As the great poet David Lee Roth once said, “I live my life like there’s no tomorrow” and this week feels like it.
On Sunday night after watching the New York Jets sputter and lose to the Buffalo Bills on television, I attended Pete Townshend’s Classic Quadrophenia at the Metropolitan Opera. A British opera singer, Billy Idol, Pete Townshend, and a full orchestra performed the legendary double album in its entirety and it was pretty amazing. Those songs in that venue had the audience enthralled. The opera star, Alvie Boe, had a powerful voice as would be expected and the only time I personally missed Roger Daltrey was during “Love Reigb O’er Me” when you could see. hear, realize, and appreciate just how important Mr. Daltrey has been to Pete Townshend’s genius being realized in this, one of several Townshend masterworks.This was a different experience than any rock and roll show that you could attend and it was a fantastic concert experience.
Speaking of fantastic, Roger Waters at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn was a sonic and audio visual extravaganza with the obligatory floating pig in attendance during the second half of the show. Mr. Waters played songs from “Meddle”, “Dark Side of the Moon”, “Animals”, “Wish You Were Here”, “The Wall” with a nod to his solo work. Roger and the band sounded great giving spot on performances of the iconic Pink Flod catalogue and even after navigating through some pro-Israel protesters and enduring videos of Donald Trump’s head attached to pig bodies I was blown away by the show. Roger Waters “Us and Them” tour continues in the New York City area this week with Nassau Coliseum slated for Friday and Saturday.
Yesterday brought my son and I to the Sirius studios in Manhattan for a Town Hall event with Scorpions hosted by metal maven Eddie Trunk. The interview was short on audience questions but interesting nonetheless as Trunk managed to have the amiable, and clearly loving what they do, Scorpions give us a glimpse of into their fifty plus year history, struggles during the 1990’s and non stop worldwide touring schedule. Even more interesting than the interview though was the celebrity sights as Gene Simmons was spotted in the building lobby before the Town Hall, we walked into former Howard Stern radio foil Artie Lange waiting for the elevator as we exited, and Tom Morello was wandering the halls promoting his latest project, Prophets of Rage.
After the Town Hall my son and I headed to Shake Shack and while waiting to cross the street a naked man was seen sprinting down the middle of Broadway with a police van and NYPD’s finest in a variety of foot pursuits.
I left my son at Penn Station and was waiting outside Madison Square Garden to meet my daughter after work when Win Butler was seen hanging out and taking photos with a few surprised fans as he was heading in for the Arcade Fire concert last night. After the couple of photos were done he non chalently strolled in between the Long Island Railroad entrances by himself. He looked up at the MSG arena building for a minute then turned around and took a selfie with the Madison Square Garden sign above him. After he had his “Mary Tyler Moore Show” moment, he disappeared toward the tractor trailers and into the Garden.
My daughter and I never ended up going to the Arcade Fire concert as intended but since we saw the band in a warehouse in Brooklyn during the Reflector tour we figured that show could never be topped anyway. so we will catch them next time around.
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Rock on!
GQ