This past weekend, we took Dominic to his very first concert: Weezer at the Del Mar Racetrack! It was a bit gloomy, raining on and off throughout the day. We even considered not going at one point, thinking the reports of “thunder showers” would be correct and we didn’t want to subject our boy to the potential of catching a cold. But we decided to brave the weather since we would be inside for a bit watching a few horse races prior to the concert. Anyone who arrives prior to the last race can see the concert for free, and I have to thank my co-worker, Rene, for giving us passes for free stretch runs! We had dinner first, then my hubby wanted to place his first bets on horses. There was three races left for the night, and Deon won the first two! He had a blast and wants to return again this season. After the last race, we all headed for the venue area and rocked the night away to Weezer.
The music lover in me has always wanted to see Weezer in concert. When we found out about the show, I just thought how awesome it would be to have this be Dominic’s first concert, and he could say “When I was five, my parents took me to see Weezer!” They performed all of the popular alternative radio station hits: “Hash Pipe”, “Island in the Sun”, “Beverly Hills”, “Say it Ain’t So”, “Buddy Holly” and my favorite, “Undone – The Sweater Song”. They even did a Blur cover, which was a pleasant surprise. To commemorate the day, I bought us all concert shirts. Dominic’s is still a bit too big, but it will allow him the chance to grow into it, giving him more chances to wear it.
Below, I’ve included the set list for the show, and I will upload the video of “Undone – The Sweater Song” soon (you’ll be able to see it underneath the set list). Dominic said he had fun, and it made for a wonderful day at the Del Mar Racetrack!
A tiny big gloomy, but nothing torrential.
Someone was a winner!
Really good line up this summer!
My boys are ready to rock!
Not only was it Dominic’s first concert, but it was the first time for me and Deon to see Weezer as well. They were fantastic!
Dominic is a natural. He took a look around at the crowd and emulated the Weezer hand symbol (his daddy decided to follow suit).
Note: I got Deon’s shirt in London two years ago, and boy did it get a lot of attention that night! If you can’t tell, it says “If found please return to the pub.” When Janice and I were in London back in 2012, I saw a guy wearing it as we were going up an escalator in a Tube station. I then found it at a souvenier shop towards the end of our stay and had to get it for Deon. He loves it!
Mark this one in the history books for Dominic’s very first concert!
In the wake of Culture Club’s UK tour announcement (dates here), I’m finally posting my pictures from the Boy George concert my hubby and I attended last month. With Dominic in Las Vegas at the time, we were able to travel to LA for the concert, which was at The Belasco Theater, right next to The Mayan (Boy George had a concert there the following day). We were lucky we arrived early, not only because the line ended up going around the block, but because the police were in full force due to the Clippers game. In fact, we met a really nice cop while filling up at a gas station, who is a huge 80’s music and Depeche Mode fan, but regretfully didn’t know Boy George was playing that night. Later while in line, we met a lovely couple, with whom we ended up hanging out with for the duration of the evening.
Other than a near altercation between my husband and an overeager and inebriated concert goer during Church of the Poison Mind, the show was absolutely fantastic. Boy George sounded better than ever and his band was wonderful. Hats were the featured accessory, and my husband received recognition from Mr. George from the stage at the start of the concert, complimenting him on his choice of fedora for the evening. I read a lot of reviews to get a feel for what the show would be like. So I was not at all surprised to find that The Boy featured a fabulous mixture of songs from his new album This Is What I Do and crowd pleasing Culture Club songs. Comments from concert goers on different forums criticized the song choice, but I liked the mix of music: this was a Boy George concert, not a Culture Club concert. Although I would have loved to have heard Time (Clock of the Heart) live, I was nearly in tears to at least hear Victims. Deon’s favorite song was Karma Chameleon, and I really enjoyed Nice & Slow from the new album, and Everything I Own, although one obvious omission was The Crying Game. The full set list for The Mayan show can be found below, which was the same as The Belasco show, and I will add Nice & Slow live from the concert, as soon as it uploads. Oh yeah, another exciting part of the evening was hearing that Matt Goss was in the same building (I included a picture from Matt’s Twitter account). I’m so glad we made the trek to LA to see such an incredible show!
(Edited to add: Nice & Slow is now up! See the video below.)
That line went around the block!
The Boy himself!
Matt Goss with Boy George after the concert from his Twitter account *sigh*.
