Aside from the fact that I like Coldplay, have an unnatural love for cheesy romantic comedies, and once made a spinach dip in a loaf of sour dough bread...
I went to see Justin Timberlake in concert last night at Madison Square Garden.
And I liked it.
Seriously.
He fucking rocked.
I know that somewhere up there in dead rock-star heaven, my homies Tupac, Biggie, Sid Vicious, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Keith Moon, and Joe Strummer are looking down at me and shaking their heads in disgust. What can I say, fellas? I'm sorry. My beautiful wife and The Doctor made me do it!
Man, fatherhood really has made me soft.
Quick observations...
(1) By a healthy margin, we were the oldest people at the concert (not including those who came with their kids.) In fact, the crowd was made up almost entirely of teenage girls. Have you ever heard 20,000 screaming teenage girls? It's like the piercing cry of the Valkyries on their way to Valhalla.
(2) I'm no prude so I refuse to excoriate young people for adhering to the "less is more" philosophy of fashion that seems to be in vogue today. However, at the current rate, it seems like a pretty safe bet that in 20 years, women will be going to concerts wearing only eyeliner and some dental floss.
(3) The face value of the tickets was $145.00. What the fuck? Now, I'm not going to invoke my father who can't even eat a cheeseburger without commenting on what it cost him to eat one back in 1952 but it doesn't seem like that long ago when I could buy Grateful Dead tickets for $10 and a dime bag of Humboldt County's finest.
(4) Every once in awhile, I'll go to Wolfgang's Vault and drool over some of their rock memorabilia (like this $2,000 Led Zeppelin jacket from 1977.) My favorite things to check out are all their old-school vintage concert t-shirts. Like an idiot, I threw most of mine away years ago. But recently, BossLady and I have started this new thing. Whenever we go to concerts now, we get a t-shirt for the Peanut that we vacuum seal so that in 20 years, she'll be able to glam out with brand-new vintage concert shirts. Cool idea, no?
Now, in 20 years, Justin Timberlake will either be a global megastar who has redefined modern pop.
Or he'll be the next Corey Hart.
Either way, I have this vision of an older Peanut looking at me with teenage contempt while saying, "You went to see Justin Timberlake in concert when you were 38 years old? You are so gay!"
