have you ever heard florida georgia line? theyre pure country, but really put on a killer rock show. an absolute must-see live band. and chicks love them and if you go to their show you will definitely get laid, but its certainly not "slow dance" music.
If you are talking about "my era," you couldn't be more wrong. While I had a couple of friends who became hooked on heroin while they were in Vietnam, something under reported as a consequence of that mad conflict, the things that were widespread back then couldn't be described as "hard drugs." Not in my experience in Houston and Austin prior to the 1980's. Not to say it wasn't around, it always is, then and now, but it wasn't part of the "alternative lifestyle" my friends and I were in. Sorry to hear about your uncle, and you are likely talking about another era altogether. If so, my bad.
I come from a later era, but I did spend most of high school going to concerts in the late 90s and early 00s. My friend got me hooked on being in the pit, and we basically went to any concert with a pit. And none without pits. Favorite place was Verizon Theater (whatever it's called now) down at Bayou Place. Just the right size for that sort of action. I admit that I was in love with being what people didn't expect in high school: in this case being the tall, skinny future valedictorian than spent his weeknights thrashing around with a bunch of strangers at concerts. But I did genuinely enjoy the concert experience. In fact, I went FOR the concert experience. And it was fun, generally regardless of the band. I remember doing a paper on proper moshing and crowdsurfing technique and etiquette in English class which included a demonstration of picking a kid up and surfing him around the room. Notable concerts...hmm. We went to just about anything, not just strictly rock. Man, my memory's failing me; those were good times, and they're too far away now. I did take a trip up to Dallas with some friends to see the Summer Santarium Tour in 2000. The order of acts was System of a Down, Powerman 5000, Kid Rock, Korn, and then Metallica headlining. Except...we heard on the radio on the way to the stadium that James Hetfield's back was killing him, and he wouldn't be there. Still, that led to a unique experience of members of all the other bands getting up and jamming with Metallica to cover their set. And that was a pretty cool experience. That was an absolutely draining day out in the sun, and by the time Metallica actually came on, I just sort of bobbed in the pit and watched calmly. Many year later, back home and done with college, I went and saw Dethklok by myself at the former Verizon Wireless Theater. Despite it being a fictional parody metal band, the actual real-life concert was a legitimately metal affair and the pit was much rougher than I ever experienced in anything back in high school. But I held my own. You don't forget how to handle yourself. Yeah, that was a lot of rambling late at night, but thanks for letting me remember the best time of my life for a bit.
I remember camping out for rock concert tickets. We camped out for U2 (original Joshua Tree tour), Sting (Police had already broken up before I was allowed to go to concerts), and of course 3 different Rush tours. We got 2nd row for Sting, but the other shows we still ended up in the upper prom for some reason. I say this all the time, but the best rock show I've ever been to was Living Colour's Vivid tour back in 1988. One of the first shows I had ever been to that wasn't in a huge arena. In that same vein, I saw Weezer when they were still really good (Pinkerton tour) at Liberty Lunch in Austin back in 96. Spent the whole time in the front row. Matt Sharp threw water on me.
You want to see why Rock is dead? Go look at the price of tickets. What used to be an accessible for of entertainment for young teens is now 6X more expensive. I saw Gun's and Roses at ACL last year and it was great. It also cost me over $400. The only reason I even go to festivals is because of the value they provide. You can see 10 bands for the price of seeing maybe 3? Capitalism ruined rock and roll and the only people that can afford to experience it live are yuppies or millennials willing to go into debt. I still go to small shows but the great venues are disappearing. No more Fitz, no more Maredian, no more Warehouse Live soon. It's all being condensed into the garbage like House of Blues where half the place is tables and chairs that people can pay an extra $100 to sit in.
There's Scout Bar in Clear Lake. The small venues are out there. Jesus Christ, this is BARELY Country. It's Country-Pop. The clue in your post? 'chicks love them'.
