One of the greatest joys in life for me is concerts. I love music and live music is the absolute best part of music. And that live music doesn’t even need to be concerts. I enjoy any kind of live music, even people singing at festivals, first Fridays, etc. There is not much in life that is greater than live music for me.
I made a rule for myself awhile back that I would always get good seats for concerts to experience it fully. With that rule, money limits me to fewer concerts per year than I could see if I was willing to sit wherever. But once you see someone fairly close, all other concerts are a bit of a disappointment.
In the more distant past I have seen Faith Hill, Indigo Girls, Maroon 5, Neon Trees, Owl City, Def Leppard, Journey, Culture Club, and others. In the more recent past I have seen Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, Def Leppard (two additional times), Bret Michaels, Motley Crue, Joan Jett, Cheap Trick, Journey (again), Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Vertical Horizon. On deck we have T-Swift in November.
And then we are empty. Nothing planned for next year. But we did. We should’ve had Aerosmith in January. Actually, we should have seen them this past January. Unfortunately Steven Tyler has lost his voice and surgery was unsuccessful. Aerosmith is done touring forever. I am disappointed. I really wanted to see them and have that experience one time.
What always boggles my mind is how the people who have the most to lose by excessive partying and drug use are the ones that seem to lean towards it the most. I guess affordability is an option and being completely nuts on stage might require some kind of up-drugs. Then you’re super hyped up for awhile afterwards, so what else are you going to do? Then you’ve got to get yourself down to sleep at some point. So I can see how this happens, but it begs the question…why are people pushing themselves so hard when it hurts them the most?
Bon Jovi killed his voice with his workaholic ways and thankfully recovered some of that through surgery. I don’t think he took too many drugs though. Boy George loved drugs at different points in his career and was able to tour again after surgery. I suppose Steven Tyler sings in a much larger range than these two did and do. Scream singing kills your voice I guess. But maybe the drugs accelerate the process.
I guess I don’t really know much about this, but I think there’s a lot more to think about with entertainers and how their life styles and work requirements affect them as people. Maybe that’s the bigger question…what’s more important, the person or the entertainment value they offer? What takes priority when deciding how much touring they should take on. And the question that I can never shake when I think about the entertainment industry-what about all the talentless hangers-on who benefit from the commodity touring as much as possible? Maybe they are the ones who benefit most by overworking the talent at the “highlight” of their careers. And maybe they are the ones contributing the most to the insanity of entertainment life by refusing to say no, allowing criminal activity to happen, and at times, putting the drugs directly in the person’s hand to ensure they stay unaware of how much money the talentless hangers-on grab while they actual talent is high, asleep, busy with girls, or on stage feeding the frenzy.
And with all that overthinking, it becomes difficult to enjoy concerts when you think about everything but the talent in front of you. Maybe it’s for the best that I don’t get to see Aerosmith with thoughts like this.
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