My Maiden Voyage

If I could do it all over again, I would’ve been a musician.

Perhaps a struggling musician, perhaps a world famous musician, but I would’ve been a musician.

I love music, all kinds of music.

If you check out my collection of CDs, you will see everything from Billie Holiday to Eminem, Bryan Adams to Ryan Adams.

I also LOVE going to concerts.  

Something about it being live and unpredictable.

In my 43 years, I have been incredibly fortunate to see nearly every band I wanted to see.

Even acts I don’t know much about.

As a 16-year old, my friend Phil and I paid $5 each to sit at the top of the Hollywood Bowl to see B.B. King and Ray Charles.

Have you ever been to the top of the Hollywood Bowl?

No wonder those seats were $5.

But hey, we can tell our grandkids we saw B.B. King and Ray Charles in concert.

We couldn’t hear ‘em, but we saw them.   Barely.

A couple of years ago I took my wife to go see Metallica, a great concert band.

My wife is not much of a music person, although she claims to be a Barry Manilow fanatic, but lets just say Metallica wasn’t her thing.

To the point where she fell asleep at the show.  Literally.

I didn’t know it was humanly possible to fall asleep at a Metallica concert, but it did make for a funny moment when two kids in front of us turned around and said, “she is so wasted."

One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t have the foresight to keep the ticket stubs from every show I have attended.

By the time I figured out what a great collection that would make, I had already attended at least 200 shows and it was too late.

Well tonight I returned to the concert world, erasing another name off my musical bucket list, Iron Maiden.

Say what you will about heavy metal -- and yes, I am a true fan -- but when it comes to the genre, there are not too many bands more successful than Maiden.

They have sold more than 80 million records and are still going strong.

If you don’t believe me, maybe you’ll believe the other 12,000 folks who attended the show on a Monday night.

The people sitting in front of us drove more than 500 miles to attend the show.

Unlike those people and most of the others, I somehow fought the urge to fork over $40+ for a t-shirt.

And what’s a concert with a drink.   

The beers ranged from $8.50 to $13 each or if you prefer a bottle of water, just hand over a five-spot.

Don’t worry, they’ll give you 50 cents back, along with your water.

While I would consider myself a fan of Iron Maiden, I wouldn’t say I’m a know-every-song kinda fan.

But considering our seats were ninth row in the center, I would’ve been happy to see Iron Maiden or even Iron Butterfly.

I attended the show with the drummer and guitar player from my own band, The Clearance Rack.  

(If you’ve missed a couple of my blogs, I am the lead singer.)

Tonight’s show really had it all.   A very cool stage, a crowd that was definitely into it and an energetic band that knows how to entertain, especially for a bunch of 50-somethings.

But the part I think I enjoyed the most was the people watching.

I would say it was about 98% male and two female.  Not two percent, but two females.

There was no shortage of hair, although I have a feeling much of it has been transfered from the top of the head to the chin and back since the first time they saw Maiden in concert.

With all the head banging tonight, there is no doubt there will be some sore necks in the morning.

But I didn't hear anybody complaining.

Then again, I couldn't hear anything at all.