So, how do I describe my fealings of absolute dissapointment in the events that transpired tonight? Well, my vocabulary is not robust enough, so I will do my best to portray a smigen (yes, I can't spell) of my anger, frustration and general sadness.
Tiger Army is one of my favorite bands. I have been fond of them since one of my ex's introduced me to them. So imagine my joy when I found out they were playing in Sparks on May 15. So, needless to say I bought my ticket months in advance.
I love going to shows. For me it is a release and a chance to enjoy good music and comradary with the people I call family. However this would not be the case tonight. As always I drove to the show (I have this thing about driving to shows. I have always done it, probably rooted in some abandoment issues or something, who knows!) when we arrived I noticed Nick 13 wandering around Sparks looking somber and moody as always.
We walk a short distance to the club to find an odd scene. Now normally, seeing kids dressed as punks would not be odd, I myself have a mohawk (with I will be shaving shortly, it has nothing to do with the show, Im just lazy and tired of dealing with it). However, these kids looked like they pulled a page out of a 1983 Time life magazine and copied the "PUNK" look from it. This bothered me for inumerous reasons, the most obvious is that Punk is supposed to be about individuality and all I could see was a sea of patches and accesories as far as they eye could see. I felt sorry for some of the kids. All they are looking for is aceptance but they were simply trying way to hard to follow the crowd (another thing punk is not supposed to be about).
After standing around for a short period I noticed the demeaner of the crowd was a bit rowdy. But this was tipped off by a number of drunk kids that can be best described as Punk Rock Rednecks (Only in Sparks) who seemed hellbent on ruining everyones enjoyment of any show. The kids were abnoxious enough to insult a very large mans sister and were very close to being pummeled, all 8 of them, by one very angry man.
One thing that really bothered me was a kid who just felt the need to throw his garbage to the ground. I have always had a problem with littering and I have gotten into a number of fights over it. But this kid seemed to thing littering was a "PUNK" thing to do. Well, I promtly corrected the kid and handed his trash back to him. But people still didn't get it. As another kid quickly disperesed of his soda bottle on the ground.
Chris and I decided to leae at this point, I gave my ticket to a girl who seemed to just want to go to a good show and left the venue.
What happened??? Im not old enough to remember the first death of Punk Rock, but I can visualize how it happened now. Tonight I saw a large group of kids who were simply dressing up. They didn't appear to be looking for unity, brotherhood or comradery. Most of the kids appeared to simply wish to live in a time that they know very little about.
What happened to the politics of "PUNK"??? The kid dropping the bottle on the ground really angered me. It was like he thought littering was a form of rebellion. He would be the savior of the polute your city movement. I don't know about you, but I tend to like the places I live to be relatively free of garbage. I noticed 13 year old kids with Ronald Reagan images. Do they know why they (or there musical heroes) dislike Reagan? I find it disturbing when people dislike anything without first learning more about it (of course, Reagan was a bastard, but thats not the point).
It seems a number of bad aspects combined to make what appeared to be a very bad scene.
1. Sparks, it is a small city. The people who generally go to shows do not have the same experience as someone may have from a larger city. Seems all the shows in Sparks I have seen have been very angry.
2. The New Oasis, its a dive. Dont get me wrong, I love dive bars. This howver is just one of many contributing factors.
3. Alchohol, there were a number of people nursing a pretty good buzz in line for the show.
4. All ages, I love kids. However, I am starting to learn that with all the other factors this also added to the wierd vibe.
5. Black Label Society, a damn angry band. Once again, I love agry bands. Its just sometimes they bring out the wrong crowd.
In the end I am unsure of how the show went. I hope I was wrong about it and all the kids had a great time and made some new friends. However, I doubt this. It seems there were to many people looking for a fight and too many kids who just wouldn't know what to do.
So, I didn't get my yell lyrics, to music I enjoy, while having fun with random people experience. Im sure I will have another chance to see Tiger Army (I have seen then 3 times) but next time I think I will plan to go to the SF show.
