Browsing Tag: my year of concerts

My Year of Concerts™ took me back to Portland again, this time to see Duran Duran on Thursday night…and even Cari joined me this time, since she’s loved DD since the beginning!

NGL, if you’d told me in the early ’80s that Duran Duran would be selling out big arenas 40 years later, I would’ve called you crazy. But there we were, the entire arena filled and standing up the whole show!

Duran Duran played pretty much everything you’d want to hear. (I was hoping for “New Religion” but it wasn’t meant to be.) They played a few new songs from their 2021 album and those were good, too. Simon sounded great and the whole band was really tight. Felt like the ’80s all over again and Cari and I had a blast!

So that’s six shows so far in 2023 (Eagles, Springsteen, Adele, Journey/Toto, REO Speedwagon, Duran Duran). I have five more still to come, plus 4-5 others I want to see but don’t have tickets for yet.

(I was also supposed to see The National on Friday night in PDX, but we decided to come home a day early. I don’t think my back/neck was up for two shows in two days, especially with The National being an outdoor, all-GA show with no seats. Plus, they’re leaving most of my favorite songs of theirs off the setlist this tour, so….)

#MyYearOfConcerts continued last night with a hometown show! I saw REO Speedwagon right here in Kennewick.

Can’t claim to be a huge REO fan, but young Matt bought “Hi Infidelity” on vinyl and played it ad nauseam at peak volume on my bedroom record player. That’s a great record. Also, we don’t get many rock bands coming through here so I figured I should support this one — be the change you want to see in the world and all that. 😄

Anyway, really good show. Kevin Cronin (lead singer) had a nasty cold and asked us to help him sing a few different times. I was there to hear the big hits, but turns out there were a couple other songs I had forgotten they did.

#MyYearOfConcerts continues — got a bunch of shows already lined up for the rest of this year, and a few more that I’m hoping to add.

#MyYearOfConcerts continued last night up in Spokane…I went to see Journey with Toto as the opening act!

Gotta be honest. In the days/weeks leading up to this one, I was kinda meh about it. In my quest to see at least one concert per month, there weren’t many concerts to choose from in April. I texted my son earlier in the week: “not super super excited because no Steve Perry, but it was the best (almost only) option for April”.

Then I texted him and Cari right after the show: “Holy shit that rocked”!!!

It’s funny that I (we?) think of Journey as Steve Perry’s band — makes sense, they had all their biggest hits with him. But Arnel Pineda has now been Journey’s lead singer longer than Perry was. And damn, dude can sing! I know there’s been some drama and battles internally with Journey over the last year but there was no sign of anything like that during the show. They put on a great show.

Oh, and I was not prepared for how much Toto rocks. Steve Lukather has gotta be one of the most underrated guitarists around. They were a fantastic opener.

#MyYearOfConcerts continues — got lots of shows lined up over the rest of the year and always looking for more!

My Year of Concerts™ continued Friday night when Cari and I went to see Adele in Las Vegas! This was my second Adele show and Cari’s first. We laughed, we cried, we had an incredible weekend.

If you’ve never seen her live, Adele’s shows are 80% amazing music and 20% comedy. She is unabashedly herself on stage, telling stories that somehow make you feel like you’re listening to the girl next door even though her stories involve people like Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Usher, Pink, etc. But it’s so relatable when she talks about wanting to make a quick appearance at the Jay-Z party, say hello to everyone, then head home and get in pajamas because she’s almost 35 now. 😂

She walked through the crowd, she took selfies with fans while she sang, she did a “lottery” on stage that let two fans come down from the worst seats to the 5th row, she used a t-shirt gun to fire autographed t-shirts up to the highest balcony.

The first 4-5 songs are just Adele and her pianist, Eric — OMG the purity of her voice. 😍 Then the full band and stage production kick in. She did just about all the songs you’d want to hear. I’m pretty sure “When We Were Young” is the most beautiful song ever written. “Skyfall” and “Set Fire to the Rain” were epic. “Someone Like You” was off the charts. “One and Only” was perfect.

My Year of Concerts™ continues….

My Year of Concerts™ continued Saturday night in PDX with a bucket list item:

✅See Bruce Springsteen live

Can confirm that he’s every bit the concert legend that everyone says. My God, where does he get the energy at 73?? I’m decades younger and was exhausted after an hour. He was just getting started at that point! (The show ran about 2:45…amazing.)

U2 shows are a masterclass in what a band is capable of with video, sound effects, dramatic lighting, and all kinds of stage production.

Last night, Bruce gave a masterclass in what a band is capable of with none of that.

It’s crazy that I grew up in Springsteen country with him playing a ton of shows within a 1-2 hour drive of me as a teen, and yet never saw him until last night. So glad I did.

My Year of Concerts™ continues….

Almost dying last year definitely sucked, but every dark cloud has a silver lining.

One of the silver linings the accident gave me is clarity. It helped me realize there’s a lot of stuff I want to do, see, hear, taste, feel, and experience before I die. And now is the time to lock in and make it happen. Enough dreaming, more doing. This isn’t a rehearsal. No do-overs. We get one life, and it can end at any moment.

I’m declaring 2023 My Year of Concerts™!

If all goes well, I’ll be seeing live concerts in at least seven of the 12 months this year. It’s only February, so I’m hoping to add to that as more tours/shows get announced.

Some of the shows on my schedule/wish list are bucket list bands/acts that I’ve never seen before, but My Year of Concerts™ began last night in Portland with my second Eagles show. Hotel California 2023 tour. Again, so damn good. And having a seat in the 7th row sure didn’t suck. 🙂

Deacon Frey was a special guest last night — Glenn’s son. He sang 3-4 of his dad’s songs. These 75-year-olds played for three full hours, just hit after hit after hit. And again, the most beautiful harmonies. Absolute legends.

It was my first concert … hell, first trip anywhere for any reason … since the accident. Between walking a half-mile from hotel to venue and back, plus dancing at my seat and getting up and down all night, I kinda overdid it and was in a fair amount of pain last night. But I’m feeling much better today, so that means My Year of Concerts™ will continue!! 🥰