If you're reading this, a music blog, you probably go to quite a few concerts, and you've probably developed some strategies that work for you. Nevertheless, for those less experienced, and for those who might need a refresher course, let me pass along some knowledge that I've acquired over the decades. You can think of them as rules, or think of them as suggestions.
Certainly there are more than just these that that popped into my head. Please post yours in Comments. Maybe we can come up with a handbook and split millions of dollars in royalties.
Some of these tips are obvious, some not so much. We'll start with what I consider to be the Concertgoers Platinum Rule:
+ Don't get wasted and effectively miss the show. Nothing more needs be said, really, but I'm surprised at how often I see this, and not just from kids. I was at a Tom Petty concert in the old Bayfront Center arena in the early 1980s and I saw a young woman passed out with her head inside the front of a speaker. Miss the concert, brutal hangover. And deaf. She shoulda stayed home.
+ This is one of my biggies: Don't go to a show desperate to hear one song, especially if that song is a a deep album track that was in the background when you first got laid or something. You'll end up obsessing about the tune, waiting for it, pining for it, and there's a really, really good chance you won't hear it. And you'll miss the show. You'll blame it on the act. It's not their fault, it's yours.
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2009.