The anatomy of a nation - Part I

My 8 months in the US have been filled with traveling and people and comfort and loneliness and promises to go back home some day soon. I intend to experience as much of this crazy country as I can while I am here - an observer who outwardly laughs with the world at the many things so wrong about America but at the same time is impressed by the pervasiveness of their "Western" culture.

One of the things that my current situation as a moderately well-off 22-year old with no immediate family in America has given me is the money and the freedom to listen to all the bands I grew up idolising. Through these concerts I have seen slices of Americana which I wish to remember. Here goes.

The Eagles
Venue - Baltimore, MD

I spent my first 3 months in America figuring out how things worked. Once I found my feet (and a credit card), I set off on my concert spree. My roomie and I discovered that we shared a similar taste in music and we decided to catch the Eagles when they came to Baltimore (3 hours from our place).

From my second year at college, when I realised that there was music beyond Floyd, the Eagles have been a favourite. In India, rock is the music of my generation. Although I had been warned that things were very different in America, I still didn't expect to walk into a Southern American party 20 years too late. A quick look around confirmed that we were probably the ONLY non-white people at the concert and almost the only people younger than 25. Turns out that the average Joes in America today listen almost exclusively to hip-hop, R & B and rap. Snooty America listens to jazz and classical music. Rock is fading and fading fast.

Be that as it may, I had come here for some good music and I was treated to a feast. The Eagles performed all their greatest hits for 3 hours and 15 minutes straight. No mean achievement for any band, let alone one on the wrong side of 50.

The one thing I took away from this show was that the Eagles are distinctly likeable. They started by thanking the audience for being a part of "Farewell Tour - I", a self-deprecating take at the concept of multiple Farewell tours nowadays.

Apart from the music, they kept slipping some stand-up comedy into the performance. Joe Walsh modified the lyrics of "Life is Good" to include -

"I have a limo
Ride in the back
I watch the Lakers
They stink without Shaq"

Aaah, I wish Kobe hears that. :D

Music - 9/10
Overall Experience - 10/10

Mamma Mia
Venue - Richmond, VA

"Mamma Mia" is a Broadway musical which is currently touring the US. The entire plot of the musical is woven around 22 Abba hits!!! My dad loved Abba so I grew up a passive Abba listener.

The most interesting thing about the show is that it really is quite like a travelling circus. The cast and crew goes from city to city with all the paraphernalia and perform at different theatres. Each role has a main performer and an apprentice who steps in if the main performer can't perform for any reason. The performances and the music were incredible. The whole gang did this huge dance at the end of the show. They just seemed so happy and chilled out. :)

Most of the audience were dressed fancy - tuxedos and evening gowns. We were a bunch of 10 odd ex-IITians - synonymous for lack of dressing sense. Let me just say that we didn't quite fit in. :) The good bit about being an ex-IITian is that we also didn't really care.

Music - 8/10
Overall Experience - 8/10

Potter's Pub "Battle of the Bands"
Venue - Richmond, VA

One lazy Wednesday, me and my roomie wandered over to a local pub which has an annual "Battle of the Bands". It epitomised the state of rock in this country. There were more 40-something ex-rocker judges around than audience members.

One of the bands had TWO cute female guitarists - not something I have seen before. The music was above-average country rock, the atmosphere was chilled out, the beer was good. :)

Music - 6/10
Overall Experience - 7/10

Santana
Venue - Small town, MD

I walk into the concert stadium and something is different. I just can't put my finger on it. And then it hit me. There were women. Not the dressed-in-black, pierced-as-hell zombie types who frequent the concerts I normally go to, these were actual Latino babes. :)

The atmosphere was mind-blowing. Much younger than the Eagles concert and much, much more diverse. We had lawn tickets so we just lazed around with our beer as the opening band Los Lonely Boys played their music. Decent band, not my kinda music. When Santana, dressed as usual in his garish worst, got on stage the crowd exploded. These people worship him.

And when he got into the flow with the salsa beat, couples of all ages were salsaing all over the place. Far from the male, testosterone-driven rock concert atmospheres I was more used to, all I wanted that day was a cute chiquita to salsa with. Sigh!! :)

Music - 7.5/10
Overall Experience - 8/10

Deep Purple
Venue - Norfolk, VA

It was Austin Powers in reverse. From the moment we arrived it felt like we had gone back in time to the 70s. We get out of our car and the minivan next to us was purple and plastered with anti-war slogans and outrageous hippie colours and the owner had his/her name on the windscreen - Pearl. :) The crowd was mainly made of ex-hippies re-living their glory days with long hair and jazzy clothes.

The venue was an open-air arena on the seafront. We had great seats - some 40 feet from the performers, bang in the centre. The sea breeze and Deep Purple live right in front of you. :)

The atmosphere was very sentimental. The entire crowd sang along with a rendition of "Blowing in the wind". And when they performed a tribute to the people who died when the space shuttle Columbia crashed, you could see tears in so many eyes.

The only downer was that Purple only performed for about an hour and a half which put the Eagles marathon in perspective. The saving grace was that they had a great opening band which played for about an hour so that kinda made up for it. We hit a monster traffic jam (Norfolk is an island with only one bridge which connects it to the mainland) on the way back, so we got back home only around 3:30 a.m.

Music - 9/10
Overall Experience - 8.5/10

If music be the food of life.......... I sure am gorging. :)

In case you are wondering, the post is titled Part I because I have tickets booked for performances by Judas Priest, Dave Matthews Band, Mark Knopfler, Hootie and the Blowfish, Coldplay, U2, Megadeth and Dream Theatre. This is a summer I will never forget.