Concert Era Draws To A Close As Rock Legends Age
 

By JOANNE DEMAIO
July 27, 2008

Thirty-four years have passed since I first went to a Lou Reed concert.

In 1974, I went to the exquisite Waterbury Palace Theater. Pulsating strobe lights reflected Reed's disposition. Back then, it felt like a teenage thing, going to Reed, Bowie and Queen concerts. Three decades later, it's all changed.

Hindsight makes me realize that concerts were not just a teenage thing in the '70s. I was on the cusp of an audience embracing the rise of an unparalleled art form, the rise of the rock 'n' roll concert. Now, the music's almost over. Rock concerts might squeeze out another decade, but in the scope of things, that's nearing the end.

I've been there, from the smoke-filled general admission arenas where armband-wearing employees led the too-stoned to a backroom cot, to today's reserved seating shows where one flash of a digital camera gets you scolded by security. From bowling alley music halls to stadiums of 40,000. From Bic lighter encores to open cellphone salutes. From $7.50 a ticket to $75 tickets.

It's all been part of a living museum. Rock concerts are an invaluable art form. They're exhibitions of the masters, music as their medium, the stage their easel. If I could collect them like paintings, I would. The closest I come to collecting is buying tickets; the odd thing is that the tickets are for the same bands I saw 30 years ago. Steve Miller, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and, recently, my four tickets for Lou Reed.

Though the music still rocks, perhaps even more than in the past, the musicians have become pensive with decades of life behind them. Lou Reed — appearing at the Calvin Theatre in Northhampton, Mass. — sang of the guardian angel who saved him rather than of the white heat that once ran through his veins. At the Nikon Theater at Jones Beach this summer, Stevie Nicks' first words were "Through good grace, you're here. When we get older, we learn to appreciate what we have more." Steve Miller closed his outdoor concert asking us to "Take care of each other." Most of them call for peace.

So, there is a sadness to the concerts this time around. Time is no longer on their side. Each tour now may be that band's last.

It is just that sense of loss that implies rock music is nearly done, approaching historical status. My 18-year-old daughter discovered the recent Lou Reed concert in a local arts newspaper and insisted that we attend. Last summer, we missed an outdoor concert by Don McLean, missed hearing "American Pie" live, beneath the stars. To this day, we're sorry. What if we never get another chance? So my daughter's logic, rightly so, was that someday Mr. Reed won't be around to perform. We both know that day will be sooner now, rather than later. Thirty years of his concerts no longer unfurl before us. The clock is ticking, not only for Reed, but for a generation of venerated musicians.

So we buy tickets to beat that clock. Our summer lined up with bands that may never tour again. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Stevie Nicks. Lou Reed. Steve Miller. Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band. Ringo's actual voice, his message of peace and love, reached our ears. My children heard a Beatle sing.

Their children will not. Their children will never see Mr. Reed, alone in the spotlight, singing about Holly's hitchhiking transformation. They will not watch Mike Love consider if everybody had an ocean, surfboards set on the stage, Mr. Love giving the peace sign. They will never see Mick Jagger insist he likes it, this thing called rock 'n' roll, as he struts past Keith Richards on a seven-story stage. Liza Minnelli will never invite their children to "Come, hear the music play."

We are hard-pressed to fathom 2008's contemporary artists touring three decades from now, never mind drawing sell-out audiences. This millennium's music has no Billy Joel defining the king and queen of the prom. Has no young Steven Tyler whose train will still be rolling in 30 years. Has no John Fogerty penning scathing lyrics against the war. Has no Freddie Mercury rocking out stadium anthems. No Steve Miller slipping us into the future. No Beatle.

Every rock concert, now, is a tribute to the music. Every concert now is a gift. Every concert takes another little piece of my heart with the final encore. The imminence is palpable, of the exhibit closing, of the stage lights going dark.

Joanne DeMaio lives in Glastonbury.

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/...,4966071.story

Great article, thanks for posting it. Some people should remember these words instead of bitching about set lists. When people ask me why I go see Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty over and over, I tell them because this may be the last time. And there is no one around now I would pay my hard earned cash to see, so when the classic rockers days are over, so are my concert experiences.

Wow. When you put it like that...

That doesn't seem to be a reasonable worry about Stevie Nicks at this stage of the game.

If I kept her touring schedule, I'd have died of exhaustion.

Excellent Article..thanks for sharing it!

I think this is a depressed/depressing view. Not all viable rock and roll artists are in their 60s. Music is cyclic, there had to be a happy (vapid) turn of music after the depressing grunge of the 90s. It was the antidote. Just because there is not a lot of rock on the radio right now does not mean there never will be. I think this critic is just feeling nostalgiac for what is actually over, the music of the 60s. But everything evolves/passes and there is no way to know what is coming. One can only speculate. I say rock and roll will never die.

Rock & roll has been dead for a LONNNNNG time.

Wow, for once, we agree on something :laugh: . I too believe rock has been dead for some time. Probably since the mid '90s if I'm feeling generous. The whole grunge/alternative era was rock gasping it's last breath, IMO. All the alternative rock stations around here still play the same stuff they did 10+ years ago... they haven't had any new material since then!

But I can't say I don't enjoy all the other little trends going on as of late... love the soul music coming from Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Ayo, etc. It's a shame that trend won't last though. Rock, Country, R&B, Hip Hop/Rap have all just mixed together and become decidedly pop. I can't see any of it unmixing either, or redefining itself. What will be the new form of music to replace rock? I just can't see where music is going next...:shrug: