Friday, June 08, 2007

You Are Not What You Own!

I'm driving down to Austin tonight to see the Hold Steady and I'm pretty excited. It's hard to see a good show when you live in Waco, and I used to spend so much time at the 9:30 Club I think they started to charge me rent. Matt borrowed their back catalog from and is spending the day memorizing the lyrics to all of their songs so he can sing along at the show. I wish I was kidding.

So, instead of just replying over at the Razor, I thought I'd give my Best Show Ever thoughts on my own space. Because these things matter, like when Prof. CivPro asks you in your first year, what is the best show you've ever seen?

Fugazi. And it's not even close.

I was 14 years old, and we took the Metro into DC to see the scary punk band. I had seen a few shows at our local pavilion and I'd seen concerts on TV, so I thought I'd know what to expect. The band plays on a stage and performs for us, right?

Not even close. It was close to anarchy. There was a stage, if you want to call it that, but it couldn't have been more than two feet off the ground. The crowd constantly overwhelmed the band and ended up on the stage, singing along to the choruses. They weren't performing TO us, we were part of the show. There was a total breakdown between the invisible wall separating us from the band. And it was awesome.

And the show was completely DIY. It wasn't at a club, it was an a youth activities center, so a 14-year old could show up and not be turned away because he couldn't drink. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the youngest person there, and I wasn't too far from the oldest. I didn't realize at the time, but the band sold the tickets at the door. It was like $5 or something equally cheap. The band sold no merchandise. They weren't marketing their latest album. And when some kids started slamdancing, the band stopped the show and politely asked that they stop. Ian MacKaye even said "please". I'll always remember that. Here was one of the biggest punk bands on the planet saying "please". Apparently, when they threw people out of the show, they gave them a full refund.

It was a show completely unlike any other. And, unlike Kraftwerk, Fugazi played simple, stripped down music. It was a total rejection of the 80s synth-pop which dominated the airwaves at the time. The band threw themselves all over the stage and we pogo'd until our legs hurt and sang along until our voices were raw. It was a demonstration of everything live music could be.

This is not a Fugazi blogpost.

8 comments:

Richard Pittman said...

The best I ever saw was the Limp Bizkit show at the Warped tour that year we went to RFK.

For those of you who aren't Poseur, that was sarcasm.

Richard Pittman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Poseur said...

The worst thing about Limp Bizkit was that we had to watch it if we wanted to see the Descendants who were on the stage next.

Remember how hot that show was? Last night's was hotter. Minus the sunburn.

Richard Pittman said...

How in the world could it be hotter? You'd have to be TRYING to make it hotter to get hotter than that show. Especially at night.

What show did you go see?

Poseur said...

The Hold Steady. Someone thought it would be a good idea to use the outdoor stage in an enclosed space. OK, it was night, but there was less space to escape the crush of humanity.

And there was no free water like the garden hose they hooked up at RFK. And the water they did sell was lukewarm.

Richard Pittman said...

That had to be absolutely miserable. At this point in my life, I don't think any concert going is worth that kind of misery.

Poseur said...

The Hold Steady was even worth the gigantic bruise on the back of my leg. They were awesome.

Richard Pittman said...

I'll take that as a testament to our relative levels of intensity. You, being one intense mofo, decides that the Hold Steady is worth miserable heat and physical injury. I, being a lot more laid back, would rather stay home and go to bed early.