WFWF Stay Gold - CARD

When you're in your teens or twenties.  It can be fatal for someone fifty plus.  And yet I'd still take it over the Kumbaya thing.  YOLO!

Last I checked it in the awkward phase. Like the shortest version of Rated R Edge hair. Not the long hair like 1999 Edge.

I'm going to make you VERY jealous.  I saw the Butthole Surfers back in the late 80s at a small club in Philly called Revival.  I was right up at the stage when they went on.  Somebody big wanted my spot so they lifted me up and onto the edge of the stage.  Security (actually just a bouncer type dude who got in free in exchange for keeping fans and band separate) then pushed me off and I surfed the crowd for the first three songs of their set.  I ended up getting deposited on the bar and the crowd was so thick that the bartender had no choice.  He set me up with a stool behind the bar and I watched the rest of the show in relative safety and comfort.  I got to experience the best of both worlds at that show - being on top of the mosh pit and being able to relax and actually watch the band, the naked dancers, the video of the circumcision, and the flaming cymbal climax - which almost set the club on fire because Gibby was shooting fireballs twenty feet into the air in a room with fifteen foot ceilings.

Then I won't tell you about the other twelve times I saw the Surfers between '86 and '96. Or the time I interviewed King Coffey.  You might try to find me and kill me in my sleep.

Disturbed is one of the weirdest mainstream shows I've ever been to. I saw them back when their first record had just come out, and the second they hit the stage, the crowd opened up and a bunch of guys dove into the "pit" with glow sticks on swinging bands and just started raving. Good a time as any to take a breather.

Slipknot is fun live. I'd like to see them again. I saw them once in 2000 during that year long run they did for the self titled, and again in 2002 right after Iowa dropped. They're nowhere near still being my favorite band, but spectacle is spectacle and I love a good show.

As for the whole moshing gimmick, I've long since retired from that life. I recently had a friend get sour on me for not going to an upcoming swing through that Rancid is doing. Nothing sounds less appealing to me these days than a general admission outdoor show, in September, in a parking lot in Worcester. I'm going to see The Bruisers in November and I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself.

Moshing is a young man's game. I'd be the old fart showing up at an outdoor show with a lawn chair and thermos full of ice cold lemonade or tea... and I wouldn't give a bleep what anybody else thought. My ass needs to sit down so I can watch the band and enjoy the music.  I can do without the potential physical abuse of over-excited moshers.

F*cking going to shows is a young man's game. I used to be all "GA or GTFO", until my wife started picking acts she wanted to see. The House of Blues in Boston has a third level that's assigned, stadium seating with a direct view of the stage. I've never been so happy at a show, and I'll never buy tickets anywhere but in that building ever again.

I saw Wu Tang last weekend on their last tour ever, that was f~cking awesome. Saw Willie Nelson the next day and that was a blast too. F~ck a metal show, especially a Slipknot show. I hate Corey Taylor so much. Fred Durst was right when he called Slipknot fans fat little kids. I have seen Slipknot twice and it was incredibly disappointing both times. Not to mention there were nothing but ugly mutants everywhere. Best concert I ever went to was Stone Temple Pilots back in 2008 on their reunion tour. It was incredible.

Not this performance, but this was the collaborative show I went to this week.

If you don't like improvised noise then maybe don't watch it.