when the music's over

Joanne- The arena strength shows we both grew up on (I'm 44) are becoming dinosaurs along with the first few generations of rockers. It's perhaps natural to assess rock, and live concerts along the life arc that we have traveled the with the artists like the ones you name. Never mind Lou Reed and Don Mclean. I'm also dealing with the unthinkable world in which 75% of the Ramones (give or take) are dead. I don't wish they were here. I would hate to see them play if they were. But it's still a threat to my sacred illusion that I'm still youg that the band I saw ravage Buckley Recital Hall at Amhest College 30 years ago (!) no longer exist as the young men I can still see in my head like it was yesterday. The Ramones will always be a young band ro me. People talk about a band's old records when then really mean their young ones. But to a brighter point. There will still always be enough great music makers to fill a Calvin Theatre. Many will play the Iron Horse over the next few years and graduate, along with their fans, to the bigger (but not TOO big) hall.The reason this generation won't have its Billy Joel is perhaps the way the media works now to allow a much wider spotlight to shine on more than just a handful of "greats." I've never been more delighted at all the music that's available to me, live and recorded. My live music fix now comes from Iron Horse size shows, not civic centers. It's harder to sort it all out but ingenius websites like Pandora.com are there to lend a guiding hand. Put "Lou Reed" in and listen to a playlist of old and new music unfurl from there. I also suggest checking out Andrew Bird or Pete Yorn or Patty Griffin or Grizzly Bear.

Not to disparage the quality of older music, but I don't think we were ever part of a big family so much as the easy targets of mass marketing in a world with fewer pipes offering access. The more ornate and diverse musical landscape of today reflects more fully the culture we are actually a part of. And that might mean concerts of 800 people instead of 10,000 or more.

I do admit it's weird accepting that so much of the music I love comes from people half my age. Time has marched on.

Thanks to the Ledge, a Fleetwood Mac fan site on the Web, this article came to my attention. Ms. Demaio captures the aging rock concert experience succinctly, critically, and with the poetry of a true writer who is an astute observer of modern-day culture.

Here's a rebuttal calling out DeMaio for her and her generation's self-absorption:

http://blogs.courant.com/eric_danton_sound_ch...

Self-absorption? Hardly. Most of the so-called "singers" of today can barely carry a tune. And, why should they? Kids today are arrogant, disrespectful, and the most self-absorbed generation ever. That noise that is so popular with them is just an excuse to act out the way they do in everyday life. My kids (and grandkids) think that the 60's and 70's music is COOL...and they can actually understand the words. When peace and love become dirty words, we're all in deep doo doo.

I can't agree more with Ms DeMaio's point. Having seen Queen and Freddie Mercury, front row, center, at The (late) New Haven Coliseum in November 1977, I knew I was hooked forever. But music, like life, changes. No more Studio 54s, but we have Madonna, who grew out of that part of history. Annie Lennox, Dead Can Dance, Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, the reconstituted Queen, Depeche Mode, George Michael. All put on shows (including Bruce, Tori Amos et al) but for some, the sad reality isn't the Rolling Stones' STEEL WHEELS show...it's their STEEL WHEEL CHAIRS show. Should our idols have died prematurely from drugs or AIDS? Janis, Freddie. No. Every generation has their sound, and if we're lucky, we'll get to see it all.

Thank God for the time BEFORE MTV. A salient point missed here.

Ms. Demaio needs to turn off the classic rock and listen to something else. Does she really think that fans of Dave Matthews, Green Day, Foo Fighters won't continue to go to concerts once her rock legends have died. Most of those rock legends, BTW, should have stopped touring long long ago.
It may be that arena concerts die out -- but would that be a bad thing? I see no point in paying $85 to watch Billie Joe Armstrong on a three-story high screen. If I'm seeing a performer live, I'd rather be able to see the actual person.
Check out Pearl Street, the Calvin, Toad's Place, Cafe Nine. Look at the bands Web sites and listen. You may find some really good music was written after 1982.

BrutusMaximus wrote:

I can't agree more with Ms DeMaio's point. Having seen Queen and Freddie Mercury, front row, center, at The (late) New Haven Coliseum in November 1977, I knew I was hooked forever. But music, like life, changes. No more Studio 54s, but we have Madonna, who grew out of that part of history. Annie Lennox, Dead Can Dance, Elton John, Pet Shop Boys, the reconstituted Queen, Depeche Mode, George Michael. All put on shows (including Bruce, Tori Amos et al) but for some, the sad reality isn't the Rolling Stones' STEEL WHEELS show...it's their STEEL WHEEL CHAIRS show. Should our idols have died prematurely from drugs or AIDS? Janis, Freddie. No. Every generation has their sound, and if we're lucky, we'll get to hear it all.
Thank God for the time BEFORE MTV. A salient point missed here.

