Saturday, April 17th in particular.
A good handful of my favorite bands and performers are all lumped together, in a beautiful clump of mind-splitting awesome. Yet I cannot be there. Not only can I not afford the tickets, travel and lodging, but I'm also co-hosting a modest birthday evening for my sister that night.
Oh, the pain.
Here are some highlights:
Devo, who I have seen in concert four times recently. Twice last year.
Faith No More, who I have NEVER seen in concert, but whose albums I know by heart. I even like Annie's Song a whole lot.
John Waters. Really, John Waters will be there.
Les Claypool. Of course. I hope he will make out with Faith No More.
Muse. Yes, I like them too. They've gotten all "Bruce Campbell" lately and I appreciate this.
The following day, which I also cannot attend, features these highlights as well:
The Gorillaz (Oh the heartbreak!!! Jaime Hewlett of Tank Girl, Dan the Automator of EVERYTHING, the cute boy from Blur and so much good, good, good, good rap from so many guest stars.)
De La Soul (I'll bet they'll perform twice, once with The Gorillaz. I love Me, Myself and I.)
Gary Neuman. Once, roboty. Now with Trent Reznor goodness. Oh, what I would give to see Gary Neuman on stage! (I realize that I've already expressed that I wouldn't give up my sister's birthday and a month's rent money, so there you have it. But what WOULD I give? I'm not sure.)
And Thom Yorke, I suppose, as long as he cheers up long enough to play a distorted guitar solo or something.
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I have always wanted to see Faith No More live. They crackle with a strange, beautifully ugly intelligence, like an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. One song is a deadpan parody of the Scientology pamphlet. (Land of Sunshine.) A Hunter S. Thompson quote thrown into another song. (What a Day.) They also perform a completely serious, extremely heavy metal song about a toilet (Cuckoo for Caca) and equally serious cover of the theme song from Midnight Cowboy. Perhaps my favorite is a tragicomic country song about an undereducated, self-defeating, filthy man living in a trailer being bad for every human being in the world. (RV.)
Sometimes there's a straight guy singing a gay song as a sexy joke written by a gay songwriter. (Be Aggressive!) Sometimes they sing a Peaches & Herb duet. (Reunited has been an opening number on their new tour, sung mostly by keyboardist Roddy Bottom.) They also feature Black Sabbath's new drummer rocking out. (The adorable Mike "Puffy" Bordin--this was his high school band.)
A multilingual heavy metal band with a strong, respectable fan base in Latin America. (Mike Patton is rumored to speak over four languages.) A cover of Chariots of Fire. The catchiest Lionel Ritchie cover I've ever heard. (Easy.) Some creative involvement in the second Bill and Ted movie. A silly music video that reenacts Hitchcock's Vertigo, with a few more dudes in drag than the original film had. (Last Cup of Sorrow.)
The song The Gentle Art of Making Enemies may be one of my favorite songs of all-time. (A song that is not for the especially young or sensitive--the language is very much rated R. But it is so good.)
You can feel the love radiating off of me, right? Mistakes and all, this band has too many lovable characteristics for me to ever completely let go of. They're one of my staple bands.
They've reunited to tour, are finally in the US and I can't make it to this show.
Wow.
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