I had an amazing time at the Silversun Pickups concert at Rams Head Live in Baltimore this past Monday night. Perhaps a little too much of my enthusiasm went to twitter, and ultimately to Facebook, because several Facebook friends were upset on Tuesday about my flood of status updates. I’ve since switched to the Selective Twitter Status application, which allows you to send only specific twitter updates to your Facebook status. Some of the amazing things that happened:
Matt Shultz, lead singer of Cage the Elephant, climbed up the side of the stage into the second-floor balcony, literally right where we were standing (Rachel’s water got spilled all over the place in the brouhaha). He handed the mic off the Kyle when he ran out of cord, who held it over the crowd (cheers) before shouting “jump!” Matt ended up climbing back over the railing and leaping from the balcony back into the crowd. Manchester Orchestra was pretty interesting, and definitely loud. The guy on the keyboard/Macbook/half drumset was absolutely crazy. I listened to their albums today at work, and I really like them now. I wish I had done that before the show; I think I would have been able to appreciate them more.
Of course, Silversun Pickups were awesome. We got some waves from the band up in the balcony, and it really felt like they were having a good time. The show was sold out and it seemed like they were impressed with the crowd. I ran down during “Panic Switch” and went crowd-surfing, which I haven’t been able to do in a long time and is an exhilarating experience. When they came back for the encore they played at least three songs, including my favorite, “Catch and Release.”
I love going to concerts and this was definitely one of the best ones I’ve been to. Rams Head is a more intimate venue than places like Pier 6 and I think that helps to make the event more unique—especially when the performers take advantage of the opportunity to interact with the fans. Enjoying music with the artist and fellow fans is the core of the whole “music scene,” yet it is something that gets lost in the current debates and lawsuits over copyright. People may not pay for the music recordings, but will pay far more than the price of a CD for concert tickets, get their friends to go, and buy expensive tshirts while they’re there. It’s all part of the experience: something you can frantically twitter or write about as you recover a few days later. Artists who understand this are in a position to win big in the digital age, as other artistic dinosaurs standing with the RIAA in court and Congress simply fade away.
3 responses to “Concert Aftermath”
I couldn’t even complete the article before typing this. You have no idea how much this upset me:
Perhaps a little too much of my enthusiasm went to twitter, and ultimately to Facebook, because several Facebook friends were upset on Tuesday about my flood of status updates.
Fuck those assholes. Honestly. “Boohoo you update too much.” Then how about they stop constantly checking their facebook those social networking obsessed retards. They could have even chosen to hide you for a little while, but no, instead they got upset with you and complained. I know they’re your friends on facebook (maybe even in real life), but my god, they have no right to complain about something so insignificant that they had even a small bit of control over. It’s not like you do this all the time. It was one night, and you were excited about a cool band. Put your guns back in your holsters everyone, it’s not a big deal.
I am aware that this could be an overreaction.
Have I ever told you I love you?
Not out loud, but I can usually tell by the inflection of your words when you tweet at me.