Back in the beginning of October, I saw the Pet Shop Boys at Copley Symphony Hall, with my husband, my sister and best friend Janice. Later, we met up with my friend Merrick and his friend Alan. After checking out Facebook that night, I saw that 80’s DJ extraordinaire, Richard Blade was also in attendance! I finally have a chance to share some pictures and a video of the fantastic night of hit music by this iconic band. When I think of “Godfathers of EDM”, I think of Depeche Mode, New Order and certainly Pet Shop Boys. They have been successfully marrying thoughtful lyrics with perfect dance music for decades, and this concert was a culmination of everything they were and still are. The audience sang many of the lyrics word for word, and you can tell so many of us have waited for this night for a long time. Yet another band to cross off from my “bucket list” and they did not disappoint. I heard everything I wanted to hear, with the exception of “Love Comes Quickly”, but that’s ok because hearing “Rent” more than made up for it (the line “I love you/you pay my rent” is one of my all time favorite lyrics). We were most impressed with the lighting, which truly was a show in itself. In addition to the pictures, I’ve included the set list from SetList.fm, and a video I recorded of “Suburbia”. Enjoy!
All of the costumes were fantastic, but we all wanted to take this disco ball hat home!
Did I mention there were stunning visual effects?
The lighting was so spectacular and made the stage larger than life.
Photo 1: Wearing my Dextrose shirt by designer Dexter Simmons (Styled to Rock participant); Photo 2: Selfie with my husband, Deon.
With Rholnna and Janice after the concert. I opted to buy just one item at the concert. I was SO glad I bought the program, because it is not available online (the tour shirt is currently available on their online shop here).
I hope you don’t mind the interruption to what should be all about Fashion Week San Diego. I just attended the Pet Shop Boys concert last night at Copley Symphony Hall in Downtown San Diego, so I couldn’t finish editing all of my pictures for day two of the runway shows. In the meantime, I’ll post a couple of teaser pictures of the concert. The Pet Shop Boys were AMAZING and the concert was a sweet and constant assault on all of my senses, and I couldn’t be happier to add them to my concert bucket list. I guess you could kind of count this as a bit of a runway show because there were several costume changes, and some of their wardrobe pieces were fabulous! I will resume with Fashion Week San Diego on Friday and next week, followed by a post about this visually stunning concert, including a couple of videos of my favorite songs (which will be a surprise). If these EDM masters come to your town, I highly, highly recommend catching the Pet Shop Boys in concert!
I know I have other posts to put up of events that I’ve attended. Before I post those, I must indulge a little more in my love of Depeche Mode, as I have just seen them in concert over the weekend at The Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista through Live Nation. That long awaited night was more than worth the wait, because it has been eight years since I have seen them live. I went with my husband, my sister and her husband. We then met up with my best friend Janice, and friends Angi and Suzanne, and we all sat together on the lawn. Eileen, who saw Depeche Mode with me for the first time back in 1985, was also supposed to attend, but she couldn’t make it due to work obligations. When did we grow up? I also got to see my friends Shirley, Rene, Tifany and Merrick (he is pictured below in the third shot), and I want to say hi to Suki, Kirsten and Suzi, who I didn’t get to see, but I who I know were there. I love that so many people I know share the same love of such an influential band.
When we arrived at the gig, my sister and I left our men to “jump” the long line by making $10 donations each to the Sleep Train Foster Kids charity program. This allowed us to get some good real estate in front of the lawn area. Unfortunately, we happened to be right behind a speaker post, making picture capturing challenging, but still doable. Crystal Castles opened up, and my husband described them as Garbage, but darker. I can see why they toured with Depeche Mode, as they definitely are in the same genre of music. I’m afraid that I was way too anxious about Depeche Mode to fully pay attention, so I won’t attempt to review their performance. I’ll have to give them a listen when I’m off of my Depeche Mode high.
As it started to darken, I felt my anxiety rise. And the moment the lights went out and the first few notes and lights began to emerge, I leapt up from my seat and lunged forward. Everyone laughed as they have never seen me move so quickly. I think I scared my poor husband, thinking he had to save me from falling down to the walkway below. Although I knew I was in full control of all of my faculties, I felt my heart nearly beat out of its chest hearing my all time favorite band live again.
I enjoyed every second of this concert, because I am a fan in every sense of the word. I have loved this band for more than half my life, and I felt I have been with them through everything. I can assign a Depeche Mode song to every important event in my life and create a soundtrack that would describe the very essence of who I am, and where I have been. This is why I wanted my husband to attend this show with me because he is a part of the soundtrack of my life. If you ask my son who my favorite band is, he will tell you resoundingly that it is Depeche Mode. Their music has permeated every part of my existence, down to the name of my blog.
It really is difficult to choose any one favorite part, but if I was made to choose, I would say hearing But Not Tonight live was amazing (I think Janice enjoyed what we called the porn intro to Personal Jesus, and my sister enjoyed Black Celebration because of memories of the “curtain drop” and A Question of Time because Dave brought back his spinning from days of old). I have always enjoyed that song, specially the extended version, and I even bought the soundtrack to Modern Girls just because that song is in the movie. It really summed up everything I felt that night, because there wasn’t a night quite like that night.