Wow, I really sound like the asshole punk rock elitist.
Tiger Army is one of my favorite bands. I have been fond of them since one of my ex's introduced me to them. So imagine my joy when I found out they were playing in Sparks on May 15. So, needless to say I bought my ticket months in advance.
I love going to shows. For me it is a release and a chance to enjoy good music and comradary with the people I call family. However this would not be the case tonight. As always I drove to the show (I have this thing about driving to shows. I have always done it, probably rooted in some abandoment issues or something, who knows!) when we arrived I noticed Nick 13 wandering around Sparks looking somber and moody as always.
We walk a short distance to the club to find an odd scene. Now normally, seeing kids dressed as punks would not be odd, I myself have a mohawk (with I will be shaving shortly, it has nothing to do with the show, Im just lazy and tired of dealing with it). However, these kids looked like they pulled a page out of a 1983 Time life magazine and copied the "PUNK" look from it. This bothered me for inumerous reasons, the most obvious is that Punk is supposed to be about individuality and all I could see was a sea of patches and accesories as far as they eye could see. I felt sorry for some of the kids. All they are looking for is aceptance but they were simply trying way to hard to follow the crowd (another thing punk is not supposed to be about).
After standing around for a short period I noticed the demeaner of the crowd was a bit rowdy. But this was tipped off by a number of drunk kids that can be best described as Punk Rock Rednecks (Only in Sparks) who seemed hellbent on ruining everyones enjoyment of any show. The kids were abnoxious enough to insult a very large mans sister and were very close to being pummeled, all 8 of them, by one very angry man.
One thing that really bothered me was a kid who just felt the need to throw his garbage to the ground. I have always had a problem with littering and I have gotten into a number of fights over it. But this kid seemed to thing littering was a "PUNK" thing to do. Well, I promtly corrected the kid and handed his trash back to him. But people still didn't get it. As another kid quickly disperesed of his soda bottle on the ground.
Chris and I decided to leae at this point, I gave my ticket to a girl who seemed to just want to go to a good show and left the venue.
What happened??? Im not old enough to remember the first death of Punk Rock, but I can visualize how it happened now. Tonight I saw a large group of kids who were simply dressing up. They didn't appear to be looking for unity, brotherhood or comradery. Most of the kids appeared to simply wish to live in a time that they know very little about.
What happened to the politics of "PUNK"??? The kid dropping the bottle on the ground really angered me. It was like he thought littering was a form of rebellion. He would be the savior of the polute your city movement. I don't know about you, but I tend to like the places I live to be relatively free of garbage. I noticed 13 year old kids with Ronald Reagan images. Do they know why they (or there musical heroes) dislike Reagan? I find it disturbing when people dislike anything without first learning more about it (of course, Reagan was a bastard, but thats not the point).
It seems a number of bad aspects combined to make what appeared to be a very bad scene.
1. Sparks, it is a small city. The people who generally go to shows do not have the same experience as someone may have from a larger city. Seems all the shows in Sparks I have seen have been very angry.
2. The New Oasis, its a dive. Dont get me wrong, I love dive bars. This howver is just one of many contributing factors.
3. Alchohol, there were a number of people nursing a pretty good buzz in line for the show.
4. All ages, I love kids. However, I am starting to learn that with all the other factors this also added to the wierd vibe.
5. Black Label Society, a damn angry band. Once again, I love agry bands. Its just sometimes they bring out the wrong crowd.
In the end I am unsure of how the show went. I hope I was wrong about it and all the kids had a great time and made some new friends. However, I doubt this. It seems there were to many people looking for a fight and too many kids who just wouldn't know what to do.
So, I didn't get my yell lyrics, to music I enjoy, while having fun with random people experience. Im sure I will have another chance to see Tiger Army (I have seen then 3 times) but next time I think I will plan to go to the SF show.
Wow, I really sound like the asshole punk rock elitist.
New rule for this old man: No more shows in Sparks. Not ever. Unless it's the Dropkick Murphy's. lol