I admit that I haven’t been going to very many rock concerts lately. Getting older has been one reason, but having little kids has been the bigger reason. So it hadn’t even crossed my mind that the kind of concerts I have spent a lot of my time at, whether indoors or outdoors, packed up against thousands of other people, are not going to happen for anyone this year.
A friend of mine, with whom I have attended many-a-concert, sent me this interview with a pessimistic concert promoter with the subject line, “This is depressing.” The same night he sent it, I just so happened to come across this piece in the Atlantic by rock star Dave Grohl, who also laments prospect of a concert-free summer but maintains that the spirit that makes a good concert so much fun will still be there when all this is over.
Performers who still want to perform have managed to out there on the Internet. The latest series I have discovered comes Rolling Stone magazine and IGTV (which I gather is the Instagram equivalent to Facebook Live [but doesn’t Facebook own Instagram?]). They call it “In My Room.” The first one from March 18 is by the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, appropriately enough. NPR has been continuing their Tiny Desk Concerts in a similar fashion. The intimacy of seeing people perform in their own houses is cool, but it is no substitute for a big, loud, live event.
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