Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I'm A Believer (Kinda)

So last night I went to the Neil Diamond concert. "Well, Lindsay!" you must be saying right now, "I had no idea that you were a Neil Diamond fan!" That would be because, to be truthful, I am not a Neil Diamond fan. But Dearest's mom is, and we got tickets for us all to go. So there we were. I have to admit, the show was entertaining. It was in a giant arena, and we were on the floor, and when we got there I was starting to feel a little stressy: what if I have to pee 45 times? what if things get rowdy? what if everyone is standing up all night and I'm too tired? So you can see that I was really not at all familiar with the core of Neil's audience, most of whom are 60-70 years old. Things did not get rowdy. It was a sitting down concert. There was a band and an impressive lighting and audio rig, and little hot cocktail waitresses bringing drinks to those of us on the floor, whom I tried not to hate.  

I DID know that Neil was older, I knew that his first albums were in fact RECORDS, and that he has a song "HeartLight" that is about E.T. (yes it is!) which came out when I was about 4. At some point during dinner I made a comment about him being like 90 years old, in response to which my mom-in-law (who, mind you, is, not unlike Mary Poppins, Practically Perfect in Every Way) helpfully pointed out that he is the exact same age that she is. Oh. Oops.  And I did know "Sweet Caroline" and also "America," but that was about all the background knowledge I went in with. 

At first, I felt very old, going to see Neil Diamond. Well, he is like 90. Then we got there, and I felt very YOUNG seeing Neil Diamond, because looking around, we were really on the whipper-snapper side of the demographic. Then I started snickering, thinking about how my mom-in-law had seen him many times throughout the years and thinking about Dearest and I, like 65 years old, at an Incubus or Blink 182 concert. "Oh, we've see 'em 11 times! We were just kids the first time they came through Orlando! We love their greatest-hits album!" and they will come out on stage, all old, and everyone will comment that they look pretty good (like they did with Neil) and we will sit down the whole time and watch them and be taken back to our youth.

It was also funny to think that the twins just grew ear drums last week, so this was, technically, their first concert going experience. Wish I could feel them move so I could tell you if they enjoyed it or not. 

One of my favorite movies, What About Bob, has a great line: "There are two types of people in this world: those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't." As with all things, I kind of fall into the grey area in between. I don't dislike him, for sure. He seemed likeable enough. I did enjoy going to the show, and having the ENERGY to go to the show, but as for ol' Neil-y? Not sure if I'm A Believer.

2 comments:

genevieve said...

This totally reminded me of working the Art Garfunkel concert at Jesse, or Peter Paul & Mary (even though that one was PURE AWESOME). Quite a marked difference from working the Mraz or G-Love shows there.

Neil and I went to Poison this summer, and it was astounding...50-year-olds in fishnets, teetering on their kitten heels? Check. "Sexy" pigtails on grown women? Oh yes.

I worry about the NKOTB concert that's my post-bachelorette, in November. Will I be one of those people others talk of with derision? I fear it, Lindsay.

Word verification today: "ationia." Sounds like...a name some other culture might make up for their new baby girl.

LilBear said...

Ationia- I like it. Catchy. (Pronounced At-I-On-Ya?) Kind of makes me think of the name Analiese which I thought was a cute name until Dearest pointed out that it looks like Anal-Ease to him, and damned if he was going to name his daughter anything with the word Anal in it.

Oh, I can't wait to hear about the NKOTB concert experience. It could be really fun or really... sad. Are you going to dress 80s? Will a crimper be in order?

Now I am going to have Peter Paul and Mary in my head all night! "If I had a hammer..."