I've just got to take my blogging time today to reflect on my concert experience Monday night. Straight away after work we headed up to see MxPx (along with Simple Plan and Sugarcult) at Bogart's in Cincinnati. I was still tired from the weekend, it was raining and I had to be the driver. All in all, I felt OLD. What I really wanted to do was to stay inside on the cold, rainy night, read a little bit and go to bed early. I didn't feel I could summon the energy to put my all into enjoying this show--getting slammed around by sweaty, stinky teenage boys once again, all for the sake of the music. Once you've seen a band play more times than you can remember, you pretty much stop counting on every new show to be the "best one ever." But, as I drove north, I told myself - Just enjoy it for what it is.
What greeted us at Bogart's was a crowd that was mostly there to see the MTV/radio saturated Simple Plan. While I enjoy their music, with these kinds of bands I have to feel slightly defensive for the MxPx guys who have managed to have a long, steady career and built a dedicated fan-base, with little to no help from MTV or the radio. They're hardly old-timers, but I'm willing to bet that the Simple Plan guys were just teenage nobodys plucking out the bass line to Chick Magnet in their parents suburban basements while MxPx was on tour after relentless tour earning their fan base the old-fashioned way. (To prove my point, Simple Plan even has a song called "Grow Up" in which they reference being teenagers sitting around their bedroom listening to their favorite bands, including MxPx).
The vast support for Simple Plan was evident by the amount of t-shirts, buttons, and stickers adorning the crowd and in the volume of cries every time their name was mentioned from stage. But the lack of support for MxPx wasn't so clear until at least half of the crowd cleared out after Simple Plan left the stage - and before MxPx could even plug in. Semi-relieved that I could easily push my way to the front for a fantastic view of Mike Herrara in all his pierced and tatooed glory - my heart also broke for these guys who just got one-uped by the TRL flavor of the month.
Once MxPx took the stage, I suddenly found that energy and reckless abandon I had been looking for. The stuff it takes to REALLY enjoy the show – the stuff that I thought that maybe I had lost. The beauty of it all was that it wasn’t because I “felt 21 again.” I felt every one of my 26 (almost 27) years that night and what I came up with was a greater appreciation for every aspect of the experience – and the ability to enjoy the upteenth time almost as much as, if not more than, the first. I couldn’t help thinking while I watched them from the crowd that maybe Mike, Tom and Yuri (MxPx) felt every one of their 26 years that night as well. Kids 10 years their junior – kids who are the age MxPx were when they first started – didn’t even bother to stick around for their performance. It was the physical equivalent of them saying, “MxPx who?” But at the same time, I sensed they held a certain amount of satisfaction and pride for what they’ve accomplished and where they’ve come as a band. They had so many albums from which to pull material, they could have played all night – while Simple Plan essentially had to quit playing after an hour since they were out of songs. There’s no need for Mike to make sure Tom is staying with him because they tightened things up years ago, so that now it functions as a well-oiled machine. Even the on-stage banter has gotten funnier, without ever becoming lewd or offensive. And as they look out on their faithful fans and watch them sing along with every word to every song – they can know that they are the ones who REALLY want to be there, and who will still be there in the future, no matter who is playing on the radio or holding the number one spot on TRL at the time.
So the night didn’t bring me what I expected. I discovered that the experience had changed for me over the years – but it seemed it had changed for the band too, and in that I like to think that maybe we've grown up together.
What greeted us at Bogart's was a crowd that was mostly there to see the MTV/radio saturated Simple Plan. While I enjoy their music, with these kinds of bands I have to feel slightly defensive for the MxPx guys who have managed to have a long, steady career and built a dedicated fan-base, with little to no help from MTV or the radio. They're hardly old-timers, but I'm willing to bet that the Simple Plan guys were just teenage nobodys plucking out the bass line to Chick Magnet in their parents suburban basements while MxPx was on tour after relentless tour earning their fan base the old-fashioned way. (To prove my point, Simple Plan even has a song called "Grow Up" in which they reference being teenagers sitting around their bedroom listening to their favorite bands, including MxPx).
The vast support for Simple Plan was evident by the amount of t-shirts, buttons, and stickers adorning the crowd and in the volume of cries every time their name was mentioned from stage. But the lack of support for MxPx wasn't so clear until at least half of the crowd cleared out after Simple Plan left the stage - and before MxPx could even plug in. Semi-relieved that I could easily push my way to the front for a fantastic view of Mike Herrara in all his pierced and tatooed glory - my heart also broke for these guys who just got one-uped by the TRL flavor of the month.
Once MxPx took the stage, I suddenly found that energy and reckless abandon I had been looking for. The stuff it takes to REALLY enjoy the show – the stuff that I thought that maybe I had lost. The beauty of it all was that it wasn’t because I “felt 21 again.” I felt every one of my 26 (almost 27) years that night and what I came up with was a greater appreciation for every aspect of the experience – and the ability to enjoy the upteenth time almost as much as, if not more than, the first. I couldn’t help thinking while I watched them from the crowd that maybe Mike, Tom and Yuri (MxPx) felt every one of their 26 years that night as well. Kids 10 years their junior – kids who are the age MxPx were when they first started – didn’t even bother to stick around for their performance. It was the physical equivalent of them saying, “MxPx who?” But at the same time, I sensed they held a certain amount of satisfaction and pride for what they’ve accomplished and where they’ve come as a band. They had so many albums from which to pull material, they could have played all night – while Simple Plan essentially had to quit playing after an hour since they were out of songs. There’s no need for Mike to make sure Tom is staying with him because they tightened things up years ago, so that now it functions as a well-oiled machine. Even the on-stage banter has gotten funnier, without ever becoming lewd or offensive. And as they look out on their faithful fans and watch them sing along with every word to every song – they can know that they are the ones who REALLY want to be there, and who will still be there in the future, no matter who is playing on the radio or holding the number one spot on TRL at the time.
So the night didn’t bring me what I expected. I discovered that the experience had changed for me over the years – but it seemed it had changed for the band too, and in that I like to think that maybe we've grown up together.
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