The Music Thread

Thank you CBD for letting me sub for you tonight. It is a tough gig but someone has to do it.

As many of you know (And if you don't, you will soon find out) The Fabulous and I love going to concerts.

The first concert I attended was in December 1977. (Get off my lawn) It was at the almost world famous Brown County Arena in Green Bay, WI What stands out after all these years was the pungent aroma of pot smoke. Plus I learned that Heileman's Old Style beer would freeze in the trunk of 1973 Chrysler New Yorker. At least it had a nifty 8-Track player.

It was your typical arena, small in size. But a great venue for everything from Outdoor Sport & Camping shows to minor league hockey. It was there I got to see Mr. Robin Trower and his opening act, Star Castle.

The first concert The Fabulous and I attended was Robin Trower at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay. I don't recall an opening act. And to be honest don't remember much about the venue.

Those were the days of Festival Seating. When you are young and arrive early you can run to the front and hopefully not get stomped to death.

I won't bore you with all of the concerts we have seen. And we have seen some great acts at some downright terrible venues.

One of the worst venues I have ever been at is Alpine Valley Music Theater outside of East Troy.

Had I owned Alpine Valley, it would have been a premier place to attend a concert. Similar to Red Rocks in Colorado.

I don't know what it is like now. They don't book too many shows anymore. And I haven't been there in years. Looking at their website, they may have paved and installed lighting in their pasture of a parking lot. The rest rooms were not as clean as most Waste Water Treatment Plants.

The worst indoor venue I ever witnessed was First Avenue in Minneapolis. It wasn't a bad neighborhood until the St. George of Drug Addiction riots. Now I really wouldn't feel comfortable walking there from a downtown hotel unless armed.

Want to stand up for an entire evening? Want to urinate in rain gutter? Love being stuck to the floor? Then First Avenue would be the place for you to visit.

The last time there we did get to see the Mott The Hoople 45th Anniversary tour. It was the 2nd night of their limited tour. (Tough to find a decent video of that tour.)

We went to a new venue to us last month. The Stoughton (Stoughton, WI) Opera House. We were entertained by Chuck Prophet. A very unique venue. A former city hall built around a theater. It also had a nice bar area with a solo musician playing before the show. Just south of Madison, WI easy to find unlike Alpine Valley where you do need a GPS.

Now that The Fab & I are 29, we no longer go to concerts with festival seating. We really enjoy seeing bands at venues specifically built for live performances, such at The Orpehum Theater, State Theater in Minneapolis, Grand Theater, Wausau, WI and other such joints that fit up to 2,500 people or so.

Nope, I have no desire to see anyone or any band at places that feature festival seating or seat more than 2,500-3,000 patrons. So I guess I won't be going to any Rolling Stones or Taylor Swift concerts. And I'm perfectly OK with that.

So if you are a concert attendee, what are some of your best and worst venues. And just because your little brother puked on your shoes doesn't mean it was a bad venue. Just a bad little brother.

So you don't attend concerts but enjoy music. Do you enjoy One Hit Wonders? Do you enjoy ear worms? Now I have this in my head, Eeeee Gadz. Sometimes one learns about these things listening to Mike Harvey's Super Gold.

Tonight's Music Thread has been brought to you by Rulz.

Notice: Posted with permission by CBD. I don't need the Ace Media Empire's or AceCorp, LLC blessings and permission. Want to find out what I'm listening to? You can contact yours truly at petmorons at gmail. Place "Music" in the subject line.

posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 07:30 PM

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