I went to see the Nine Inch Nails show at Greensboro Colliseum last night. It was visually a very stimulating show, although I mostly knew the older songs since I only ever owned Pretty Hate Machine, Broken, and The Downward Spiral, and those on vinyl, which I got rid of a few years back when my record player gave up the ghost. I have not kept up with Trent Reznor's career since then. But it was still a very interesting show, and I would consider purchasing Year Zero, which I heard some of last night. I did enjoy hearing "Hurt", "Head Like a Hole", and "Terrible Lie" a lot, and even "Closer", which I remember back in the day thinking was Reznor selling out. I felt a lot older than the crowd, though, and also more detached. My angry days are mostly behind me.

The one thing that I could perfectly agree with is what Mr. Reznor said towards the end of the show [paraphrasing a bit since I don't remember all of it verbatim]:

"Why am I so happy tonight? Why am I so happy, aside from being here in Greensboro?" (Insert wildly cheering crowd.) "I think it's because tomorrow, we might actually be making a change in this country. [...] I apologize to all my die-hard Republican fans. But now they know how I've felt for the past 8 f***ing years."

Amen. Here's hoping that today begins a new era - the Obama era.

My friend JP scored a couple of VIP passes to the Koka Booth Amphitheatre presentation of the Regeneration Tour last Wednesday. This is the same venue where I saw Duran Duran's Red Carpet Massacre tour back in May. It was really cool to use the VIP passes - we had access everywhere, including reserved seating down front and up at the covered area with tables and wait service. If you're really into music, it's a nice treat.

Access to the covered area was convenient, as it had been thunder-storming badly all day, to the point where they made announcements off and on about potentially sending people to their cars to wait out the storm and come back. We got to avoid the occasional rain from up there. Also, the crowd was sparse because of the weather, which in my opinion was perfectly okay, since I don't like crowds much.

The performers were in the following order: Naked Eyes, A Flock of Seagulls, ABC, Belinda Carlisle, and Human League.

We missed the Naked Eyes portion of the show, but heard it from the parking lot (where we were tailgating.) I was glad to hear them play "(What) In the Name of Love", which I posted on my 80's blog prior to the show. Actually, almost all of the songs on that post were played during the show - which isn't any big surprise, as each artist really only had time to do their greatest hits. In any case, Naked Eyes sounded good. I heard "Promises, Promises" and "Always Something There to Remind Me" in the set, too.

Then there came A Flock of Seagulls. They totally kicked butt. We had already entered the venue, and this is where I started dancing in earnest. They did not play the song "Nightmares" which I had posted in the link above, but otherwise they did all the good ones, among them "Space Age Love Song", "Wishing", and of course, "I Ran". The original drummer, Ali Score, apparently now lives in Oxford, NC, and he played drums for "I Ran". He got a nice hometown welcome from the crowd.

ABC played a good set, but for some reason I wasn't as into it - surprising, considered I owned three of their records when I was a kid. They played well, and even did one new song, which was decent, amongst the hits like "Poison Arrow", "Be Near Me", "The Look of Love", etc. Martin Fry still looks good, and was wearing a bright orange suit, which only he can pull off.

After them, Belinda Carlisle came on. We had voted her Most Likely To Suck beforehand, and she lived up to expectations. To her credit, her voice is still in good shape. She played a lot of Go-Gos hits which were worth hearing, and I have to say "We Got the Beat" brought back a lot of teenage girl nostalgia for me, but her original works are totally forgettable.

Finally, there was Human League, who changed the set to be a minimalistic white set. They put on a fantastic show. I danced so hard that my face was as red as a lobster. The played all the favorites, starting out with "Mirror Man" (which makes my choice to post it on dailyeighties more astute, if I do say so myself), and included "Human", "Love Action", "Don't You Want Me, Baby?", "Tell Me When", and "Fascination", of course. I was really impressed with how tight their performance was, and what a good show they put on. I'm very glad I got to see them.

