Peep show, creep shop

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Meta_Kate and I saw Siouxsie last night. As we were getting ready and waiting to leave, we glanced at the tickets and noticed that the show is sponsored by KROQ (for those not in the SoCal area, this is the station that was playing “alternative” music throughout the 80's and in the early 90's before “alternative” was a specific label you could apply to things — it was just the alternative to the mainstream music. At some point, they sold out and started playing all the current generic “alternative” music). We were quite frightened there would be a bunch of teeny-bopper, wanna-be Marilyn Manson, spooky kid goths. We were also frightened there would be scary 40+ people that never left the goth phase. We had never been to the particular venue before (the Grove of Anaheim). We hopped on the KROQ website to see how much they hyped it. Not at all. We also looked at the radio station playlists (I have not listened to KROQ in a year, and have not listened to it religiously in a VERY long time). The only thing that seemed tolerable was a program on Saturdays from midnight to 3am (a semi-popular techno/industrial/remixing DJ dude has a show). We felt old. We are no longer the target audience.

Siouxsie (and the Banshees) were great–they were all just comfortably doing their thing on stage. They were not trying to “act cool” or be freaky or pretentious or whatever. They were just being themselves. They rocked! I feel a little bad because I only knew a few songs and had a hard time recognizing a couple of others because the orchestration was completely different from the version on the various CDs.

The venue, on the other hand, really sort of sucked. It *looked* really good, and I think had a recent refurbishment. There was a really big smoking area out front and a decent size lobby, but the theater itself was pretty crappy. The sound system was all off, so everything ended up sounding pretty horrible. It was a big place, but entirely standing room. Usually mid-to-large size venues have a standing area in the front (“Mosh Pit,” depending on what kind of band is playing) with seats further back. No seats here, all standing. In retrospect, it might have made a decent club, if you add a few more tables (they had a couple of tall tables that looked like they deserved stools, but no stools) and stools.

The people were a mix. Not too many spooky kids. Not to many aging goth hipsters. We did feel a little underdressed, though. Very intentionally, we decided to go casual (which for us is vaguely goth, considering we both wear big scary boots and all black). We thought we might be middle-of-the-road–not too much dressed, and not too casual, but we did feel pretty underdressed.

Oh well. In the area we ended up standing, there was some guy off to the left. I am not sure what concert he was attending, but it certainly was not Siouxsie and the Banshees. He had his own little mosh pit of one, and spent quite a lot of time getting knocked down and getting up again to mosh with himself. At one point, he fell on my boot and got right back up. I have a hard time believing he did not harm himself on the many buckles and metal bits on the boot, but he certainly did not seem to feel it.

That's about it. Concert was good–not the best, but still pretty darn good. That, and it felt good to get out of the house and do something.

Posted in: Dear Diary Music

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