Do you remember the first concert you ever attended? I do! It was Heart at the War Memorial. Ooooooh.... Barracuda!! My first concert should have been Michael Jackson; when I was about 14 my older cousin, Tim, asked my parents if he could take me. Dad said no. Now that would have been an experience! What was he thinking depriving me of a legend performing Thriller?!
Since then, I've been to many concerts and what a varied lot I've seen! I've been in the presence of Garth Brooks (who pointed and winked at me! and no, it wasn't to the chick behind me, it was to me! ME!!), Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, Chicago, Barry Manilow (2x and I'm going again Friday!), Guns 'N Roses, Bon Jovi, Tim McGraw, Steve Miller, James Taylor, Debbie Gibson, Phish, Paula Abdul, Color Me Badd, Young MC, Milli Vanilli, Taylor Dane... That's all I can come up with right now, but I know I'm forgetting a lot. I used to keep the ticket stubs but then the pile was so big I threw them away. I'm really not a saver of stuff!
You might wonder what's prompted this stroll down memory lane. The answer is THE FRESH BEAT BAND! Steve and I took Ryan to CMAC yesterday to see them. They asked if there was anyone in the audience who was attending their first concert and Ryan raised her little hands. It made me realize I was 18 when I went to my first concert and Ryan was only 3. Man, times have changed!
First, the good news -- Ryan loved it. She was so excited! She got a t-shirt, sang along, shook her groove thing and made us so happy that we had done that for her.
Now, the bad news -- I'd just like to say to Nickelodeon -- WTF?! Those 3 tickets cost us 145 bucks! It was over in less than an hour and a half, and that includes the freakin' intermission! Who needs an intermission when you're only performing for a total of 45 minutes?! Really? You people have quite a racket going on there, what with the merchandising and hype. Clearly you are raking it in. What BS. The trouble is, while the kids have no idea that the "concert" was the shortest, most simple, biggest rip-off concert ever, their parents do! And Nickelodeon can get away with it because parents like us want to give Ryan the "experience". Suckers! All of us! Big, fat suckers!
And of course, one last bit of bad news...my kid is smart enough to remember that on TV The Fresh Beat Band pulls a kid up on stage. She told us about a hundred times she wanted to go on stage. Yeah, kid, we know, everyone wants to get pulled up on stage, but it ain't happenin', so get over it! Then when it was over, she cried -- and I mean all the way to the parking lot! We were the only people there with a kid who was crying. Why? Because on TV they high five the kids in the audience. She wanted to high five them. She didn't get to high five The Fresh Beat Band!
What a mix of emotions! Happiness, heartbreak, joy, disappointment... but I guess that's life, isn't it? We ride the roller coaster of experiences, feel the feelings along the way, and experience all the shades of gray. (I am NOT referring to the book, either.) Very little in life is black and white. Not even your first concert :)
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