My first concert was the Some Great Reward tour, and the evolution of their show is quite astounding. My husband and I watched The World We Live In And Live In Hamburg video cassette yesterday (yes, you read that right) and we just marveled at just how young they were, and I was when I saw them in concert so long ago. They played to half of The Sports Arena back then and it was sold out. Here they are now, larger than life, still selling out, but bigger venues. They sold out The Rose Bowl at their beginning of their ascend in 1988, and look at them 25 years later.
In reviews I have read, and opinions I have heard about the song choice, I feel like I should step in here and remind those who are more casual fans that I think omission of the incredibly popular older songs like People Are People, Strangelove, Everything Counts and Master and Servant were by design. Their song library is 23 albums deep. How can you possibly fit years of hits into a two-hour set without including your most current music? You can’t. If you have been along for the ride as long as I have, you would have heard songs live that you will never hear again, and I think that’s how it’s meant to be (check out my post about some of the shows I have attended and the set lists from those concerts to see what I mean). They’ve been around, they’ve played it all, and now they’re going to play what they want to, in the style they choose. Enjoy it while you can.
My husband said he enjoyed the concert because he got to hear his two favorite songs, Policy of Truth and Enjoy the Silence, but also because he has never attended a fully sold out show. During Never Let Me Down Again, he was stunned at the sheer volume of people following Dave Gahan, knowing exactly when to sway their arms (I explained this is because of the 101 concert). He truly was impressed, and was very glad we experienced this together. I have included the set list below from Setlist.fm, and also the video I recorded of But Not Tonight. I know this isn’t quite a concert review, but more of the experience of a true fan, expressing how happy I was to see my band. In the words of Martin Gore, I felt like I was home.
I’m still putting together some posts for next week. In the interim, I thought I’d post about a cool event happening this weekend: The 2013 Depeche Mode Convention at The Avalon in Hollywood. Had I known about this earlier, I would most definitely be there on Sunday. But alas, my lack of knowledge of the event has put me at a sad disadvantage, and I must just report about it, in hopes that other Depeche Mode enthusiasts can attend. The illustrious DJ extraordinaire, Richard Blade, will be hosting and the ultimate Depeche Mode tribute band, Strangelove, will be performing. I have yet to see Strangelove live, but I vow to see them soon…and maybe feature them with an interview on my blog? One can only hope! Fans, get hyped up before Depeche Mode embarks on their US tour, and attend this fun event!
“So Cy, have you ever been to a Depeche Mode convention?” Funny you should ask…I may have been to a couple. Have a great weekend!
(Top photo courtesy of MusicConventions.com. Photos 2 & 3 are from my personal collection.)
Ever since my teens throughout the eighties, I have made sure that I could never be considered a poseur. Even now, I would hate for someone to think that I was trying to be something that I’m not, just to fit in. I’ve always prided myself on the fact that I am unique and that my tastes are that of my own and the influence was directly from the source and not because I was needing acceptance into a group or by an individual.
I had a discussion with my husband about concerts and bands that we’ve seen throughout the years. I really like tour shirts, and my inner punk rocker enjoys mixing in these shirts with my regular wardrobe. There is a designer named Idil Vice who does a great job of giving an alternative to the musical t-shirt by making dresses, skirts and jackets of bands and artists that I love. I have my eye on a Depeche Mode dress, Joy Division and Sex Pistols skirt.
In my discussion with my husband, I mentioned that I just can’t wear a shirt of a band or artist I haven’t actually seen in concert. He says that it shouldn’t matter, that if you like a band then you should be able to wear their shirt. But when someone says “Cool shirt, have you seen them in concert?” I would feel like a complete poseur if I said “No, but the shirt is cool…”
As justification, I’ve come up with “work-arounds” for the shirts I have of artists and bands that I’ve seen in some incarnation (solo or group). Here is a list so far:
1. Joy Division – I have 3 shirts that I wear proudly. Although I was too young, not living in England during their initial rise, and had no way to see them because of Ian Curtis’ suicide, I wear them because I have seen New Order in concert. New Order is essentially Joy Division with Bernard Sumner as the singer, right? Yes.
2. Sex Pistols – I have seen PiL in concert, for which Johnny Rotten is the singer. He was in Sex Pistols, so I can wear their shirt should I choose to do so. I don’t have one yet, but now that I have made that justification, I will now wear one.
3. Bjork – I saw The Sugarcubes in concert, for which she was the singer for before venturing into her solo career. Enough said.
I make these mental justifications so that I can escape being a poseur. Now if I can just come up with a work-around for The Beatles shirt I have…
Someone was a winner!
