Last night, as I listened to “Gone Away” at the Shoreline Amphitheater, I composed the following letter in my head…..
Dear Dex….I’m a 50ish year old single mother of 2 teenagers….one of each. My financial situation is such that concerts are a treat for us. A few months ago, we walked into Vans Warped Tour and saw the bill with Offspring and Sublime with Rome. Lawn seats $20! This was a single motherhood trifecta….a band we all liked, a band I had yet to see and had been dying to see for years, AND ticket prices I could afford. Since we live in Sacramento area, I have to fill my tank up with gas and drive 2.5-3.5 hours one way to attend this event. Because there are three of us…I must purchase 3 tickets. Did I mention I had gotten up at 5 to get to work early so that I could leave early so that I could drive to attend this event? So….6 hours of driving, a full workday and money spent.
While I did not take the kids out of school early….my son did miss a football game and my daughter missed choir rehearsal for her concert tonight. I’m not even going to mention how tired they will be for the rest of the week because of the 5 hours of sleep they got last night (or, maybe I will). While some parents might question my parenting because I took kids to a concert on a school night…..I say….hey….Dex is a great role model…he recently put his band on hold to get his doctorate. (I read an interview or something where you stated you wanted to make a difference….don’t discount the impact you make on people every day with your music. You have made a positive difference in the world. Music is important.) Everyone had sacrificed for this night (even the X….this is his week with the kids) and probably expectations were high. All 3 of us were thrilled to be seeing the Offspring. I am sure you can imagine that it might be difficult to find a band we all like. I was looking forward to Sublime…..I am still angry about the waste of Bradley and all of his genius we missed out on…..but, I was not really a huge Sublime with Rome fan. My daughter was looking forward to adding to her list of “bands seen.” My son……really only knows the top 3 Sublime songs. So, when we were late and missed Sublime (wait for it) we were okay with it….because, after all….we were there to see the Offspring.
We are not your ordinary concert goers…their dad is a picky musician (is there any other kind?)….After many years of slogging around bars to support him….I learned a few things: I can tell when the drums sound tight. I know when the mix is good or bad. I also know when mistakes are made…..I used to be like almost everyone I was surrounded by last night….I was just happy to be there and thought it sounded great. But, now…..WOW…if the mix or the audio is bad…..yeah. Not good. Both kids follow their dad around to gigs and concerts and the daughter has been in choir for 7 years and taught herself to play guitar. So….we have had a pretty good night other than missing Sublime… when you came out and started with one of my all time favorites. Unfortunately, though….the speaker was out or there were audio problems across the back section of speakers….because I could hardly hear you. Instantly girl and I were discussing and assessing and trying to figure out who to notify (this is our standard M.O. at gigs….) and by song 3 things seem to have been figured out. And then they weren’t and then I wrote this note…..in my head.
Here it comes…..
Imagine my surprise when you had hardly played and I was just getting over my sadness….girl had decided that you probably were a better studio band…..I think that if you were a better studio band…..you wouldn’t still be around 30 plus years later. I told her we needed to come see you with better tickets/seats next time. We debated this for a short time before we realized….
CRAP. How is it that Offspring is not headlining? How is it that Sublime with Rome…..a re-act is the headliner? Maybe this is one of those tours where they flip the bill? I don’t know. But, C’MON…….the Offspring have way more hits and way more really fantastic songs. Well….I could argue this point all day. And….we did. Still are. We cannot believe that we got this so wrong. Then I realize I wrote the letter to the wrong person/entity…this complaint/whine is a job for Sublime or Shoreline. Anyway…..I hate it when I have all this righteous indignation and it is all directed at the wrong place.