So, did anyone else's wonderful, amazing, loving husband score two tickets to see PAUL FREAKING MCCARTNEY in concert in Paris on June 11th, or was it just me?
PAAAAAUUUUUULLLLLL!
To put this whole "We got Paul McCartney tickets!" into some perspective, I have been very lax in my life about going to concerts for bands or singers I actually really like a lot. As much as I adore live music and used to call myself a musician when I was younger (piano & xylophone, singing in choral groups and school musicals) I don't like the huge crowds at concerts, for one thing.
But I'm getting older and some of my favorites (also aging rapidly) won't be touring forever -- geez, they're all like in their 70s now, right?), so I decided I really need to at least make the effort to see as many of these legends as possible while there is still time. Not to be morose about it but hey, no one expected Michael Jackson to die at only 51; he wasn't one of my favorites but he was definitely a legend. Pavarotti's long gone, as are Karen Carpenter and Bob Marley.
And even if some of my favorites aren't dead yet, their bands have split up and they're no longer touring, or some combination of all of those problems. The closest I'll ever get to seeing Led Zepplin now is watching the rerun of them getting inducted as Kennedy Center honorees in 2012. Luckily they had Bonham's son to sit in for his dad on the drums which was seriously cool that they could keep it all in the family for that amazing tribute performance. But it wasn't the same as getting to see the actual band in concert, and that's never going to happen.
So, here's my short list of the ones I've wanted to see, on my Concert Bucket List, if you will, in no particular order:
- Billy Joel because he likes me just the way I am, and because I once got offered a job singing and waiting tables in a musical cabaret/restaurant after singing "Piano Man" at an open mic night, and he IS the Piano Man.
- Elton John because dang, the bitch IS back and always will be, and he's playing MY Song and I want to see the Rocket Man rocking round the clock to the Crocodile Rock while he can still rock it.
- Mick and the Stones because they are Mick and the Stones and who the hell needs a reason.
- The Monty Pythons who I NEVER thought I'd get to see because Graham died and they'd split up, and then last summer's Python Reunion in London happened and we were there and now my life is complete.
and...
- Paul McCartney because PAUUULLLLLL!!!!!!!!! and if I'd been old enough when the Beatles first came to America, I would have been one of those hysterically screaming, fainting girls in the front row on the Ed Sullivan show, but I was 3 years old in 1964 and not allowed out alone at night.
Sure, I've got other performers I wouldn't mind seeing if the opportunity presented itself - I wouldn't say no to Clapton or Springsteen tickets, although Madonna? Meh, not so interesting to me any more, though I admire what great shape she's in and how she keeps evolving her style no matter what her age. I loved her early stuff but haven't really followed her in years, except for that recent fall-down-on-stage-cape-fiasco and her performance on French TV's Grand Journal about a week ago.
But these five are top of my list, and now I'll be able to cross another one off because Georges is the best husband EVER. I've been hoping to organize a trip back to NJ in a few months, and was thinking of late May or early-to-mid June, but now I'll have to plan around PAUUUULLLL!!!!!! You know, like you do.
(Sorry, Mom. Priorities.)
