As I have mentioned about a thousand times already, I went to see Journey and Def Leppard in concert at the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ on Friday night. My observations of the concert, in no specific order…

• First of all, Journey was fantastic—much better than I had expected. Many people were saying that their set wasn’t long enough, but I thought that playing for one and a half hours was plenty. The big surprise? They didn’t play “Open Arms.” The hell?!? How can you go to a Journey concert and NOT hear “Open Arms?” Other than that, they played all their big hits of the 80s, plus a slew of newer songs that I didn’t know.

• Where did all these mulletheads come from? I never see any guys with mullets these days, but there were TONS of ‘em at that concert. And women with huge, mall-chick hair and many acid-washed denim accessories: jackets, jeans, purses, backpacks.

• Def Leppard: fucking brilliant! They sounded great. Played all their hits, and some stuff from their latest album, YEAH!, in which they reworked 60s and 70s classics from Sweet, David Essex, and Badfinger. They looked great—especially Phil Collen, who I later learned is a kick-boxing vegan. Seriously, the man has the body of a 30-year old. Unbelievable! I was totally drooling. Joe still looks good, too.

• At one point during the show, the fortysomething guy to my right turns to me and says, “Wow! You sure are a big fan, huh? You’ve been singing every word to every song they’ve played so far!” OH YEAH, I replied. “So do you think they’ll do an encore?” he asks. Well, of COURSE they’ll do an encore, I told him. “What song do you think they’ll do?” Duh. Pour Some Sugar on Me, I shouted. Is there any other song that is more encore-appropriate than that???? Sure enough, after they exit the stage and the audience begins chanting, they reappear and do a fab rendition of “Sugar.” Am I good or what?!?!

• I am ever so glad that we had reserved seating. It started thunderstorming around 9 p.m. and I was concerned for the throng of people sitting in the lawn seats. Lightning scares me and I probably would’ve left the concert altogether if we were out in the open.

• $12.50 for a frozen strawberry daiquiri in a “souvenir” plastic guitar-shaped cup is way too much money, but I will still gladly pay it when it is 90 degrees and 100% humidity. Yuck.

• I got home around 2 a.m., waaaay later than I’ve stayed out (or even stayed up when I’m at home) in a very long time. I’m getting old. Seriously.

Labels: concerts, deep thoughts, Def Leppard, friends, music

Looks like this summer will be quite eventful for me. Tonight is the Def Leppard/Journey show.

Next weekend, I'm taking my mom to see Michael Buble.

Then I'm going with her to see Steely Dan and Michael McDonald in August (shut up).

And about five minutes ago, I bought tickets to see these guys. also in August:



It's gonna be a great summer!!

Labels: concerts, Def Leppard, family, Foo Fighters, music

Do you know what tomorrow night is?



That's right baby, Def Leppard time!

For those readers who missed it, here is the reason why I am so freaking amped to go to this concert.

Also appearing onstage:



I'm still pretty psyched about seeing Journey, too, but they've kinda lost their lustre for me since Steve Perry left the group back in 1987.

I'll tell ya, I need a good night out. I am so stressed out about the DC-2 exam that I'm taking next Wednesday. I'm hardly sleeping at all this week and I've been doing some last-minute cramming. I need to chill for a night.

Soooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!

Labels: bitching, concerts, Def Leppard, music, stress, work

...but going to see Def Leppard in concert most definitely takes some of the sting out of it!!

WOOHOO! A few friends and I are going to the Def Leppard/Journey concert in June at the Tweeter Center in Camden. You cannot possibly imagine how much this excites me. Going to see DL live represents the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. I can barely sit still, I am that amped!!

When I was a kid, my parents were pretty much like the Gestapo. Every television program, movie, and album I wanted was heavily scrutinzed before my parents decided whether or not I could watch it or listen to it. For example, I was not allowed to watch MTV (then again, the MTV of my youth was like Mr. Fucking Rogers' Neighborhood compared to the soft porn they broadcast these days!). I was not allowed to own any cassette tapes with the parental warning labels on them. I was not allowed to talk on the phone on school nights after 7 p.m.

Yeah, it sucked. And yeah, they had hell to pay for it in later years, when I rebelled by sneaking my boyfriends into my bedroom in the middle of the night and spending almost two straight years stoned off my ass. Let me tell ya, I could roll the TIGHTEST joint ever! Ahem. But those are stories for another post...

Anyhoo. In 1987, my cousin Tracie, who is eight years my senior and was, in my eyes, the arbiter of all things cool, turned me on to Def Leppard. I was about 10 years old. This was around the time when Hysteria was first released. For me, it was love at first listen. Not only did I immediately adore their music, but I also developed an extreme prepubescent crush on Rick Allen, the one-armed drummer.

All of my weekly allowance was funneled to the purchase of magazines like Metal Edge and Hit Parader, as I began to accumulate photos of the band. At one point, I had over four hundred posters and pictures of Def Leppard taped to the walls of my bedroom. My parents were suspicious, but they never made me take down those posters. Tracie, knowing how strict my parents were, made me a copy of Hysteria on a blank, unmarked cassette tape. I listened to it nearly every waking minute of each day, until it eventually was eaten by my Walkman.

I decided to take the chance and buy my own copy of Hysteria at Wall to Wall Sound and Video (remember that store?). Shortly thereafter, my parents were on to me. They read the playlist and saw song titles like "Women," "Pour Some Sugar on Me," and "Armageddon It" (my mother: "Is this that SATANIC music?!?") and immediately took the tape away from me. I was crushed. I begged and pleaded with them to give me back the tape, to no avail. They wouldn't even reimburse me the damn allowance money that I spent to buy it. I was crushed...but only briefly.

You see, what they DIDN'T realize was that I knew that they'd hidden the tape in one of the drawers of my father's dresser. So as soon as my parents weren't around, I snatched the tape and dubbed another copy of it for myself. Then I replaced the original back in my dad's dresser, and they were never the wiser.

I was a sneaky, underhanded, conniving child. Indeed.

So going to see Def Leppard in concert now is guaranteed to bring back all of those fond memories for me.

Plus, they're playing with Journey. Freaking Journey! DON'T STOP...BELIEVIN'!

(I know, Steve Perry hasn't been with Journey in years, so I'm kinda bummed out about that, but still. There is NO way I would miss this show.)

My real concern is, should I break out the acidwashed denim and curl my bangs sky-high for this show?

Labels: childhood, concerts, decisions, Def Leppard, family, friends, memories, music