I think rock is still alive until the bands from the 90s retire at least (so currently any artist from 70-90s) I try to see, but w/ that said.... The prices man (just like you mentioned, normal kids can't just drop crazy money, and the cheap tickets that are **** still can cost too much too), but hey look at sports tickets for certain teams/sports... It's made it crazy, and then at concerts a t-shirt is like $50+... If it's a band I really appreciate and since I know it mostly goes to them vs some online reprint I'll do it occasionally, but even that has taken its toll. After the 90s bands are done, there's been a lot less artists I've been interested in, and I think with the changing times concerts are about appearances and not so much going to see a band, I mean back in the day radio/mtv/record stores were basically it to hear music, and you really savored going to see a band for the experience, now with the younger gens I think online instant access has kind of spoiled it. I mean at concerts now people are watching it through their phone, and when they record something, how often do you think they go back?? Sure, I'll snap a quick picture/clip to share with close friends but I'm not going to a concert to record the whole thing.... If I wanted that I'd just buy the blu ray or whatever I saw gnr at acl too, I definitely am happy Slash is back and they put on a good show (especially since you got to see all the other bands that day, I mean some people pay those prices to just see gnr with some opening band). Anyway, on your ticket price did you but it late/vip or the whole weekend? Or was that including the silly prices for anything inside the festival? I think I got early acl ticket for $125 maybe... Iirc... But I know once we were there all day we spent a lot. Regardless, definitely agree with you on what you stated, the pricing is continuing to increase and that sucks for any music fan.
Yeah we did VIP for the first weekend because it was our first ACL. We live in Houston so we wanted to make things as easy as possible so we also booked the room with the fest. Doubt i'd do it again but The Cure is my band. Been to over 10 shows and always go when they are anywhere near me.
wow. whats with the hate brah? look, i enjoy classic old school country like toby keith, brad paisley, big & rich and kid rock, but you cant deny FGL. anyone who knows real country knows they are legit.
the high prices have negated the democratic leveling of humanity one used to feel at a concert- the freedom, the equality, the escape. it's so perversely commercial now and it is reflected in the types of people at shows. yeah, it sucks that it so expensive now, but what that does to the crowd is the worst part of it all.
i cant tell if youre being sarcastic or not and i guess i get a little triggered when i hear people dissin' FLG. i really dont understand why people dont think they are authentic country. its modern sounding, sure, but the way i see it is they are modern outlaws. 21 century waylon and willie. theyre kind of like creed in that people make fun of them, but meanwhile they sell millions of records, write kick-ass songs and are much more famous than all the "too cool" types like xerobull favorite bands.
@REEKO_HTOWN is laughing because those bands you cited aren't country either, especially Kid Rock. Saying that FLG is Outlaw Country is...it's not even close to outlaw country. Look, I'm not bashing what you like and I'm not saying it's bad music. I'm saying that most radio 'country' is formulaic country pop engineered for women 12-50. Look at that video you posted- those guys are gussied-up pretty boy dandies. That's not country, in my book. If you like it, that's awesome, man, but let's call a spade a spade. And I love Creed and their lead singer, Freddy Vedder, but I'll never say that the band is some sort of rock icon. They're good at the post-grunge rock sound and make catchy tunes. I'm going to listen to some now.
Back in the day, half the fun of going to a concert was being surrounded by fellow super-fans of whatever band you were there to see. Now you're more likely to just be surrounded by a bunch of people who may or may not even like the band but are just there for a fun night out on the town. They're likely to spend most of the show on their phones checking in on Facebook.
They watch the show via their phones, which they are using to record the show. Ideally, they should have a second recording device about three feet behind them recording them recording the show, then they can say, 'ah, that was the experience!' ...of them recording a show.
kid rock is country as f***. he moved to the south and he performs skynyrd covers at his concerts. on that note, the whole premise of this thread is bunk b/c there are plenty of us real music fans who never forgot concerts and still go to them all the time. the music is out there. instead of complaining yall should go to a rascal flats show. they were riding ON TOP of a f***ing 18 wheeler and singing at the same time. willie is so high he could never have done that. and waylon was an emo coke head. lol. i see what you did there. yearrghh.
MAN!! That's awesome, I definitely wish we got a weekend pass this time. Like normally I will get the weekend one and go Fri and Sat and then let someone else use it unless the Sunday headliner is a band we wanted to see etc.. So I just leave the band a loose, for some reason they haven't complained. Anyway, I seriously wish I could have seen The Cure, they're an awesome band for sure.
Yeah, this is exactly what I was meaning, on their phones using social media, or taking a ridiculous amount of video/pictures for no reason... When I go to see a band, I am there for the experience regardless of how much media consumption/usage has changed with the internet. I mean, if the sound is on point and it's a band that can actually perform live, you won't have the loudness wars mixing going on. So essentially I am there because I want it to sound clean and see talent (maybe even pick up a trick or two I could try to attempt on the guitar... I have been playing more recently but am no where near to where I was on other instruments).
