The summer of no discontent
Every summer, I end up getting run down right about midpoint. Every summer, I tell myself it won’t happen again this year, that I won’t try to cram too many things into too few hours, as if simple strong will could ward off the weariness.
And every summer, it happens again. I’m sure you can relate.
This year absolutely has to be different, though. This year, I can’t afford any downtime. There are simply too any amazing concerts to see, too much musical bliss to bask in, too many shows that suggest missing them will break off a little piece of your soul, and you might not ever get it back. (Yes, I have a tendency toward the dramatic. Thank you for noticing.)
I still haven’t figured out how I’m going to be at the waterfront watching the Black Crowes and way out in Lewiston watching Wilco at the same time on the same night, but I remain positive. Human cloning can’t be that far off, can it? Similarly difficult, but most definitely doable, will be attending the much buzzed-about Coldplay show out at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center on the eve of the first of the Tragically Hip’s four shows at Artpark. That’s five shows in six days. Famine or feast are the choices, apparently. It’s just not an option to skip any of this stuff.
The unsolvable space-time continuum conundrum aside, this summer concert season is easily the strongest in recent years. From the time you’re reading this through Labor Day, more than 100 shows—the majority of them well worth seeing—will pass through our region.
A healthy portion of these shows won’t cost you a dime for admission; even more are somewhere between cheap and reasonably priced; and, happily, there are only a few that will put you out roughly a month’s rent for a pair of tickets and a single cold one. (That last point is an important one. We’ve all grown weary of feeling ripped off.)
There are several recurring themes that emerge when you look over the Buffalo-area summer concert season as a whole. The unavoidable first conclusion you’ll reach involves the fact that, once we’re into June, there are good shows pretty much every single night. Many nights, there are several significant gigs taking place simultaneously. Sheer volume can be revealing—in the roughly 90-day period comprising the summer concert season, there are in the area of 125 notable concerts taking place. You see where having a clone might come in handy.
It seems 2009 might be remembered in the concert industry as the year of the reunion tour. We’re not talking about the Eagles-style “let’s get together even though we can’t stomach the sight of each other, go out and play, charge a ridiculous admission fee, and head back to our personal compounds to divide the loot” reunion. Most of the bands getting back together to tour this summer seem —on the surface, at least—to be doing so for the right reasons. Those “right reasons” having at least something to do with unfinished business, mutual love and respect, a desire to take the music somewhere new and exciting, or at least, old and exciting. Sure, money can have something to do with it—everyone deserves to be paid for their work. But from Phish to No Doubt to Blink 182, these reunion jaunts don’t have the stench of “we’re only in it for the money” about them.
On a local and regional level, a few shifts in the landscape are notable ones. For instance, for the first time in recent memory, Thursday at the Square will be ending in July, its schedule truncated to allow for a shift in the action to the waterfront and the Buffalo Place Rocks the Harbor concerts. Many readers have already expressed their opinions on this matter, but if you look at this turn of events in a more stoic manner, it’s impossible to view the change in plans as anything other than a positive one.
The schedule of free Square shows is shorter, but it’s also remarkably solid and relatively diverse. If a more concise Square roster means an expanded involvement with the waterfront, that’s nice. The Black Crowes, Medeski Martin& Wood, Bruce Hornsby, Gov’t Mule and a bunch more, available for $10 per show, if you purchase tickets in advance, and all down near our long-neglected harbor—it seems a bit picayune to complain.
A mantra that resounds from various quarters every year around this time is the old standard “All we get in Buffalo are bogus, weary classic rock and lousy country acts.” As promising as this season looks from this vantage point, kicking that old standby to the curb might be a bit of a hasty decision. This summer, we are getting plenty of shows evoking the phrases “Featuring one original member! (the bass player, naturally)” and “Let’s play our one hit from 1972.” We’re also seeing plenty of country music, and not just at Darien Lake, where we always see lots of country music. This is a bad thing only if you dislike country music and classic rock. If these shows didn’t sell, no one would book them here. Same as it ever was...
Still, something about this year feels different.
Perhaps it’s because, during any given week, you could catch a killer small club show, an arena rock act, an interesting tribute band free of charge and a street carnival-type show. The open-minded listener might catch some metal, a bit of country, some jam-band stylings, a nostalgic “old and in the way” set from a grizzled vet, some torrid punk rock and even a portion of modern avant-garde music within the space of seven days. That’s exciting.
Diversity always bespeaks a state of cultural healthiness.
Now if I can just avoid that midsummer crash and burn.
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