The first big-time rock show I saw was Styx in 1983, near the tail-end of their disastrous (according to "Behind the Music") Kilroy was Here tour. Even though it was a weird show in hindsight, I loved it. Styx was my favorite band back then, and to see them playing live, even from the nosebleed seats, was incredible. I went with my sister, my slightly older cousin, and my mother, who tagged along to be the token supervising adult and because she was also a fan, which is to say she bought "Paradise Theater" because she thought "that 'The Best of Times' song was so pretty."
My second show was little over a month later, when we saw Journey on the Frontiers tour, with Bryan Adams as the opening act. (Am I dating myself enough in this post?) I was a fan of both, so I was pumped. This time my sister and I brought some friends, and again our mother came along. She also brought a few of her teacher friends with, and the three of them probably rocked out harder than the rest of us did (if you can call the awkward chorus-line type dancing they did all night as "rocking out"). An ironic aside for you: One of these other teachers who went with us wound up teaching at the same school I'm at now, only to come and go long before I started there. And the first classroom I ever called my own had actually been hers several years earlier. Funny world, right?
And things were just getting started. Those two shows played no small part in developing a strong love of music in our household, which was the case with our extended family as well. So many concerts seen, so many record albums and singles and cassettes and compact discs and digital downloads and DVDs and Blu-Rays purchased. So many people singing so many show tunes around so many pianos. So many hours spent three generations of our family has spent singing and playing so many instruments in so many different basements. And so many concerts we've collectively seen.
One of my lifelong favorite musical acts is and always has been Queen. One of the greatest regrets of my life is that I never had the chance to see Freddie Mercury perform live, because he was the best singer contemporary music has ever known and if you disagree with that you should be embarrassed about how wrong you are. With so much Queen coming through the walls of my bedroom, my mom eventually became a fan as well, at least enough of a fan to know all of the greatest hits and to enjoy the deeper cuts from my library of Queen albums when she heard them.
This past spring the two surviving members of Queen who haven't retired from performing announced they were going to tour North America with Adam Lambert taking over the vocals (I won't say 'taking the place' or 'filling the shoes' of Freddie Mercury, because such a thing isn't possible), but the nearest tour stop was in Chicago. My mom is a Queen fan, my aunt is an Adam Lambert fan (and yes, they're both in their seventies), so it was a disappointment for them that the nearest tour stop was in Chicago.
Well, my cousins and I took care of this. For Mother's Day this year we let them know we were sending them to see Queen + Adam Lambert's show at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas this coming July. Seeing their reaction as they found out was indeed priceless.
So Happy Mother's Day (and Godmother's) to my mom and my aunt. After all you've done to foster the love of music that became such a part of all of your kids, you deserve your own big rock show.
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