The tickets for the Police Reunion Tour went on sale today. Tickets at the McAfee Coliseum in Oakland range from $380 to $50. The $380 tickets are called Gold Hot Seat Package. If I am paying that much for tickets I want a gift bag that has a little gold in it. That is a lot of money to pay for a concert.
I have paid more than $50 for concert tickets a couple of times. That was not to see a concert from the upper deck of a stadium. I am not sure who is buying the $380 tickets. I could see buying the $90 tickets if I was dating a really big Police fan. My concert budget for the year is not $380. That is more than I am going to spend buying music for a year.
This should make me more angry than it does. I should be upset that the Police are cashing in on their past. I should be upset that idiots are willing to pay that much for a band that has not really done anything in 20 years. I just cannot work up the anger. There are more important things to get upset about than people who are living in the past,
Top 10 Musical Acts who I would pay to see live After seeing Death Cab for Cutie live I figure that it is time to update my list of Bands that I would pay to see who I have not seen yet list. Bands are getting added to this list faster than they are being dropped. That means either I am not true to my word or bands are not touring enough.
Belle & Sebastian Postal Service Mountain Goats Art Brut Ben Folds New Pornographers Cat Power Modest Mouse The Shins Calvin Johnson Joanna Newsom M. Ward Devendra Banhardt
Musical acts I would pay to see again:
The Decemberists Diane Cluck Mike Doughty CocoRosie Wilco
Dream Reunions:
Replacements Pavement Neutral Milk Hotel The Smiths
I ended up going to the Death Cab Concert by myself. I told my ticket to a scalper for only $10. Of course 10 minutes after I left the office one of my co-workers stopped looking to buy the ticket. Like I said, that ticket was cursed.
The Greek Theatre in Berkley is a pretty good place to see a show. I got there early enough to get a good seat. All of these seats there have a good view of the stage.
Mates of State were okay. I was not blown away by them on stage. I am not sure how many nights they have played at a place as big as the Greek Theatre, but they did not do too much to fill it up with sound. If they want to play venues that big they have to make their sound larger. It was a good job for the first act on a three act bill.
Mates of State did do a cool half cover. In the middle of Like U Crazy they did break into Gnarls Barkley's Crazy. Most of the audience did not even notice this. If anyone has a copy of this I would love to get it.
I was more disappointed in Spoon. They did not not seem very engaged with the audience. I know this is hard when you are not headlining, but they seemed very remote. I would still see them in a smaller venue, but I was not impressed my them.
Death Cab for Cutie did a pretty good show. They had a great sound and energy. They made it seem that they wanted to play for us more than anything else in the world. I think this usually makes for a good show.
Ben Gibbard was all over the place. He moved from guitar to piano throughout the night. He had a lot of energy. Sometimes that energy was too much for some of the slower songs. They did a great jam during We Look Like Giants. They even brought out a drum kit for Ben.
I will admit that I spent a lot of the night thinking about my ex-girlfriend. I bought the tickets for us to use together. It was a bit of a let down to have to go to the show by myself.
It was a pretty good show. Death Cab is not a great band live, but they were worth the price of the tickets. I can only guess that they will play larger venues in the future. They just did not blow me away. It was not as bad as some people made me think from comments about seeing them play live on other tours.
I went to see Diane Cluck last Thursday in San Francisco. She played at the Rickshaw Stop. It was a great show. I am always amazed at her raw emotion when she plays songs live. I like her music because it feel so emotionally honest. That honesty really comes through when she plays life. I feel a connection with her through her music. that connection seems real when I see her live.
She did not play that long. I was hoping for more. I would like to see her do a two hour set. She could have played all five of her albums from start to finish and I should would have wanted more. She is the only person on stage, so that would have been hard.
At the end of the show she asked what we wanted to hear. I shouted out Turnaround Road. Just before she played this song she waved at me and said that she knew who called out for this song. She remembered me from the show in Portland I saw her at back in 2004. I felt a chill go down my spine as she played. It was just perfect.
After the show I tried to talk to Diane, but I was totally a fan boy. I told her she would always have fans on the West Coast if she came to play here.
The New York Times did a story about the slowing Concert Industry. Did it occur to anyone that people want too much money for concert tickets. Of course Paul McCartney can get $250 a ticket. That is because there are a whole bunch of freaks that want to relive their youth of catch something that they were too young to be involved with. I am not sure there is a band under ten years old that is worth $60 a ticket. Because these old acts never got off the stage, new acts where not developed. I think the article missed the point of what is really happening.
Once again it is time for the Friday Five. This week I am even doing it on Friday.
1. What was your first job? I had a summer job working at Burger King. We had nine different managers (the story usually had three at a time) in the six weeks I worked there.
2. How old were you when you had your first kiss? 16. I meet the girl in driver's ed class. We are still friends.
3. What was your first car? What happened to it? My first car was a 1988 Plymouth Reliant K. It was my father's car and he gave it to me my second year in college. I put over 200,000 miles on that car, after my father had already put 100,000 on it. The engine died after a long life of service.
4. What was your first concert? The Monkees. It was their first reunion tour in the 80s. They were playing after the Temple University Homecoming game. My oldest sister took a big group of my friends to the game.
5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? Cleaning the apartment, Watching the Eagles, maybe San Jose Car Show, maybe a movie.