Music, like media, moves forward. No more double-LPs, no more waiting on line at Sears, no more seeing Queen at The Hartford Civic Center (1980) for $7.50...

It's their contributions which matter.

Not their retirement shows.

Ms Demaio you really need to get out of your time warp. there is plenty of great music out there, you just have to look for it. It will not be delivered to you as it was in the old days.

In the old days, your musical exposure was limited to 3 rock radio stations and eventually MTV. Nowadays there is no all powerful programming source selling you the bands you loved in LP format. You need to accept that the LP is dead, just like it was in the early days of rock. Once the 33RPM LP came out, bands used that medium as there creative "easel" along with the live show to make money they can't do that now. Ever notice that back in the day bands would put out a new LP every year and now bands go several years in between. But, albums are longer as CDs can hold more than the vinyl LP.

Now that digital music rules, it will take a few years before the concert culture catches up to the technology of digital music. The record industry can't make money selling LPs any more. Bands have to tour to make money, for that reason the concert experience will never die. Bands now tour in packages and play festivals instead of playing every roadstop in America. Kinda like the early days e.g. Woodstock. Richie Valens and the Big Bopper were touring together cause neither of them could draw a big enough crowd alone.

I encourage you to give some of the new stuff thats out there a chance. There are a lot of bands I can picture seeing in 30 years... to many to name.

Next year, try getting out of your shell and get to Bonnaroo or Cochchella. You may learn that things are different, yet surprisingly still the same.

Everyone has their time, their peak, their decade. Mine was the late 70's and 80's. Others may claim the 90's, and soon others will claim the 00's (that sounds weird). And during these intervals, we had rock bands we associate with those times. I can remember my parents boasting about the 50's and 60's, and how those bands and songs were the best. Everyone thinks their time was the best, including Joanne and myself. Every generation's music is the best, go ahead and ask them.

John wrote:

Everyone has their time, their peak, their decade. Mine was the late 70's and 80's. Others may claim the 90's, and soon others will claim the 00's (that sounds weird). And during these intervals, we had rock bands we associate with those times. I can remember my parents boasting about the 50's and 60's, and how those bands and songs were the best. Everyone thinks their time was the best, including Joanne and myself. Every generation's music is the best, go ahead and ask them.

Then there are some, that keep on through all the generations-the "real" talents.

Josh Ritter, The Shins and Vampire Weekend" in lieu of Billy Joel? No way, they don't have the songs or charisma. In the piano/singer arena, there is no new Elton John or Burton Cummings or Donald Fagan or Warren Zevon for that matter.

Same for "James McMurty, Roy Zimmerman, Dan Bern" replacing Fogerty.

As an example of the dearth of new talent, as Fogerty does, how many guys have appeared since the 70s that write, sing and play lead guitar on a world class
level? John Mayer and Brad Paisley come to mind, Kurt Cobain. Not many more. Compare that to how many can do that from the 60s or
70s: Neil Young, Stills, Buckingham, Miller, Hendrix, Knopfler,
Townsend, Fogerty, Clapton, Springsteen, Frampton, Hayward, Berry,
Harrison, Mason, SRVaughn, Fogelberg, Garcia, etc.

She's right, "This millennium's music has no Billy Joel defining the king and queen of the prom. Has no young Steven Tyler whose train will still be rolling in 30 years. Has no John Fogerty penning scathing lyrics against the war. Has no Freddie Mercury rocking out stadium anthems. No Steve Miller slipping us into the future. No Beatle."

There are fewer new acts with the talent to build catalogs of great songs that grip the
public and fill arenas like bands from the 60s and 70s For each Dave Matthews, John
Mayer, Green Day and Radiohead there are dozens from the 60s or 70s.

I am desperate for new rock artists with the skills of those from the 60s and 70s and look locally at bars and festivals, like maybe they're just not discovered or ignored by the record labels. I listen to the independant young rock station, KEXP FM, which plays the best rock
music by young artists from all over, and on the myriad streaming
sources. The epic memorable songs aren't there nor are the artists.

