2017-11-24 All Time Low - Tree Lighting in Bee Cave Texas

Quick note:  on the day after Thanksgiving my wife always wants to go do something.  She mentions this to Autumn and Autumn finds out that one of her favorite bands (All Time Low) is playing at an outdoor tree lighting in Bee Cave Texas at the Hill Country Galleria.  We decided to go even though Autumn has seen these guys at least 4 times over the past two years.

We live in Houston and Bee Cave is on the west side of Austin.  So to get there for the 7:00 PM concert we would need to be traversing Austin on what would likely be US 71 on a Friday afternoon.  Anyone will tell you that is no fun.  And it wasn't.  But we made it and Autumn had front row seats for the event because we got there at about 4 PM after the requisite stop at the Bastrop Bucee's.

The event was hosted by a local radio station.  The tree lighting started at 6:30 PM and they made it last about 30 minutes.  It was painful and dorky.  I missed it because during that time I ran over to Dick's Sporting Goods and bought some stadium blankets for the ladies (it was cold).

All Time Low played an acoustic set and I must admit - they did a darn good job.  I was glad we made the effort.  Beautiful evening and an exciting time.  Favorite song was easily "Weightless" but they did "Cinderblock Garden", "Missing You" and 4 of 5 others.

There was a fireworks show afterwards that we did not intend to stick around for but wound up doing so.  As usual, I was eager to get on the road but my girls were eager to milk some more marrow from the event.  You can imagine how difficult it is to herd five women anywhere but in that exciting of an environment, it is almost impossible.  Erin bolted to the stage with a notebook with the idea that she was going to get some autographs so I lost her in the crowd.  I finally found Autumn - she was glowing.  She had been the recipient of a gift - one of the musicians gave her his water bottle.  She was over the moon.

Concerts evoke excitement and emotion because the music evokes excitement and emotion.  The concert is just the venue that reminds us that we are not alone in that rhapsody.

1997/01/11 - The Newsboys and Josh McDowell: Right From Wrong Tour

Funny how memory works.  If you had asked me if I had ever seen the Newboys in concert I would have told you no.  But clearly I have.  When I got out of college in 1996 I started working with our church's youth ministry.  I must have gone to this with them.  I do recall thinking that the concert was a decent one and at that time I was close enough to my concert going days for that opinion to mean something.  But it is also true that there is a totally different vibe at Christian concerts.  The energy is not entirely sure what to do with itself.  Which is true for non-Christian concerts as well but in the hedonistic world - the lack of liturgy allows one to embrace the possibilities rather than worry about the repercussions.

In case you haven't figured it out, I have no idea what I am talking about.

1994/08/01: Yes - Talk Tour

 - ?

Tour Management:  I have a great idea, let's have an outdoor concert in Houston Texas in freaking August.
People:  Why would you do that to us?
Tour Management:  Because Miller Beer is sponsoring the event.

My friend Dave was a huge Yes fan.  He was positively giddy that we would get to go to this show.  He was working for Miller beer at the time and scored some tickets as well as some "backstage party passes" or something.  We got there early enough and made our way to the backstage party.  They handed out posters and promised us the band members would show up and sign autographs.  And they did.  I still have the poster, signed by Tony Kaye, Alan White and the great Trevor Rabin.  I  wasn't all that interested in meeting anyone except for Trevor Rabin.

When I got his attention I said, "Hey man, we use the same guitar strings!" and pointed at my D'Addario strings t-shirt.  At that time Trevor was endorsing D'Addario - I know this cause I saw in a guitar magazine.  I'll never forget how gracious Trevor was - he looked at me and smiled as if his face was trying to decide what the heck this kid's problem was, laughed and said, "yeah they're great".  I shook his hand and my 30 seconds were up.  Dave was all about meeting Jon Anderson.  I made a half-hearted attempt to get to Chris Squire but he was gone before I got his autograph - which wasn't a big deal to me because autographs are kind of stupid anyway.  But Dave wanted to meet Jon so we had to hang out and wait.  Dave had been told that Jon would make an appearance.  And he did.  Let me tell you, weird guy (Jon Anderson - not Dave - actually yeah, both of them come to think of it).  He came out between a couple of big guys I could only view now as "handlers".  Jon stood timidly at the party entrance - clearly uncomfortable, wringing his hands and waiting for a chance to bolt out of there.  The room noticed he was there.  And in my opinion it seemed like we were reluctant to approach due to the obvious "closed" body language.  None of this could penetrate Dave's adoration for the man.  He approached brazenly and seemed to startle Jon.  I stood back and watched Dave's dream come true as he made the mistake so many of us do in trying to tell people we admire how much they mean to us and come off sounding like fanboys or clueless gits (see Trevor Rabin encounter above).  I am not sure Jon signed anyone else's poster that day.  He might have bolted immediately after the "close encounter of the Dave kind".  After that we took our seats.  It was a cool show.  I knew enough about Yes to appreciate the show much more than when I saw them for Big Generator.

1/26/1994 - Rush: Counterparts Tour

This was the final Rush concert I ever attended.  I think I went to this one with my brother-in-law Matt.  Rush always put on a great show - consummate professionals - no shenanigans.  IIRC, Matt, his friends and I went to wait by the buses to try to catch the band as they were leaving the Summit  This is something that in all of my concert going days I had never tried but had seen depicted with remarkably successful results in many "coming-of-age" teenager movies.  I can't recall how long we waited but it yielded not even a glimpse.  It occurred to me later that even in failure the attempt was more interesting than sitting in the ubiquitous post-concert traffic jam attempting to get out of the Summit.

2/18/1992 - Rush: Roll the Bones Tour

Every two years Rush came to town like clockwork.  You knew to when to expect them and, by golly, you did NOT miss.  I am fuzzy on the details on this one.  This was the fourth consecutive Rush concert I had attended which, I realize, is nothing in terms of begin a Rush fan.  But it is also true that they all start blending together after a while.

10/15/1991 - George Michael: Cover to Cover Tour

What the heck, I went to a George Michael concert?  How in the world did I forget this?  This was about 10 months after I got married - I had no idea what I was doing back then (still not too sure).  I can safely say that this one is lost to the ages but I can also say that I wish I had paid closer attention.  At that time I was still too fragile of a music fan to ever admit I liked anyone like George Michael.  I was pretty insufferable about my tastes and preferences and often made the mistake of finding it necessary to tear other bands down to build up the bands I liked.  I am sure this was a great show with the fantastic Michael vocals you would expect.

2/26/1990 - Rush: Presto Tour

Yet another Rush concert.  Nothing stands out about Presto that I can recall.  I wonder who I went to this show with because this was long enough after high school that I was not running with the old concert crowd (Chuck, Fred, Mike, etc).  Must have gone with some guys at work.