Thursday, July 10, 2008

Foo Fighters


FYI: the band Foo Fighters do not sing the song 'every body's kung-fu-fighting'

Around noon yesterday I was invited to see the Foo Fighters in concert that night at the Key Arena in Seattle. I had heard the name often, but was not sure what songs they sang. I was told it was "rock n' roll'. I like rock n' roll. But... my dates definition of rock n' roll and mine, we learned at the end of the evening, are very different. I soon figured out that this band is one of those screaming, usually can't understand the lyrics, hair swirling, head shaking, bands. Most of the members were in black. While a few songs were familiar, it's not something I listen to. I was a little worried at first about enjoying myself. But, my ever so smart date brought us both ear plugs. That was brilliant! It blocked out the noise of my own clapping, and the noise of the crowd, but we could still hear the music- which was mostly guitar and drums. When we first put them in, I asked my date a question and he proceeded to answer me. I thought he was moving his mouth, but with no sounds to tease me. He wasn't teasing. We had to take our ear plugs out to speak, they worked that well.

The band of course started and these are some of the things that went through my head: The spirit is not going to be here. How do people get so off the path of normal living to dress and act like this, to think this is music. My dad would call it "infernal noise". Thy are so off the path of righteousness. Why are men so drawn to this music? Ok, so obviously, the arena is not just men, so it's women too. There are so many bands like this, how does society pick which ones succeed? They all sound the same. Is it talent? Is it lyrics? Is it attractiveness? It is luck, is it being in the right place at the right time? Is it knowing someone?

Now, lest I sound like I didn't like it at all, I did like some of the songs and some of the things the band did, like having a whole platform of instruments on a circle, come out of the sky and them walking to it and playing acoustic. I liked one of the slow songs and of course, bobbed my head and other body parts to the music. He lead singer, who used to be the drummer for Nirvana had a foul mouth, but was also funny. He had lived in Tacoma- "beautiful city", he said. He had lived in Olympia-"great night life!" he told us. It would be a hard choice: Paris or Olympia? After leaving the stage, they came back out and did an encore of course. They showed on the 4 screens him debating how many songs he should do. One? Two? Three? Four? Five? They all came back out, told a funny story and played 5 songs.

My date's opinion is that, that is rock 'n roll. My opinion is that rock 'n roll is a spectrum. There's soft rock, classic rock, and hard rock. I like soft and most classic, and even a few hard rock songs- usually the ballads. He didn't think Foo Fighters was hard rock. I think it's on the edge of it. Either way, I had a good time with him and at the concert and had an experience I wouldn't have had on my own. Thanks date (hehe).

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