MY 7 CLASSIC CONCERT MOMENTS

I am not an avid concert go-er, but I have been to a few - and have had a few pretty interesting experiences. I thought it might make a fun blog. Initially I considered doing the best concert moments - like amazing performances or even ranking the shows I've been to, but in the end, I decided to simply do a countdown of moments out of the ordinary. Moments that most people probably have not experienced. The moments that I couldn't wait to recount to friends afterwards! Read on!

7. The Freaky Falling Finn Fiasco (almost...)

In a recent concert, we were treated to a very talented, very dynamic opening set by Liam Finn. Liam creates instrumental layering by using an effects pedal to loop the sound. For example, he'll play the guitar for a bit and then loop what he just played over and over while he moves to the drums to play. Instead of having a guitarist, drummer, and vocalist, Liam does it all (along with backing vocalist EJ Barnes). It's pretty cool. And Liam REALLY gets into his music...During one song, Liam had all his instuments looping and came to the front of the stage with this joystick looking thingy (can you tell I am NOT a musician?) and began to kind of fling himself around. For a few seconds, my thoughts raced: "Oh my God - He's about to fall right on top of me. I'm going to have to catch this guy. What if he injures me? I don't want to leave the concert. Can I just sit here hurt until it's over?" In retrospect, I find it amusing that I was thinking these thoughts. And you really can't fully enjoy a concert without some good, irrational fear, can you? But luckily, Liam Finn did not fall on me!

A look at Liam Finn...this isn't the song he was performing when he almost fell on me, but it's a good one to share. A little after the 3 min mark, he will loop the guitar and move to the drums...

6. The Guitar Marx

In April of 2007, my husband and I went with some friends to a show in Nashville called Tin Pan South. Tin Pan South is an annual songwriters festival. Richard Marx was one of the performers - and my friend is a BIG fan (he told her she smells good). That night, before the show, we were standing in line - waiting to get in, when suddenly, a figure appeared down the street - engulfed in fog. It was Richard Marx himself - looking suave in a leather jacket and perfectly coifed hair. He strutted down the street with his guitar case in hand. It was seriously like a scene from a movie - the famous musician, the fog, the cool leather jacket, the expensive guitar. And then - right there in front of everyone, BAM, he smacked the bumper of a new car with his guitar! Richard was visably alarmed, but kept walking - after all, the swarms of fans were only a few yards away, ready to pounce. A few moments later, a couple of burly crew guys came out to inspect the damage. It wasn't bad, but Richard Marx definitely left his mark!

Richard - moments after the incident:

5. The Loggins

Tin Pan South again! When we first arrived in Nashville, we decided to go over to the venue and see what the situation was. I'm such an early bird. And - as usual - it paid off! The place seemed pretty empty when we got there, but we could hear music inside. As it turned out, it was sound check - because a few minutes later, Kenny Loggins himself walked out a side door. He was on his cell phone - talking to a stock broker, it seemed! He saw us standing there, put his call on hold, and chatted us up, gladly posing for a picture. He was very cool! And the show was great - he did some of his best songs, like "I'm Alright", "Return to Pooh Corner", "Footloose" and my favorite - "Conviction of the Heart":

4. The Looping Arc

If you don't know Pearl Jam's song, "Arc", check out the video below to hear it. It sounds like many, many voices, but it is only Eddie Vedder's voiced, layered and layered over itself. It was something I never thought I'd witness live in concert -- but I did! And it was awesome! Using the same looping technique as Liam Finn (see #7 above), Ed was able to produce a FLAWLESS performance of the song. And, at the end, he left the vocals looping as he stepped to the edge of the stage and proceeded to shake hands with as many people as he could reach (us included!). Definitely a very, very cool moment!

3. The Lollapalooza Lightning

Picture it...Knoxville...1996. After a hot, sunny day, Soundgarden (the band we were there for) took the stage. Suddenly, during "Black Hole Sun" it began to rain - and the rain came down, harder and harder, with each song. Finally, toward the end of their set, they started into "Jesus Christ Pose" - and lightning lit up the sky beyond the stage. It was timed so perfectly and created such an effect, it was almost as if God was a pyrotechnics roadie for Soundgarden! Try as I might, I cannot find video of this concert, but my husband and I agreed that this was one of the coolest concert moments we've experienced so far. And I'm sure my description doesn't do it justice. You just had to be there!

2. The Sweater

(aka "I went to see Pearl Jam in Birmingham and all I got was this lousy sweater!")

It was our FIRST front row seats at a Pearl Jam concert. We were a bit left of center - sort of between Eddie Vedder and lead guitarist Mike McCready. My husband and his brother were really getting into the music throughout the show and Mike seemed to feed off of their energy. He'd nod in our direction and smile from time to time. He even tried to throw a few guitar picks to us - but, as you know if you've ever been up close at a concert - people go NUTS trying to get those picks - and that night, there was some heavy competition. (Seriously, the dude next to us was HUGE and he managed to pretty much flatten us to steal every pick...) After awhile, I could tell that Mike was feeling a bit bad that the picks intended for us were not actually getting to us. But it wasn't a very big deal - I mean, it's a guitar pick. A piece of plastic. We weren't heartbroken. Still, what happened at the end of the show was pretty cool...Mike tried one last time to toss us a pick - this time, it sailed right by us, straight to a very giddy woman with major 80s hair in the second row. Totally made her night. So, what did Mike do? He took the sweater off his back, looked my husband in the eye, and tossed it to him! The sweater itself is no big deal - but the fact that Mike intentionally delivered it directly to us - in appreciation of our awesome spectatorship - well, that's pretty cool! (I meant to take a picture of the sweater - maybe I will and add it later!)


1. The Upgrade

Yes, I just blogged about this. But here it is again! The BEST, most CRAZY concert moment I've had. My husband and I ordered tickets to the Eddie Vedder concert in Atlanta. Our seats were in the absolute last row in the top tier of the place. Nevermind the fact that my husband had looked at a map of the venue and located our seats as being somewhere completely different. So, we were sitting there, chatting, making light of the situation, when a lone man approached us. He made a comment about how bad our seats were and we laughed. Then, he flashed a pass around his neck (my husband swears it said "Accountant" or something like that) and said "I work for Ed and he would like to upgrade your tickets...to the front row!" He pulled out two tickets - section AAA, row 1, seats 11 and 12...We went from back row center to front row center!