Okay So. u know the claypool lennon delirium concert. well my friends couldnt make it. one because her parents are big dumb and the other didnt really give a reason, but w/e, i asked my sister if she had any friends who could go last minute. one friend, M, could, and she had only gone to see one other band. so i was like Cool Alright and we take a cab to the venue, discussing how to get rid of the final ticket.
well as soon as we step out of the cab some dude asks if we happen to have an extra ticket and we were like Well Sir Youre In Luck. he was some older dude, like 50 or so, and he had a bag of handmade prints. he gave us some as thanks after i Insisted i didnt need payment for the ticket. so we ask the dude, who has been peddling his wares for a while out there, where the line was. he pointed us to the line for the Normal show. i was like Oh No i need the vip line, these are vip tickets. he like Buffered and was like OH these are vip tickets holy shit!!! u gave me a free vip ticket!! and i was like Yeehaw. so the 4 of us chatted in line about music and stuff. and we file in to the pre show.
so i mentioned it in the comment a while ago, but basically, theres a song called thela hun ginjeet by king crimson, and it is my favorite song, of all songs, ever (btw king crimson is now on spotify. do ur civic duty and jam out to thela hun ginjeet and let me know what u think i love it so much the story behind it this is a dangerous place and the way it sounds. i love) and claypool lennon delirium (henceforth referred to as cld because im LAZY) cover it every once in a while. i expressed my hope that they cover the song to my pals. so as part of the vip thing, theres like a q&a. my sister was like "just ask them if theyll cover it!" and i was like "Oh Okay Sure Easy Peasy" (translation: no). anyway we are into the venue and theres a room with a bar and theyre handing out samples of wine. because mr les claypool makes wine i guess. my sister let me try a bit of hers it tasted like wine. and then i see The Boys. les claypool and sean lennon. they are seated in front of a backdrop and wearing hats and looking spiffy. i took a second to realize i am, in fact, breathing the same air, as les claypool, one of the goats of bass. were pretty close to the front too, so this kills the apsa. i noticed there were people of all ages, which was pretty cool to see.
so they introduce themselves and people go ~wIlD~ and they take audience questions. someone asked les about his favorite fishing spots, sean told the story of climbing mt. fuji, etc. throughout all this my party kept Nudging me like Ask The Question and even the strangers around me were encouraging me. and im like Uh. No. it was fun tho because the two are so like, sharp. les especially was hilarious. it seemed like they were good friends the way they like, bantered off each other. also les claypool revealed he would love to work with eddie van halen. holy shit could you imagine. like what a power couple.
Anyway. the event coordinator guy was like Okay A Few More Questions!! and so my sister took the liberty of grabbing my arm and forcing my hand up. i was like !!!!!! so me and my sister are scuffling a bit, my unbridled reluctance obvious. and OF COURSE the dude calls on me. like the parting of the red sea the ring of people in front of me parted and i was face to face with The Boys. les was like "oh, the shy one!" (oh dear god he said words in my direction,) i give one last Glare to my sister as i try to figure out how to operate my jowls to make sounds resembling a question. sean takes the opportunity to say he likes my shirt (i was wearing a nintendo shirt) and i was like "oh thanks!" (oh dear god sean lennon likes my shirt). and so i asked the question, which was, "is there any chance you guys cover thela hun ginjeet tonight?" and there were a few stray cheers from the crowd. the boys kinda look at each other, mulling the question over. sean says, "man i would love to, but i gotta be honest with you, its damn hard to play!" and everyone Laughed. he basically said it was a favorite of his but they had to phase it out of their setlists because it was challenging to play. he was like, super apologetic?? im like Oh Thats Understandable Its Cool. they then chatted about king crimson for a while (how sean was more familiar with 70's king crimson, and how les favored 80's king crimson), and they promised they would play the song next time they were in town. i was Blessed. but yeah i had a whole ass conversation with sean lennon and les claypool Anyway
so then there was a line to take a picture with them and i was like Yes. it was a good picture. due to me being in physical contact with mr. les claypool i believe my bass skills have improved a notable amount. another perk of the vip thing was getting the first spots on the concert floor. we ended up Front and Center. so i got to see the man himself s l a p the bass. Guys. Fellow human beings. it was. HHHHHHHHHHHHH LIFE CHANGING. they played their new album in its entirety, plus my 2 favorite tracks from their previous album, A N D 3 covers:
~ astronomy domine (a song which our companion said he was hoping theyd play)
~ tomorrow never knows (AND LES EVEN BUSTED OUT A VIOLIN BASS FOR IT!!!!!!! AAAAH! there was something super moving and cool about seeing mr sean lennon play his father's song. i think it was my favorite of the night)
and the last cover....... my sister and i heard that intro and just turned to each other like !!!!!!!!!! because guys they played IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING HOLY SHIT OH MY GOD DUDE. the way he fit the bass in that song probably made greg lake's ghost shed tears of joy. it was so FRICKIN cool.

