Thursday, September 13, 2007

No "Mr. Roboto"... but " I am the Walrus?"

Yes folks you read it correctly. In the middle of a really great Styx set Tommy Shaw and the boys busted out this Beatles ditty. Thank goodness it was not "Hey Bulldog" or "All Together Now", which besides "celebration" and "We are Family" are two of my least favorite songs in the universe.
Anyway, so since there were 4 of us going to the show, we got to park in the special "yes" parking, how that is an acronym for "high occupancy vehicle" I am not sure. It involved us driving in the center lane with our hazard lights on with a sign taped to the middle of our windshields, looking like ass clowns, I am sure, but getting out of the stadium was sure a breeze.
Styx looked and sounded great!!they were ready to rock the Pacific Northwest, and they did not disappoint. They opened up with "Blue Collar Man", did "The Grand Illusion", "To much Time on my Hands", the aforementioned Beatles cover, "Come Sail Away" and others, which I would have remembered if i had a cool notebook/necklace and lighty-up pen that Pam had. She's a pro!!
What I really loved about Styx was that these guys rock ALOT, and often. But they seemed genuinely thrilled to be in crappy Clark County Amphitheater, singing classic nuggets to kids who were not even born when "Babe" was a hit and think "Come Sail Away" is a Cartman cover.
This just re-affirms my love for Styx
On to Def Leppard- We were SO pumped for the show!! I totally called the first number- "Rockit"- That's like the 4th time I have correctly picked a first song!! We all jumped (well, lets be honest, I don't do much jumping anymore) to our feet and started singing along. I think there was something wrong with the audio, or else Joe was having a teensy bit of trouble hitting the high notes. They then went into "Animal", which was cool, except for the creepy video in the background that had the band members morphing into circus freaks. The whole thing was eerily reminiscent of the Tubes "She's a Beauty" video.
Then came the nonsense- a cover of "Rock On" that sounded like Donnie Osmond, and then this Jazz fusion segue way that sounded like Spinal Tap. Then- gasp- the ballads. Now, I like "Love Bites" as much as the next girl, but COME ON!!
To be fair, we left before the encore, so they might have wow-ed us, but somehow, with their low energy and blase performance, it seemed that they just wanted to get the rock out of here. My favorite thing about the show was listening to Kathy sing Styx songs behind me. That girl was so excited! Adorable!
I was at home by 11.
What a rock star!!
On a related note, in the Living section of the Oregonian today there is an article about teens collecting and listening to vinyl. Is EVERYTHING I love retro and hip now? Could it just be that I actually am way cooler than I think I am?
I think in the music section today I will post my top 10 concerts of all time.
I am going to do the crossword puzzle now. Jeff was so angry at whomever wrote Tuesdays crossword. It was super funny to see him so upset at that random guy.
For those about to rock- I salute you!!

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