Should I see Paul McCartney, or "What do you do to make decisions on shows?"

Do it man. If it's something you're passionate about, you'll regret it later if you don't. Compare it to the price of buying tickets to go see a non-discript NFL game or NBA game or whatever else. It's a deal. I shelled out huge bucks to go see the Bears at Soldier Field during my Chicago roadtrip in 2010, because chances are it is probably not happening again. Don't regret it for a second, outside of having to watch the Bears getting beat by the Redskins.

 

Dr. J and I only go to about one big concert a year now. We plan it way in advance and we only go if we're going to drop dime on good seats.

If we're going to shell out all that cash, it's not going to be for crappy seats.

 

Waffle, did you make it to the concert? I hear there were a lot of attendees to the concert, the soccer game and the Rockets game that didn't make it to their events because of the traffic gridlock of all three events occurring at the same time and within a mile or two of each other.

http://www.khou.com/video?id=179427581&sec=567722&ref=rcvidmod

 

Went and saw Madonna (because my wife wanted to) and it was pretty much a disgrace. First, she charged $100 per ticket. Then her warmup act was some lame DJ who played hi techno crap for an hour. She didn't hit the stage until 10:40, did no encore and we got home at 2:45 a.m. She can kiss my ass if she ever thinks she'll get another dime of my money.

 

I've talked to a few people who saw her when she came through town a couple of weeks ago.

They didn't enjoy it as much as you did.

 

Bingo. No concert is worth that to me. That's insane.

 

Coincidentally, HC & I (it was my birthday present) went to the Bob Dylan/Mark Knopfler concert at the Air Canada Centre last night.

I've been a lifelong Dylan fan and own almost every album including all the earlier mono vinyl ones.

In my opinion, Dylan, Elvis and The Beatles are the sine qua non of pop music.

That said, the concert was a mixture of great moments and total mediocrity.

Mark Knopfler's set was brilliant with everything from his great guitar playing to Celtic music---his band featured fiddles and a penny whistle player

Dylan's problem (as HC pointed out) that his voice, not great at best over the years, has become even rougher now that he's 70 something and he can't hit the higher registers. There were several songs when you had no idea what he was singing. His band overwhelmed him but when he did an acoustic number he was totally intelligible.

His rendition of "All Along The Watchtower" was almost perfect, with his staccato singing (or something) and the band's accompaniment. It may have been the best since Hendrix's cover.

The tickets were $86 and we were a way back from the stage but although I had totally mixed feelings, it was still worth the money--well, HC's money.

The Toronto Star's review is a little harsh but who more or less fair. Even at 70 Bob doesn't do a "Golden Oldies" concert. He keeps pushing the musical boundaries

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/1288081--bob-dylan-s-unintelligible-performance-at-acc-leaves-fans-critic-frustrated

It's folk geriatric week in Toronto. Lightfoot played his regular four night gig here and Neil Young is playing the ACC on Monday.

My advice: go and see McCartney

 

Still trying to find out if Waffle actually got to see the McCartney concert last night ...

 

I've seen Dylan about 10 times lifetime.

He's never been "just OK."

Either awesome, or awful.

When he feels like sticking close to recognizable arrangements for the songs, even rough-voiced as he is, he can still be great at times.

But when he feels compelled (or entitled) to spend the whole night plumbing genres he is neither familiar with or suited to, he is not good.

I saw him one time about 1990 when he was attempting to break into thrash-metal. Now I am not an obsessive Dylanologist, but I can hold my own. But I swear to God half the songs I couldn't recognize at all, and 3/4 of the rest, it took almost the entire song to figure out what it was.

Of course if I were Dylan I would get tired of banging out "Blowin' In The Wind" for the 8,000th time and I would probably be tempted to try out different arrangments, but it ought to be at least remotely recognizable to the fans.

 

I love Dylan. I've seen him many times, and I dig the different renditions of the songs.
However, despite my Near-obsessive love for Dylan, I will not pay $100 per ticket to see him.

I wouldn't pay $100 to see zombie JFk shoot heroin while being fellated by Madonna.

 

Yeah, that's about 200 years between the three performers (Dylan, Lightfoot and Young). Even more if Crazy Horse is with the latter.

 

1. Venue (will I be able to actually see the performer or will I be paying to watch a TV).
2. Price (You charge Springsteen price, you better deliver Springsteen performance)
3. Performer (Do they have enough material to keep me entertained for 2 hours)