My family is not a family of musicians, but I am a musical
prodigy. There are stories of my grandpa Milnes and his sister getting yelled
at by their mom for doing nothing but sitting around and listening to records.
Then there are the frequent reminders by my dad as to how some of his fondest
memories of my grandpa are those of them sharing CDs. Now, my dad and I share
an iTunes library and sometimes spend hours in front of the television watching
music videos and debating our own Top 10 lists.
I was conditioned to have such educated music-related
discussions from an early age. Growing up, my dad would quiz me and reward me
with small cash prizes (a dollar or two) for correctly naming the artist of a
selected song. We stopped playing once I became too knowledgeable for his
wallet.
The Milnes musical experience goes beyond our household,
however. My dad and I have spent just as many hours in front of a stage as we
have on YouTube. We go to at least two rock shows a year.
This frequent concert-going started when I was 17. My dad
and I went to Indianapolis to see my favorite band, Chevelle. It was so
incredible I became addicted.
Since then I have gone out of my way to see bands such as Taproot,
Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, The Almost, The Classis Crime, Madina Lake, Enter
Shikari, In This Moment, Motionless In White, Avenged Sevenfold, Deftones,
Bush, Soundgarden, Alien Ant Farm, Fuel, Powerman 5000, and (Hed) P.E. to name
some major ones.
During my time in the various venues and crowds, I learned a
lot about live music. Despite how entertaining rock shows are, they are not
always enjoyable. It is interesting how something so awesome can be so awful at
the same time.
My aim for this blog is to provide other live music lovers
with proper concert-going etiquette as well as helpful tips on how to get that indescribable
feeling of viewing a favorite band up close and personal without ending up in
the hospital or having to wipe the beer out of their eyes first.
Image credit: Personal photo by author
Hi!
ReplyDeleteYour first blog post reminds me of a book I just read. It is about a girl who plays the cello even though her parents are both punk musicians. Her dad would always giving her a hard time about playing classical music and would try to quiz her on punk music instead.
I love going to concerts too, but sadly I haven't been to that many. I saw in your list that you have attended a Soundgarden concert, which is funny because I have been to a Audioslave concert. (same lead singers, different band :))