12/28: Patti Smith at 9:30
I've had mixed luck with this in the past, but I'm really a firm believer in seeing our rock forebears play whenever possible. This usually happens at back stages of county fairs, so we're lucky that CBGB legend Patti Smith is coming to the 9:30 club on December 28th. While its likely that a contemporary show will never match the artists storied reputation, mostly as a function of age, opportunities like this don't come along that often. It could sell out too, so I recommend getting tickets early.
While we're at it, anyone out there have an overwhelmingly positive or negative experience seeing a live show by an aging rock star? I believe Ben had a really good Iggy Pop experience, but that could just be an exception.
3 comments:
morrissey is absolutely lovely whenever i see him.
i saw X play in austin tx around 2003 and it's still one of the best shows i've seen
I think most of my great concert experiences have been from older performers. X, as the previous reviewer notes, is still one of the most kick ass live acts around. Iggy Pop, despite making lots of crappy records, is still perhaps the most confrontational performer ever. I saw him in 1996 when he was still a young 50 years old, he dove 10 feet off the stage into the audience and landed on top of me. It's probably the highlight of my concert going experiences.
This past summer I also saw Sonic Youth perform Daydream Nation in it's entirety. Their age was pretty irrelevent, all I knew was that I was seeing one of the best bands ever performing one of the best records ever made, front to back. The audience seemingly felt the same way.
I think if you are a performer who relies on superficial things like image or record sales, then your star will fade pretty fast and no one will care or respect your music after your marketable age passes. If you are a true artist, then you will always be respected despite your age. Youth is just a marketing tool.
If Miles Davis or John Coltrane were still alive, would people tell them that they'd lost a step because of their age? I'd be shocked if that were the case. Let's also not forget that most rock musicians in the 50s and 60s grew up idolizing bluesmen in their 60s or 70s. Real art has no age.
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