66. Concert Co-Attendees

I saw a TON of rock shows while I lived in New York.

It's a habit I formed pretty much from the get-go: having arrived in NYC on September 18th, 2003, by October 6th I had already seen two concerts (back-to-back R.E.M. shows, natch). And I continued on at a fairly regular clip all the way up until I left on October 31, 2005, seeing something like six shows during my last month in New York.

I attended some phenomenal shows during those years, and have some fond, fond memories of many of the performances.

But with the exception of a handful of shows, I went unaccompanied.

It was always a weird, sad feeling. I'd look around and see everyone else at the show talking with their friends, and would end up feeling overwhelmed by an acute sense of loneliness; I just didn't make that many friends with people who enjoyed the same kinds of music as I did (and always felt way too awkward trying to initiate conversations at the shows).

So I can say without hesitation that one of the biggest blessings in returning to LA is that I have friends here with whom I can attend concerts. In fact, I can't remember seeing a rock show here that I didn't attend with at least one other friend (usually Shelvy or Austin, but Jonathan, Tim, Lauren, and others have recently joined me as well).

In the last two nights I've been able to see two tremendous indie rock acts: the majestic Andrew Bird at LA's Orpheum Theater on Wednesday night, and the glorious pop psychedelia of Of Montreal out in Pomona last night.

And I'm sure I would've absolutely loved both shows if I had gone solo. But the experiences were just that much more fulfilling and enjoyable because I had friends to share them with.

...

And now--because I'm always up for an excuse to post music--here's but a sample of the surreal stage antics that take place during an Of Montreal show (in both instances in which I've seen the band live, this song, in particular--the ebullient "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger"--has turned the entire audience into a bouncing blob of euphoria, which, sadly, you don't quite get to see in this clip):