Bits and Bobs

Just settling in for a couple of hours to write a freelance piece - my main source of income is no longer journalism, but I like to keep up my writing "chops," not to mention make a bit of extra money on the side (which is going into my Argentina travel fund) - but thought I'd warm up the hands and the brain with a quick post. Nothing in particular I want to rant on, just a general clearing of the mind. (Sadly, it takes me much longer than in the past to write these freelance stories. I just don't do enough of them to keep me nimble. But I do my best, at a slower pace, and my editor is usually pleased with the result.)

(For those curious, I'm still making my way through Humboldt's Gift, and it's still great fun. Should be finished by mid-week. And then ... well, haven't yet decided. I'd like to continue the Bellow canon and read The Adventures of Augie March, considering by many to be Bellow's true masterpiece. I've become terribly picky about the editions of the books I read: I tend toward trade paperbacks, one that isn't heavily thumbed. There's a Penguin re-issue of Augie March with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens I'm in search of. I suppose I can just order it from Amazon.)

I've been listening and re-listening (re-listening again; in fact, I'm going to listen to it while I'm writing this paragraph) to Peter Gabriel's incredible tune San Jacinto, specifically the live version from his wonderful Plays Live! CD. It's been a long-time favourite, a song I usually re-discover about once a year and play continuously for a few days. (It was actually one of the first ringtones I used when I bought my first cell phone about a year ago, but then realized it wasn't loud enough and kept missing calls.) While I truly dig the original track from Gabriel's eponymous fourth album (sometimes dubbed Security), I absolutely love this particular live version, recorded during Gabriel's 1982 tour. Many have cited this tour, in support of the fourth album, as his very best. I was a mite too young to catch it, but I did see him on the next tour: in 1986 when he came through Toronto to support the album So.

I've been thinking of this concert, and concerts in general, after I read this New Yorker magazine article (my apologies that only the abstract is available online; here's a link to an interview with the author that gives the basics of his article) about the current state of the big-ticket concert industry. It prompted a discussion on Slate's Culture Gabfest the following week (you have to scroll down to the Aug. 12 edition) where the cultural "experts" (for what they're worth) were basically derisive of the big concert experience. One of them couldn't remember a single big concert they had enjoyed.

Now I'm not going to defend Ticketmaster, Live Nation or the big rock show experience. After all, I rarely go to big, popular concerts anymore. Expense is one reason, lack of interest in most major rock bands that can fill a stadium is another. Still, if I had plenty of disposable income, I wouldn't think twice about dropping some big bucks to see certain bands: U2 for sure (I spoke to a friend of mine at a patio party last night that went to see them in Dublin, which is something she's always wanted to do), possibly others like Pearl Jam... hmm, I'm struggling to think of currently active bands that I like and still do arena/stadium shows. In fact, I have dropped major ducats to see a rock concert: The Police a couple of years ago (which was a great show), and The Who back in 2002 (this was the infamous tour where the bassist John Entwistle died in Las Vegas a day before the tour began, after which they recruited the bassist Pino Paladino to fill in). There shouldn't be much of a surprise for these two shows: both are two of my favourite bands. And while I'd seen The Who back in 1988, it wasn't really The Who. (Pete Townshend played acoustic guitar for most of the concert, and they had added horns and a back-up singers. It wasn't terrible - for one, they played quite a few songs from Townshend's solo albums, which I was very much into back then - but it was hardly close to a typical Who experience.) And the Police ... well, I love them, and had long wanted to see them perform live.

Yet for years and years, particularly when I was a teen and even into my early 20s, I loved the big rock concert experience, and have fond memories of some memorable shows. My first: Rush at Maple Leaf Gardens - sort-of a rite of passage for boys of a certain age and musical bent. I went with my friend Dave (RIP), and I remember the rush of us getting off at College subway, these two 13-year olds from the suburbs, alone in the city for the first time. (Talk about trusting parents!) Our seats were pretty lousy, but we didn't care. It was loud and somewhat intimidating, but we had a total blast. There were other wonderful arena/stadium shows in the next decade: Sting, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, Genesis, U2 (Joshua Tree tour). (Some memorable Massey Hall shows too, including Tears for Fears in support of Songs from the Big Chair, when through connections via my mother I ended up with sixth row seats.)

Which, of course, brings me back to Peter Gabriel. I've seen him a number of times in concert, including twice on that So tour: a winter show in 1986, followed by a summer visit at the CNE. I actually don't remember much of the latter, but the former, at Maple Leaf Gardens, where my friend D. and I had floor seats (a total fluke: I skipped a class and used the school pay phone to call Ticketmaster), was by far the more memorable. The lights turn off (always one of the great events at a big concert), a song from his Birdy soundtrack is blasting from the PA, it starts to fade, replaced by the familiar, wonderful strains of San Jacinto. He comes out, wearing nearly all white, and proceeds to dazzle with his voice and minimalist stage settings and movements, utilizing a small crane holding three lights that stalk him (almost like a beast), that he stares into, eventually both playing and "lifting" the lights with his hands. Amazing to think, even after 20 years, it's stuck with me. (I found a YouTube clip of a similar performance from Philadelphia.) A few years later, I saw Gabriel at the SkyDome during his Secret World tour. And while not nearly as memorable as the Gardens show, it did contain the unbelievable opening, using some original Robert LePage theatre direction, of Come Talk to Me. (Here's a YouTube clip, containing a very young Paula Cole. The performance I saw had the equally wonderful Joy Askew singing the female bits.)

My point? Not sure I really have one. Except nice memories.