Concert-going
Sunday, 31st August 2008 by Julie
We went along to an R.E.M. concert last night. Something that had required lots of planning – “seated” tickets bought almost a year ago, special parking booked near Twickenham stadium, baby-sitter arranged, and so on. A proper night out with the appropriate-sized hole gouged out of our bank balance to prove it.
So I guess my expectations were fairly high. Which was not a good place to start from. Because I felt – in a word – disappointed.
If we’d been veteran concert-goers, there would definitely have been elements of the afternoon/evening that would have gone a lot better. During long periods of casting my eyes about the crowd, I noticed that said veterans:
- didn’t arrive until just before the main act (a good call, because the openers weren’t really worth it and just added 2+ hours to the time spent in hard seats)
- had binoculars with them to see the tiny figures on the stage
- had ear-plugs to protect their hearing from a serious excess of bass
- brought their own food to make up for the over-priced, under-par food being sold on site
- smuggled in their own water bottles to get around the stupid rule that water bottles bought at the bars must have their lids removed! (I know!
)
So why did the music disappoint? Well, I expected to be engrossed; carried away by the songs I’ve known and loved for years. R.E.M’s distinctive, laid-back melodies and quirky lyrics that have accompanied me on long journeys and kept my brain from stagnating when it wasn’t required for admin tasks at work. In short, the perfect music to sit back and enjoy at a concert on a balmy August night.
Instead, there was mainly a mix of noisy, beat-heavy numbers that weren’t familiar (to us) with one or two old favourites thrown in, and most of the time we couldn’t hear the words. Behind the band, a very impressive, real-time, technicolour display was going on but I still felt easily distracted. It was hard to feel involved.
Part of the disappointment is a direct result of me not doing my homework on this concert. I’ve been too content with the R.E.M. albums I own already (Automatic for the People being a particular favourite) and haven’t really taken the trouble to find out what their new music is like. Times have moved on, and evidently, so have R.E.M.’s songs. If I’d realised how much of what they would be playing would not appeal to me, I’d have put the money towards a slap-up meal for two instead! Ho-hum.