then c o n c e r t o #2 in early june, just a few days after my bday, was one i bought 2 tickets for my sister and i a while ago, and almost forgot about lmao. it was.... CHEAP TRICK. yeah it was my first Old School Rock concert and i was a bit skeptical about it. like. theyre probably gonna throw their backs out on stage. but cheap trick is like, one of my favorite Classic Rock bands (alongside steely dan and dire straits). plus their bassist, tom petersson, is one of my favorite bassists. crazy good, smart playing. dude invented the 12 string bass. thats so many strings.
the venue wasnt in the city, it was in waukegan, which is a town my mother insisted i lived in when i was a babby but i dont remember because i was a babby. we drove down there (and it was a nice drive. we listened to cheap trick on the way there and my sister was like "ohh i always hear this but i didnt know this was cheap trick" to like every song i played lmao) and i didnt know waukegan was on lake michigan but it was. i was like "waow thats a Big Lake" and my sister actually said, "thats lake michigan, dumbass" which is fair to say. so we got there Early and played pokemon go and went to this freaky shop down the street from the theatre (which was like a Small chicago theatre).
so we sat and waited for the show to Begin. i could count on two hands the amount of people our age i saw, like, everyone was 50+ lol. i was telling my sister that if the boys play anything from their first album (WHICH I MAINTAIN IS ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED ALBUMS, AND A FANTASTIC DEBUT, AND A RARE, "PERFECT ALBUM" [and yes i also consider at budokan and heaven tonight to be perfect albums dont @ me]) i would die.
now the first thing i notice when the boys walk on stage is Damn they look not bad. for some old dudes. theyre quite stylish. i also notice we have a perfect view of the stage because we are sitting so high up, so thats also Cool.
so, they launch into the classic, elo kiddies. according to my earlier assertion, i am now a ghost. and then???? they played my favorite song of theirs??? a dark, funny deep cut also from their first album. that they pretty much NEVER play, especially these days. so that was FRICKIN GOOD AND COOL.
the boys still rock. rick nielsen seemed to play using a different guitar almost every song, including one that looks like him, and a 5 neck guitar. dax nielsen literally crushed it on drums, and singer robin zander still has pipes after all this time (he always had one of my favorite voices in rock). but of course i was hooked on mr tom peterssons IMPECCABLE BASS PLAYING.
then they all cleared out, leaving only rick and tom, they played for a while then rick left and tom just..... played the bass.......... for 4 minutes straight. which was enlightening. then they went into i know what i want, which is a song that tom sings and hes got, an interesting voice, which i like. AND THEN. i heard the beginning of a song and i was like ....????? why do i know this song. then tom starts Singing the song. and im like wait record scratch excuse me. they are straight up playing some velvet underground right now. specifically im waiting for the man with some heroin thrown in.
they played all their Big Hits, such as surrender, dream police, the flame... they always looked like they were having fun. they threw their guitar picks into the crowd (and kiss records as robin sang "rollin numbers, rock and rollin, got my kiss records out!"), chatted and joked around, just had like, cool old people energy.
after the concert we wandered around for a while and went to ihop. then we went home. it was a really nice day.