On the way home, the heavens opened up, and we were lucky to get home safely. Going 30 mph down I-40 in the middle of a deluge, while exhausted from dancing, is not my idea of a good time. But the rest of the night was. Thanks so much to JP for taking me, and Maura for worrying about him in the rain from home. :)

I went with my friends Chris S. and Melanie to see a couple of nifty free concerts in downtown Durham last night. First, I showed up a bit late for the Warehouse Blues performance by George Higgs and Lightnin' Wells at my old stomping grounds at West Village. It was nice to see, and brought back memories of when I first moved back to Durham. The crowd was very friendly, and I saw a couple of people there that I knew, and one more that I had never met in person before but know from the blogosphere. Also, a tourist from Greece who was in town for the Rice Diet program struck up a conversation. These are some of the reasons I love Durham. :) Also, the concert was sponsored by the Music Makers Relief Foundation, which supports life-long musicians with basic living necessities, instruments, and tours to help their careers. Seems like a worthy cause.

When that was over, we went to Carnivalito at Brightleaf Square. I was mesmerized by the dancing - some fantastic salsa dancers were doing very complex group dancing. During a music break, I went up and asked the guy who appeared to be calling the dances for the group and asked if they were part of a salsa dance lessons group, and he gave me his business card for stepbystepsalsa.com. Now I totally want to start lessons there. It was beautiful and exciting at the same time.

I just had the best night out I've had in years - I went to see Duran Duran live for their Red Carpet Massacre tour at Cary Ampitheatre at Regency Park. I danced my derriere off for nearly three hours, shouted myself hoarse, and sang at the top of my lungs. Here was the set list:

The Valley
Red Carpet Massacre
Nite Runner
Hungry Like The Wolf
Planet Earth
Falling Down
Come Undone
Skindivers
The Reflex
Save a Prayer
A View to a Kill

Short interlude, then an all-electronic (bass, drums, guitars, synth) medley / mashup of these songs:

Last Chance on the Stairway
All She Wants Is
Leatherette
I Don't Want Your Love
Skin Trade
Tempted

Then they went back to the normal set-up for:

Notorious
Girls On Film
Ordinary World
Sunrise
Wild Boyz

Finally, there was an encore:

Rio

At which point John Taylor said, "Seriously, GOOD NIGHT."

It was so fantastic to see them after, geez, 24 years!! I only saw them once, when I was 13, on 4/2/1984 for the Sing Blue Silver tour, which is when they were really big. I remember it was the day after Marvin Gaye was killed, because they dedicated Save a Prayer to him. The Cary venue was at first a bit depressing, since it is so tiny compared to the Cap Center in D.C. where I saw them so long ago, and it felt like a scene out of Music & Lyrics (think Knott's Berry Farm). But that change became a wonderful thing as the night progressed and the energy of the crowd was so good. It was a much more intimate experience than it was all those years ago. I thought that band performed amazingly well, and are still remarkably hot. Their set list was excellently chosen, with the right mixture of the standards and the new material. I highly recommend their new album, and Simon Le Bon at one point even said he thinks it's the best record they've ever made. I am very close to agreeing with him.

It's so wonderful to get out and see performances like I have been this month - this is the most (3!) performances of various kinds I've ever seen in so short a time. I need to do more of this - it buoys me up.

And I still love you, Nick Rhodes.

Addendum:

I forgot to thank k for going with me and driving, and to wish that hsarik, Beth, and Melanie all could have gone as well. You would have enjoyed it. :)

So I broke my face this week. Well, specifically, I fractured my nose. I slipped in the bathroom and did a total faceplant, which is much more amusing when it's not happening to you. I definitely saw stars, and it bled like crazy. Fortunately, it's a small fracture and doesn't require a re-break to fix - it's just going to be tender for the next... however long. It actually looks okay if I put a ton of base makeup on it. Without any makeup, it looks very red and scabby. I'll look great for the new job on Monday! I was concerned one of my fingers might be broken, too, as I partially landed on my fist and the ring finger is very swollen and sore. The x-ray turned out clear, though, so it's only badly bruised.

On the upside, I got to see Beethoven's 9th Symphony this week in a performance by the NC Symphony at Duke Chapel. It was really awesome. My date and I had very nice seats near the front, and particularly the quartet in the final movement was really great to hear that close. I didn't notice the acoustics problems that were mentioned in the N&O review. I guess the good seats helped.

I am in love with this site:



Wheeee!