Kesha is my favorite dance-pop artist. The New York Times once called her "the Bob Dylan of Party Nihilists," and while that's clearly hyperbolic, I've always felt there's great truth and honesty in the simplicity of her method, and the unambiguity in her approach. Her music is about, well, getting wasted, loving life, and trying to touch that transcendent little thing that makes life magic -- the same spark of the divine that I chase. She's superior to her contemporaries e.g. Lady Gaga or Rihanna in that the single-mindedness of her music gives it a greater purity, like Walter White's blue meth. She's the best at what makes dance-pop music good, she embodies its party spirit far better than any other act.
Kesha's one of the artists on my concert bucketlist and I had failed to see her last time around so I knew I had to go this time. I also have an iPhone now so I was able to use Uber and get to the show.
Unfortunately, I ended up leaving after the first song. I never thought I'd be the type of person to leave a concert early, let alone for an act I'm so fond of. And she even opened with one of my favorite pop songs of all-time, the song that made me fall in love with Kesha in the first place, We R Who We R. But there was just no point in my staying at the show, the acoustics were unbearable. I'm sure what Kesha herself was bringing to the concet was fantastic, I'm sure it was a good show. But the music was so soft and quiet, compared to what would be necessary for an open city block. I wasn't even that far back from the stage, and it was still just a jarbled mess. After the song she was talking, but I couldn't make out a word of it for a million bucks. What's the point in being at a show you can't even hear?
If Kesha had come on earlier I would probably have stuck it out just to "be there," but by that time I was miserable and bored to the nth degree. I had terrible diarrhea, that was a nice way to start. But honestly, it was kind of a good thing, it gave me something to do, whereas otherwise I would have been bored out of my skull for the four & a half hours before Kesha took the stage. The concert was scheduled to start at 6, I got there shortly after 6 and Kesha didn't come on the stage until almost quarter to 11. There were a couple of opening acts, but both had extremely short sets and the inhibiting acoustics made them mediocre at best.
Standing room only concerts are terrible. Unless it's a top 5 act, I don't think I'll ever go to one again. All it is, is ignorant assholes pushing, shoving, and stomping their way to the front, with no regard to common decency. I'm not talking about dancing or moshing, those things would be completely expected. And there's nothing remotely wrong with people moving up in the cue wherever there's an open space, that's perfectly reasonable. But there's an alarming number of people who are just straight up scumbags and they feel entitled to elbow, ram, and bodyslam their way into spaces that were previously occupied by other humans. As if that's okay. You wanna be in front? Get there earlier, buddy.
One of the things I've learned in my time trying to become a more social person, is that I absolutely despise dance party/raves. Give me an old school frat party and sure, I'd probably have an alright time these days. But despite my resonance with Kesha's MESSAGE, the actual dance party culture is not my scene. So I was fearing the worst, but to their credit it wasn't even that kind of event. Rather than dancing, people were focused completely on the stage, listening, like they would be if it was a rock, rap, metal, or folk act. So the problem really came down to the unacceptable volume and the inconsiderate assholes.
A lot of my discomfort might come from the fact that I'm on these bipolar pills. I don't find myself enjoying pop music the way I used to, and that may just be the ebb & flow my music taste always goes through, or it could be the fact that my mania which gave me my intermittent lust for life, is also what seemed to fuel most of my pop-love.
So that was a total bust of a night. Lots of money wasted, wow. On a positive note though, the Ani Difranco concert I attended a couple months ago was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. It was a gorgeous little college town, my hotel room was right next to the venue, and Ani filled her set with a bunch of classics I didn't expect to hear.
"The moral of the story, is try not to get too old." -- Neil Young
That does sound pretty crummy. My worst concert experience is still my first. X-Fest. I didn't even like the music. I only went because my girlfriend wanted to go. I had to sneak out of school, making me feel like some kind of lowly truant. It was cold, and it poured down rain, so that we were all eventually soaking wet. I actually had to huddle in the men's restroom for a tiny bit of warmth and dryness, that's how miserable that evening was. I would have loved to have left early, but I was the designated driver for a group of people. If ever there was an upside to being by yourself - it's that you're the sole dictator of your own plans!
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly correct there, and with Uber at my command I was free to retreat home. Naturally I would have preferred a good show, but I did get to miss the traffic!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you had to skip school for X-Fest. I knew you were a rebel! I never actually skipped school. I'd skip classes here and there but that's it.
Well, I've never really advertised the sneaking out of school part, as it's not one of my prouder moments. I know, rebels are cool and all that, but it just makes me feel dirty. But not in a good way.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how different people respond differently to the same activities. (This isn't the first time I saw your post, I just happened to want to reply right now).
ReplyDeleteLiterally my #1 proudest memories of high school are sneaking in and out of school. I didn't do it habitually by any stretch, but that's part of what makes it special to me. The feel of the crushing weight of conformity and having to go to school and do all this stuff, all the anxiety and having to be around people all the time and just the clusterfuck.... even some small, tiny way to rebel, it meant the world to me, it was such a relief to me. Like Peeta says in the first Hunger Games: something to show that they don't own me.
But I guess your reaction would be the much more common one. When other people get drunk at noon on a Monday they feel like they've hit rock bottom. When I do it I feel like I've finally achieved my perfect form. Well, as perfect as I can be in this inherently imperfect and doomed world, where I can't even get a girl to go out with me just for the free dinner. I guess it ties into my nihilism.
Oooh, also, I have to say, while Kesha was the butt of everyone's jokes about vapid music back when she came out, she actually turned out to be a huge innovator. When Kesha came out pop music was the same old "I love you" and "I don't love you" songs that have populated pop music since its inception. But what Kesha made was just pure dance music, with song topics about dancing, getting wasted, and brooding over life.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years later and that's exactly what pop music has become. It's all dance music about dancing, getting wasted, and brooding over life. And not only do I love it (I mean, I was getting sick to death of all the same old love songs!) but it reaffirms my assertion that Kesha was indeed something special.