i
"As the dawn began to break
I had to surrender
The universe will have it's way
Too powerful to master"
I’ve been fortunate to travel the country (and a little of the
world) to attend various concerts and music festivals. From the Rolling Stones
at Arrowhead Stadium to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Olympiastadion
in Munich to Mavis Staples at the world famous Apollo Theater. Concerts have lured
me to cites that may not have been on my radar or “on my list” of places I want
to visit. Jacksonville Oregon, Missoula Montana, North Adams Massachusetts just
to name a few. The first “big” show I attended was back in 1992. I saw
Metallica at the now torn down Capital Centre in Landover Maryland (former home
of the Capitals/Bullets) That’s a post for a later date. Hard to know how many shows
I’ve seen in the 28 years that have followed, let alone harder to pinpoint my favorite
10 thus far. Lucky for me I can say that one of the 10 happened March 10, 2018 about
3 miles down the road from me at The National here in ole Richmond VA.
It was a perfect storm of events that made this night so magical.
Good friends, nice buzz and a general excitement that comes when one sees a band
for the first time. I had been a huge fan of The Yoshimi Battles the Pink
Robots album but other than that I didn’t know many of the other tunes…..and I
had no clue what the stage show would look like. Boy was I in for an experience!
We arrived at the National early to secure a spot near the stage when we received
a text from some friends that had space in one of the balconies. Well five
minutes later we were led through a door and hallways that I never knew existed
at the club and 6 of us got to witness the whole spectacle in the balcony feet
away from the stage with the comfort of not getting hit with elbows or having beers spilt on us.
(Well at least not from strangers) If you haven’t been to a Flaming Lips show
before I’ll throw out a few words to describe the performance. Confetti, flashing
lights, laser hands, giant robots, lead singer Wayne riding the audience in a
bubble (see pic I snapped from my luxurious box seat) and moving around the
whole floor on a unicorn (see video, and yes I got to high five Wayne!)…oh yeah the music rocks as well!!
Would I have enjoyed the show if I had stayed on the floor
with the masses?..definitely! Would it still be in the top 10? Not sure, like I’ve
mentioned before sometimes the best concerts are when all things fall into place
and you’re free to tune out distractions and enjoy the performance. I couldn’t
find a great live clip of the song but there’s a full professionally shot concert
on youtube worth checking out. Hope everyone has a nice Holiday weekend. Bye
for now.