Despite the pop/dance flavor of today, if there were new artists
with the talent of Bob Dylan, The Stones, Who, Tom Petty, McCartney,
Chuck Berry, Hendrix, even Jackson Browne or The Marshall Tucker Band,
I would hear them and they would rise to the top and be heard by more
people, regardless of record labels or "demographics" or splintered
entertainment opportunities. Just as John Mayer and Brad Paisley made
it. There just aren't many Mayers or Paisleys or Green Days with the
songs or talent to fill arenas.

I never thought rockers (with the exception of maybe Keith Emerson, Jeff Beck and Bruce Hornseby) and there present day equivalents were ever really that skilled as musicians. though there have been many notable songwriters.

But the bands of my generation such as Smashing Pumpkins, INXS, and REM were nothing special.

Will people still sing "Music is my aeroplane" or lately "I kissed a girl" in eighty years the way I believe they will still sing songs such as "Yesterday" and "Blowing in the Wind?"

What is there on the radio right now that will stand the test of time?

Still, there are hundreds of great musicians out there right now, as Victorian Squid noted. Most people just either never heard them or heard of them.

Between sites like CD Baby and local live venues you can find them.

Jiff, we're in a bubblegum period right now. It's happened before and it's happening again. The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus could sell out a month of shows between them at any arena of your choice at this, the apex of their popularity.

With the decline of arena "rockers," we probably know how the big band generation felt when their genre disappeared from the main stage.

John wrote:

Everyone has their time, their peak, their decade.... Every generation's music is the best, go ahead and ask them.

Yes, but some individuals are the best of several generations. In two hundred years, people who listen to classical music will still be listening to the songs of William Byrd, Franz Schubert, George Gershwin and Paul McCartney.

I hope there's someone out there right now scribbling in obscurity that will emerge and join the pantheon. Gotta keep your ears open, keep listening...

What's the eproblem?
Nobody retires. They may stop creating new music, but as long as baby boomers are foolish enough to overpay for has beens, "classic rock" will never die..

Oh boy, the CT "modern rock" station pretty much plays stuff as new as MID 90s. Yeah!

For Christ Sakes! people, listen to some college radio...

While I really like the bands mentioned in the article, I have to disagree with the author.

I have seen some great oldies in the last few years: The Who (In bridgeport, 4 rows back purchased the day of the show!!!), Simon and Garfunkel, REM (oldie!!?? They've been around for 25 yrs!!) and the grand daddy of 70s rock Van Halen, complete with shirtless Diamond David Lee Roth.

But I've also seen some really great younger acts. John Mayer, Dave Matthews are both great musicians.

A real boon for many of us as we get older is the creation of Arenas at Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun.

Wow, concertgoing has never been so civilized. Easy parking (valet if you wish), a nice meal, then a concert in a small, clean place.

Contrast that with a show at the meadows. Filth, risk, a 1 mile hike back to your car in the mud.

Yep, the casinos are single handedly keeping the rock concert alive in CT.

Don

Most of the acts listed in this article haven't put out anything good in years. Springsteen's last album was as good as anything he has ever done, though the impact is much less on me at 48 years old than say Born to Run was on me at 15 years old). Bob Seger's last album wasn't bad. If I wouldn't play anything the band had made in say the last 10 years why would I want to see them in concert. Various posts have mentioned the Shins, Arcade Fire, how about Radiohead, Coldplay, Ryan Adams.... There are a lot of current bands that deserve more respect for what they are currently doing than the oldies in this article.

Charlie Daniels, in a field, somewhere in rural CT, on warm summer evening, bring your own blanket for sitting...I'd still take a little dirt between the toes getting to it any day. Nickelback should think about doing a few like that....

As a Lou Reed, John Fogerty and Grateful Dead fan, I know what you mean. I'm just sorry I didn't go to more concerts -when they (and I) were younger - and when the admission fee was 10.00 - not 100.00

Ms Demaio I respectfully disagree.. I am over 50 and loved the bands that I grew up, with but I have been turned onto some pretty amazing talent out there today because I have a 16 year old daughter who regularly shares and discusses today's music with me. bands like Green Day - Simple Plan - Paramore - Medina Lake - 30 Seconds To Mars and others are just as entertaining and have much to offer. There are also some incredible local bands here in CT like Self made Soul from New Guilford that bear some attention.
I agree with a poster above. get out of your time warp and hear what is out there.
I still enjoy Don McClean.. but there IS a huge world out beyond that backyard.