erroneous impressions

[zuzu]

I'm sure we have all been cajoled by friends, spouse, etc., into attending some event, place, etc., that we were unenthusiastic about. But, "No, it's great! You'll love it!" is the chorus we are met with until we agree to the plan. You can take this generally, but I am thinking specifically about a musical situation.

In about the late '90's, my wife (a bonified Southern Rocker) got tickets to see Charlie Daniels...on a date and time I would have to cut short a day's planned fishing outing to be there. Not a Charlie Daniels fan at the time and had never seen him, and my wife instantly caught my lack of enthusiasm simply from the look on my face and proceeded to easily guilt me into attending.

On the day of we drove to the theater, which did nothing to improve my mood, since we were going to a 1200 seat theater instead of an arena, where Charlie Daniels had been a mainstay in former times. My expectation was further lowered when we found we were not seeing the show in the 1200 seat theater, but in the banquet hall downstairs, with no seating, holding 600 or 700 people. By now I was convinced we were going to see a has-been trotting out a retread of his glory days.

Nothing could have been further from the truth! That band walked out and nailed me as if with a sledgehammer. The first song "The South's Gonna Do It Again" fired off like a blow torch and 20 seconds into it I'm thinking what a fool I was...I mean, the guy has been at or near the top of the industry for about 30 years at this point, I guess he knows how to put on a show. DUH!! Perhaps they weren't booking the big places like before but he obviously didn't care at all, he was there to do his thing and show you what he got. And what he got was one of the tightest rock bands I've ever seen. I was blown away and it's a very fond memory for me.

Any times you didn't really want to go but were very happy that you did?

[fitness1]

New Years Eve '91 - my girlfriend at the time wanted to see Michael Bolton at The Palace in Auburn Hills Michigan - which in itself was enough to make me hyperventilate - but I agreed and went.

Michael was better than expected - but the opening act, Francesca Beghe was shockingly good. I remember thinking and saying "Michael better find another opening act or up his game"

Still listen to her CD that was out at the time to this day

[fazool]

I was on an amazing business trip with my friend and employee (who is now a patent lawyer).

We were visiting Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Research Lab in Vermont (behind the scenes in a converted dairy farm - like Willie Wonka land).

While there we visited a now fabulously successful, then startup, microbrewery (before it was a country-wide fad).

My friend is a eclectic music snob who used to follow Phish around the country. He got us tickets downtown to a show I never heard of. Some Zydeco band was headlining. But the opener was Luther Guitar Junior Johnson - I never heard of any of these and had no interest.


I hate going to shows where I don't know the music. I didn't know a single song.


O

M

G

!

One of the best performances I have ever seen in my entire life and I got a CD of his right after that show. Wow!

The show was in a converted church which was a cool venue. He had the entire place ROCKIN all night long and he was the ultimate showman.

I remember he kept getting encores. I vividly remember seeing the Zydeco band *RAGING with fury* trying to get him to wrap up and get off stage so they could play. He looked at them (he was much senior to them) just waved them away and kept on playing. Classic.

I was blown away. Indescribable.

[SCVJ]

Twenty years ago i went to a Barry Manilow concert with a new girlfriend. One, I actually enjoyed it a lot. Highly successful artists don't get that way for nothing was my takeaway.

Two, I think there's truth to the following line from a favorite movie, Bull Durham : "Men will do anything if they think it's foreplay."

[jseth]

More than once, I have been pleasantly surprised (if not absolutely blown away!) by various musical encounters that I was either not inclined to like or flat-out didn't want to be there...

One of the most memorable was at The Olympic Auditorium in L.A., 1971... the third group to play was Quicksilver Messenger Service... the original 4 members, plus Dino Valente and Nicky Hopkins.

They just KILLED IT! An amazing show with pretty much everything I could hope for... When it ended and the stage hands started setting up for the next band, I looked at my buddy and said, "We might as well leave now and beat the crowd. There's no way that a 4 piece is going to hold up to what we just saw...".

He looked at me and smiled, saying "You've never seen Ten Years After before, have you?"

Alvin Lee and Company made me a believer that very night!!!

...and, they MORE than "hung in there" with the show that quicksilver put on!

[Rudy4]

I might be the only person in the world to go to an Eric Clapton concert to see the opening band.

Eric was totally lackluster and quite boring, but Ry Cooder and band put on a stellar performance.

[LAPlayer]

Originally Posted by SCVJ

Twenty years ago i went to a Barry Manilow concert with a new girlfriend. One, I actually enjoyed it a lot. Highly successful artists don't get that way for nothing was my takeaway...

Good takeaway. It's a lot like watching professional MLB or NFL, or ..... people are quick to discount the ability of someone while forgetting they are in the top 300-400 athletes, in that sport - on the planet.

[Nymuso]

A few years back my wife got us tickets for Joe Bonamassa for my birthday. I remember thinking when we went in, she's not gonna like him, she dislikes any thing loud and doesn't care for the Blues.

As we were filing out, before I could say anything she said, "I gotta see him again!"

[SCVJ]

Another surprise was when an out-of-town friend was visiting me in Denver. He had never been to Red Rocks, so we checked to see if a concert was happening. John Mellencamp was playing, and Mark wanted to see Red Rocks, even though neither of us were fans of JM.

Turned out to be a great show. And, of course, Red Rocks on a nice Colorado summer evening is a treat.

[frankmcr]

Personally,