "Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet," you know you can't take it serious. We were down in the Pine Knob seats when the sod began to fly from the hill, and I was struck with an errant clod of dirt; Dave was hit with a whole tray of nacho chips with cheese. All you could do was laugh and thrash on.

Pearl Jam, Evenflow/Alive/Why Go Home - Pine Knob, Lollapalooza. Same show, different experience. Eddie Vedder climbed the scaffolding singing about butterflies and below, a throng of fans extended their hands to catch him if he fell. It was all plaid, cargo shorts and Chuck Taylor All Stars, a look I adopted in '92.

Bob Seger, Roll Me Away - Van Andel. I cannot believe that as a Michigan native, I had never seen Bob before last year. And when he opened the show with Roll Me Away, I really didn't need to see any more, because he nailed it. I stuck around for the show of course, but wow, what an opening.

Rolling Stones, Miss You - SARSstock, Toronto. Nothing like a show with a half a million of your closest North American friends. Justin Timberlake was lustly booed but Keith and Mick were simply fantastic in this song. Really, I could have picked any of the songs from this performance as amazing, but this one stands out in my head. Oooo oooo ooo ooo ooo o, Oooo oooo ooo ooo oo o o, Oooo ooo oo oaaaah!