Angels and Airwaves and cowboys

My son has a growing interest in music. He is on his second guitar and looking to purchase a larger amp, undoubtedly to drive his mother and I out of the house. He likes the new alternative/semi-punk rockers. Having recently turned 13, he wanted to go to his first concert. I was very concerned with taking him to what is always a R rated show, with him being a PG-13 kind of young man. I listen to his music as a way of finding out what kind of messages he is putting into his brain, so I knew that while some of the songs deal with mature themes, they are nothing he can't handle and nothing we don't talk about, so I agreed to take him.

Yesterday's temperature was 110 degrees at concert time and my son wanted to get there as soon as the gates opened at Arco. Being the master concert goer I am, I said that if we get there at 6:30 we will miss the crowds, the parking lot mess and walk in right when the two opening bands had finished. As we walked to the front doors there was a stack of hundreds, maybe a thousand studded leather belts on the lawn, they were not allowed inside the arena. We walked around the concourse and my son bought his t-shirt and CD at the vendor booths and found good seats for the show. I was 11 minutes off.

The first band we saw was one of his favorites, Angels and Airwaves. The front man for the band was the singer for now defunct Blink 182. The band sounded tight and the sound system was ok for a notoriously bad venue, the only problem I had was with the lead singer and guitarist Tom DeLounge. The show was all about Tom, here I am, I am great, look at me. The worst part, aside from his walk through the crowd to the stage where he let fly a few F-bombs, was the fact that he didn't introduce a single member of the band. What a head case. He should just rename the band the DeLounges.

One observation about today's young concert goers. They suck.
They are so pre-occupied with their cell phones and texting their friends that they don't watch the show. It was like being at a Journey concert when they played a power ballad, there were hundreds of flickering lights in the crowd , but instead of lighters , they were cell phones. Snapping pictures and taking video clips, then trying to scream over the music to ask their friends if they got the pictures. Arco arena didn't open the upper deck so there were probably 9 to 11 thousand people there with two thousand or so down on the floor. Only a quarter of the crowd sang along with the songs, or cheered after the song was over. A textbook reaction from the 'Yea, whatever' generation.

The headliner was Taking Back Sunday. The band was good, the guitar playing was strong and the music is melodic. An all around good show. The front man for TBS is Adam Lazzara and he is a fancy guy. He has obviously seen way to many Stones concert videos. He mimics Mick's moves quite well, with a little of Roger Daltry's microphone swinging thrown in for good measure. He once knocked his bass player for a loop in England with his mic. He has control of the show and the crowd and did introduce his band mates, always a good sign.

All and all a good experience for my son and a good time for me as well. I think one of things that persuaded me to take him at this young age was when I was in 8th grade my favorite band was coming to my hometown on their first country wide tour. You may have heard of them, Van Halen was going to play a concert 45 minutes from my house and I wanted to go in the worst way. But my parents didn't let me go, they wouldn't have thought of going with me, they didn't like my music and I was too young. I went on to see Van Halen three times when I was in high school and college, but I always wondered what that first tour would have been like.

My son's excitement was pretty evident as we drove home. He decided not to spend his birthday money on a new iPod, he wants a bigger amp. I may have created a monster.