Photo by Danny ClinchI've already written about my unabashed love of unabashedly female singer-songwriters, so I'll just point you there so you don't have to listen to me go on about how great Lilith Fair was once again, because even I think it's ludicrous that I think back so fondly on that festival. (I mean, it was great because I'm a lady and it's nice sometimes to hang out with other ladies in a really amazing, non-judgmental atmosphere, you know? We all worshiped at the feet of Emmylou Harris while braiding each others' hair and exchanging tempeh recipes. I'm kidding.)
One of the queens of unabashedly female singer-songwriters, Ani Difranco, will be at Warehouse Live on April 8. Tickets go on sale next Friday, January 15.
I'm about to go all radio station on you. Would you like to win a pair of tickets before you can buy them? I hope the answer is yes. Just tell me about the least judgmental concert experience you've ever had, where you felt loved by everyone and there was no negativity and you walked away at peace with the world and with yourself, by 3 p.m. Monday and I'll choose a winner at random.
Peace.
Believe it or not, it was when my Black butt was at a George Strait concert. Sitting next to the guy with a Rebel flag tattoo.
Stop laughing.
It actually started with some tension though. That was until "Amarillo By Morning" started playing and we both started singing. Maybe it was the music. Maybe it was the alcohol. But I made new friend that day. After the show, my friends and his friends went to a bar where, can we say, I wouldn't have been welcome in on a normal day. When one gentleman at the bar was about to tell me so, "Jack" got in front of him and said sit down.
And he did.
What happened from there was a very enlightening debate about the flag and race. We both walked away with a better understanding of another people.
All because of George.
Nice!
Sleater-Kinney at the Village Underground in NYC. It was a super small venue and it was right before the release of "One Beat" when the band had been on hiatus. Less of a stage and more of platform, I remember being all up in Corin Tucker's face and loving every second of it. It was the first of many, many more times I would see them all over the country. Also, the openers were the Moldy Peaches and I remember hugging Kimya Dawson after the show.
I've had a lot of non-judgemental concert experiences. Music tends to bring people together, though I have had some experiences on the other end of the spectrum.
Among my favorites (not Lilith Faire or Ani) have to be some early They Might Be Giants shows when a lot of their audience was underage (like 14-17) and I was several years past the legal drinking age. Their parents would drop them off for the show, and they would have to leave before it was done because of Houston's curfew.
At a time before ubiquitous cell phones, you talked to strangers. I had lots of interesting conversations with those kids about lots of things, treating each other as equals while they drank their Dr Pepper and I had my Shiner Bock.
Even when we were being run out of the Vatican by overzealous police officers.
Wasn't really a concert. I was at a real Lakota sweat lodge ceremony. Only white guy in fifty miles but after sitting through 2 hours of prayer songs and unbearable heat, I felt closer to them than my own family.
Don't need tickets but wanted to say it seems like there a lot of really nice people involved in this blog.
oh boy... my best show expereince would have to be the Swell Season show at Warehouse Live Nov. 13th. I remember the audience singing along to every word with the biggest smile plastered on their faces. it felt like they were singing for us and we were singing for them and when Glen invited me onstage, I could actually feel the flood of positive energy flowing from the crowd. once i finally opened my eyes (i was really scared to see all the people watching me), the support and love from the audience colored everything gold... or maybe that was the lighting tech?
whether I win tickets or not, i'll be at the Ani Difrance show! she's a great inspiration and one of the few musicians whose music can carry me through my day without driving me crazy.
I'm a HUGE Ani DiFranco fan and will be there whether I win tickets or not. However, that being said, winning them would be easier on the wallet. :-)
I have to say, the most love I've ever felt at a concert, was at the Swell Season at ACL. Everyone was listening, enjoying the music, not being a general bunch of dicks. I was singing quietly to myself and the lady next to me tapped me on the shoulder. I apologized for singing and disrupting her experience and she said to me "NO, keep on singing. You have a beautiful voice! And you made my experience that much more amazing."
Seriously, I can't make this shit up.
PICK ME!
Okay. So. I've got a dark nasty part in my heart for Houston concerts. No one comes to see national touring acts that aren't at the top of Pitchfork's playlist (Lemuria, Los Campsinos!), people are unreceptive of artists that they didn't come to see (All the douchebaggery at Dinosaur Jr. where people were screaming DINOSAUR! DINOSAUR! during Built to Spill...), people are unreceptive of artists they did come to see (talking over Andrew Bird's narrative. or the nearly 300 hipster flashmob at Fucked Up! that made a grand exodus down to 27 when people realized "Oh shit. This is a punk band?! Really?"), or people that are there to see, be seen, and are too fucking cool to dance (Ratatat. The Faint. People physically restraining themselves from dancing.)
So naturally my lack of fashion sense + spastic fantastic "here for the music" ass doesn't feel like I fit in...much.
Dan Deacon at the Orange Show was an amazing exception. This bald sweaty man managed to rope a normally standoffish group of uneasy Houstonites into standing shoulder to shoulder with each other. This is the only concert I've been at in Houston (so far) where an entire crowd erupt into screaming arm flailing manic pentecostal dancing frenzy and no one seemed worried about ripping their neon checked scarves or looking like a fucktard. Total freedom. We all dropped our pretense long enough to forget Austin-envy and actually enjoy being part of a large throbbing crowd of glee. Epic glee.
Also building the flesh tunnel was awesome. Deacon told my best friend to shut the fuck up.
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