2023/07/25 Fall Out Boy in Tampa

 Great concert.  Great concert!

My wife made me promise to take her and my youngest on a vacation once I completed my MBA.  Erin (my youngest) decided that Fort Lauderdale was our destination.  At some point she realized that Fall Out Boy was going to be in concert in Tampa while we were in Fort Lauderdale.  Erin bought tickets after telling me that it was about 30 minutes from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa.  She was wrong.  It is actually about 4 HOURS.

We were in Fort Lauderdale and needed to get to Tampa, Florida.  We had to rent a car.  It was my understanding that, when renting a car, you always choose the economy option because the rental company WILL run out of the economy option and have to up grade you for free.  I wound up getting a bright red Dodge Charger.  KEK.

We left at noon and had a HECK of a time getting into the venue.  We wound up being about 20 minutes late for the opening act.  I cannot recall their name ... because they were the opening act ... I suppose.

We managed to get a great parking space (close to the exit) and once we got to our seats, Erin and I went to the merch line ... which was about 1.5 hours long at that time.  I got into line and sent Erin to get water for us.  The kid in front of me was an excessively short young lady named "V".  Turns out, V was from Cypress in Houston!  She was a college student in the Northeast - the 5th or 6th child in a 12-child Irish-Catholic family.  She was in line to get a sweatshirt for the opening band (whose name I forgot).  I wound up putting her charge on my card because she only had cash and the merch station only took credit cards ... raging against the machine indeed.

When Erin came back with water I walked over to the merch line at the other end of the venue.  I made the mistake of trying to go to the other side of the concert venue by walking across the general admittance area.  It was PACKED.  And only to find that the other merch line was lust as stacked as the one near the entrance.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Erin and I got matching shirts (and 1 for Cil seeing as her birthday was coming up).  We managed to get back to our seats 30 minutes before FOB took the stage.  Of course, the shirts were ridiculously expensive.  Erin has great taste apparently ...

It was hot.  We purchased some canned "Death Water" and took our seats to see the end of "Bring the Horizon".  The crowd was enthusiastic for these young men.

Fall Out Boy was fantastic!  I lost sight of the length of their impressive catalog and found myself surprised numerous times by the set list.  FOB managed to play plenty of their hits, plenty of the new stuff and even had an impressive set of their "old school" stuff that was enhanced by careful staging direction that brought the enormous arena back to a "small concert venue feel".  Just very cool.

There was no encore.  But the concert was long and satisfying.  Erin wanted to see "Dance, Dance".  I was there more for "Disloyal Order of the Water Buffalo".  We both left satisfied.

It was a long ride back to Fort Lauderdale, but we made it thanks to Apple Music and their "Top Songs" for ... yes, you guessed it ... Fall Out Boy.

Erin is the coolest.  We had a blast.  It was a great idea to drive 4 hours to Tampa to experience this together.  It was a unique bonding experience.

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.

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.

10/26/1988 - Scorpions: Savage Amusement Tour

Geez, a year and a half out of school and I was attending a Scorpions concert. What the heck was I thinking?  Savage Amusement marked the beginning of the decline for the Scorpions.  Another one that I am not sure who I went with but it must have been Mike.  IIRC it was a decent show.

1988/02/19 - Yes - Big Generator Tour

I did not recall going to this one.  I can't recall much about it but I do have some thoughts on the Talk Tour from 1994.

1/29/1988 - Rush: Hold Your Fire Tour

I recall thinking that the concert came off as formulaic and "Business-like".  They did the set, they walked off, waited about 20 seconds and came back out an did an encore, walked off again and the lights immediately turned on.  "We're done here guys, go home."

6/30/1987 - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Don't remember much.  Based on some web info this appears to be the tour kickoff for the LET ME UP & TEMPLE IN FLAMES  Tour. Based on the timeframe this was likely the last concert I would have seen with the Riggs brothers.  I believe it was soon after this that they moved to Arizona for good.

1986 - Hitting my Stride

1/11/1986 - Thrill Show and Destruction Derby - Houston Astrodome, Houston Texas
First and only monster truck show I ever attended.  We went because my buddy Chuck had a friend named Jared that thought it would be a good idea.  Jared was a funny guy.  We went, had a good time.  I recall that at one point they dragged an old Dodge Charger onto the field, hoisted it up in the air with a large crane and dropped it on its grill from 100 feet or something.  It was traumatic - Jared was an automotive enthusiast so he fueled our shared indignation to the point I am horrified by this act to this day.  No, not really.  But I do have a special place in my heart for Dodge Chargers as my dad had one when we were growing up on the farm in Pennsylvania.

1/16/1986 - Rush:  Power Windows Tour - The Summit, Houston Texas
This was the concert.  This was the concert that turned me into a rabid Rush fan.  To this day I still like Power Windows more than the typical Rush fan from my day because the typical Rush fan from my day cut their teeth on "Moving Pictures".  I was always late to the game when it came to music.  Took my cues from Chuck - he seemed to know what he was doing.  I think Fred wasn't too big of a Power Windows fan but I eventually turned him.  I can recall wondering why everyone was cheering when, during the bridge of "The Manhattan Project" they showed nuclear explosions on screen.  I thought that strange.  Still do.  It makes no sense.  It is a somber sort of thing.  Still, great show.

2/21/1986 - Done With Mirrors Tour - Aerosmith - The Summit, Houston Texas
Done with Mirrors was Aerosmith's "come back album" - reuniting the original band lineup.  Yet another, "holy crap, this song is GREAT" evening for me.  I listened to a lot of Aerosmith after this concert.  But nothing stands out in my head about this one.

6/20/1986 - True Confessions Tour:  Bob Dylan and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Southern Star Amphitheater, Houston Texas
Petty was great, I endured Bob Dylan.  Not much of a Dylan fan but you know - any musician has to have a ton of respect for him.

9/21/1986  The Moody Blues - Long Distance Voyager
Apparently the Fixx opened for them - which I saw on a helpful website.  I do not recall much from this show - probably because I didn't know much about TMB at that time.  I did listen to LDV a lot afterwards and to this day I enjoy that album.

9/27/1986  Loving Feelings Tour - Chuck Berry, The Turtles, etc- The Summit, Houston Texas
Yeah, yeah, WTF, right?  My buddy's (Chuck) mother, Fran wanted to go.  We thought it might be fun.  I recall Chuck Berry coming on stage an demanding that the video screens be turned off or he would leave the stage.  The event organizers complied, he performed, but it was a big buzz kill.  I also recall the Turtles making asses of themselves and making fun of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" in the process.  Looking back on it they were going for wacky and entertaining - they failed.  But hey, at least they tried.  Years later I would have the youth band at my church cover "Happy Together" so I guess their effort on 9/27/1986 wasn't totally lost.

10/31/1986 - .38 Special:  Strength in Numbers Tour - The Summit, Houston Texas
I don't recall much about this one.  I never bought this album so until they got the "classics" part of the show I was bored.

11/21/1986  Triumph - Sport of Kings Tour - The Summit, Houston Texas
I thought the world of Triumph back then.  Just about the perfect late 80s arena rock band:  Canadian power trio, stratospheric lead vocals, songs with acoustic intros that exploded into something bigger ... It bugged me that I never got to see them for the Thunder Seven Tour so this was a consolation prize.  They were on the other side of their fame at this point.