Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Remembering My First Concert

Yesterday on my way to the office, I stopped at the Ithaca Bakery for a bagel. While waiting in line, the Simple Minds song “Alive and Kicking” was playing. Wow, I hadn’t heard anything from Simple Minds in years. And honestly, I can’t say that I’ve missed them.

But, I was taken back to 8th grade in Falmouth, Maine—just outside of Portland. I had my combat boots and my Eisenhower Jacket and I was the cool young punk. But maybe not so cool after all, because Simple Minds was the first rock concert I ever saw. The Call opened the show. And not only that, but my mom dropped me off and picked me up from the concert. This is no offense against my mom. She’s super cool.

Do you remember your first concert? I remember this one. It was at the Cumberland County Civic Center. I believe it was a winter concert, which means the ice for the Maine Mariners hockey team on the floor of the venue was covered by plywood. Not very rock and roll, I must say.

But I didn’t care. It was my first encounter with the communal power of the concert experience. And this feeling of being with a large group of people experiencing music together, but all in each concertgoer’s individual way, is really a magical thing. It is a feeling I have never lost. Hearing the band on the radio reminded me of holding my lighter in the air when they played their closing song. You guessed it . . . The song was “Don’t You Forget About Me.”

1 comments:

Danielle said...

This is the real, unknown reason we got married, not Mike Davis & urban theory! I love that song.

Post a Comment