Thursday, 29 November 2012

Bucket List


Louise and I were in Edmonton last night to attend a concert by Sir Paul McCartney. I can honestly say that it was perhaps the best concert that I have ever gone to. I rarely go to concerts and in most cases they have been more laid back affairs. The Vinyl CafĂ© Christmas Concert and Bonnie Raitt are the most recent excursions for me. The Edmonton Sun wrote an article on last night’s concert and the author describes the concert perfectly. Read the article and eat your heart out because I was there and you weren’t!


http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/McCartney+makes+dreams+come+true+pipers+diehard+fans/7628374/story.html

Most of the concerts that I have been to, involve a lot of lining up and waiting so that you can line up and wait some more. You want to get to the venue early so that you can find your seat and get comfortable. Last night we walked across the street from our hotel room and thought that we would be able to walk in and get something to eat. Not so fast buddy boy! For some reason, they didn’t open the doors for the 8:00 show until 7:30 which meant that we waited for almost an hour. Yes we could have gone back to the hotel, but who knew it would take so long to get in? Once in, there were line ups to get food and I figured I could do with a little unplanned dieting. We shuffled along with everyone else until we got to where our seats were located and then settled in. None of this was in any way different from concerts past, and it is probably one of the main reasons I don’t like to attend concerts.

I like to watch all of the other people come in and see just how they plan to prepare for the concert. In days past we would more than likely get half baked before getting to the concerts and make sure that we had enough “boosters” to keep us baking all through the concert. I no longer do such things, and it appears that the people at this concert didn’t either. The band’s pyrotechnics made much more smoke than the audience did. It appears that beer was the intoxicant of preference and not only was it plentiful but the venue would bring it to your seat. The girls (women) sitting next to us kept getting double beers and also kept leaving to go pee. I would have crapped my pants rather than miss a minute of Paul’s concert, but that is just me. Eventually, the two “girls” and the couple in the seats on the other side of us left so that they could go and stand and dance I suppose. Good for them and good for us.

There was a point when I was almost overcome with the emotion of it all. I had the same thing happen once before, and I went into a kind of seizure brought on by the awesomeness of it all. I went to a concert featuring Bob Dylan and The Band with a friend’s sister. Joanne and I went in and found our seats, and unfortunately they were “obstructed view” seats. I thought that “obstructed view” meant that you had to look around a post, not having a speaker tower six inches from your nose. We were pretty bummed to say the least, until one of the roadies came and asked us if we would like better seats. Sure! Three rows from the front on the left hand of the stage. There was a point during the concert when my eyes rolled up into my head and my consciousness went astral. That very nearly happened last night, and without herbal enhancement!

There is a wikipedia entry for the “On The Run” tour which will give you a background for the concert and a play list if you are interested at all. Just keep in mind that Louise and I were there and you are reading about it. If I had a bucket list (I don’t) I would have been able to tick off this entry.

Play list

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