October 19, 2019. That's the date of the last concert I attended. Ana Marie and I flew down to Vegas to see Journey during their residency at Caesar's Palace. It was a fun quick trip and an enjoyable show. I didn't expect I wouldn't be attending another concert for over a year.
I went to my first concert in September 1985 and this blog notes concerts I've attended since 1998. While some years between 1998 and now have had fewer concerts than others, there was always at least one or two. I imagine sometime in that 1985-1998 time frame there was a year or two I didn't go to a concert -- I was in my late teens and twenties then, I didn't always have money for concerts or someone to go to a show with (something I wasn't really comfortable with until my late 20s/early 30s.) Still, that's a long time ago now, half my lifetime. I've spent most of my adult life attending a couple of concerts a year -- it's one of my primary leisure expenses and something I'm willing to budget in other areas to afford when needed.
No concerts in over a year.
At the start of 2020, I had tickets already lined up for three shows -- Journey and Bon Jovi here in the Bay Area and Matchbox 20 in Vegas. I actually had tickets to TWO Journey shows in the Bay Area having mistakenly purchased tickets for their scheduled show at the Concord Pavilion. I was trying to sell those tickets as I don't go to shows in Concord any longer unless it's the only choice I have (and I've traveled to LA and Vegas on a weekend rather than drive to Concord on a weeknight to see a show I want to see.) That's about the only good thing that's come out of having everything canceled due to a global pandemic -- I got that show refunded.
Hell, I got all my shows refunded. The Journey & Bon Jovi shows were scheduled for May and June, and when the shelter in place orders took effect here in the Bay Area in mid-March, I expected they'd likely be postponed at the least. Since the Journey shows were at outdoor venues, I gave them a higher chance of being canceled since postponing for say six months would mean having to find a different venue. When the shows were canceled, I wasn't surprised, but at least I still had the Matchbox 20 show to look forward to in September. Surely by September things would be back to normal.
As the months progressed it became clear that things would not be back to normal by September and that tour was rescheduled, this time with out the Vegas date, so there went the last show I had on the calendar. I don't know when I'll get to go to another one. There have been some smaller open-air venues that have had shows, and there have been "drive-in" concerts where you can go see live music in a parking lot in your car. I've not done any of those for several reasons, but the primary one being I don't feel safe doing so. I'm relatively healthy and would hopefully be OK should I catch COVID-19, but I don't want to risk exposing my parents who I try to see once a month these days. They're older and more vulnerable. I'm also on the list of employees who can go into my office. In my case, it's largely to escape an apartment that is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. I have co-workers who can only do their work in their labs, and having the building shut down because of a potential exposure would be harmful to their work and deadlines. So I continue to limit where I go and what I do and who I see in hopes that someday soon we can get back to a more familiar routine of work and social lives.
It's mid-November now and the pandemic is still raging with cases spiking not just in the US, but world wide. Shows that have been pushed from 2020 into 2021 are still on the calendar, but I'm doubtful many will happen before about June. There are signs a vaccine may be ready soon, which is really amazing and a tribute to the scientists working on them, but realistically getting the vaccine widely distributed is going to take time. It's going to take longer for people to get fully inoculated, and that's if everyone actually does get vaccinated. With all of the politicization that has gone on around this public health issue there will be people who will refuse to get the vaccine -- either they are part of the anti-vaccine crowd or they are distrustful of the vaccine because of their political beliefs. It makes everyone less safe, and it will just make it that much longer before there is protection from this deadly virus. Even if everything goes well with the vaccine and it's distributed wider and faster than expected, I still suspect venues will limit their capacity or have their capacity limited by local public health officials. That will make tickets harder to come by.
So, will I go? That's the next question. When will I go to a show? What is my comfort level? Right now, I don't know. I doubt I will travel outside of the Bay Area for a show anytime soon. We've had some of the strictest health orders in the country which has so far kept the virus somewhat under control and as cases start rising again the heath orders are quickly tightening up again. While it's extremely frustrating that after eight months we're still having such restrictions in place, I also find that I feel safer knowing that our local public health officials and political leaders are willing to make the tough and sometimes unpopular choices to try to protect the lives of our communities. So if local restrictions are loosened enough to allow large events by next summer, I will probably try to find an opportunity to get to a local show. I feel less confident about other areas of the country, including other parts of California. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be getting on a plane either, so any travels would be limited to where I could get easily by car. Still, the future is uncertain and unclear, so perhaps I won't be as hesitant as I am now.
But I miss concerts.
Long time readers will note that I rarely say I didn't enjoy a show, and that's because I rarely have. Sure some concerts are better than others, but for the most part what I get out of seeing live performances is more than just the show. When I'm at a show I will often close my eyes while I'm listening to the music. This seems a bit odd I'm sure since aren't I there to SEE my favorite performers a in person? Well, yes, but it's more than that. I'm also there to FEEL the music, to feel the beat of the drums, the roar of the guitars, the energy of the crowd, to let all of that wash over me and take me to another place. There's a passion and emotion in live music that even the best recordings can't quite capture.
Back in June or so, as I was getting more and more stir-crazy from staying home for so long, I started thinking about the shows I'd like to see once they were allowed again. The fist thing that popped into my head was "God, I need a Springsteen show." More than anyone else I've ever seen, Bruce Springsteen shows are a celebration of life. Not long afterwards, he announced that he had a new album coming out in October. I've picked it up, and while it's themes are mostly about death and loss, it's also about celebrating life. Hopefully by this time next year he and the rest of the E Street Band will be back out on the road and feeding that energy they have to thousands of people. If so, I will be there -- I'll definitely need that feeling of "god it's great to be alive" I get whenever I see one of his shows.
Until then however, we wait. We wait for the spread to slow. We wait for a vaccine to become available and approved. We wait for it to be widely distributed. We wait for health orders to be loosened and lifted. We wait for venues to reopen. We wait for the joy, the camaraderie, the energy we find in live music.
