Old Fart Gigs?

I wasn't planning on saying much about the Gary Louris/Mark Olson concert that I attended last weekend (which was excellent, by the way). First of all, I wrote a review of the album. Second, while the music was great, it wasn't what I'd call an exciting concert worthy of a blog post. Let's just say it wasn't the same experience as attending a Flaming Lips concert. I really didn't think people would want to hear that much about it.

Well, I wasn't going to mention it again, until I came across a quote by Chris Riemenschneider, music columnist for the StarTribune, in one of his recent columns. Riemenschneider wrote a story about how the economy (it's poor, in case you haven't heard) was affecting concert ticket sales in the Twin Cities. Here is the aforementioned quote:

"The venues that host touring acts are generally finding it harder to sell advance tickets, but crowds often still show up in the end -- especially for shows with college-age fans.

Old-fart gigs are still packing them in, if they're beloved acts at a reasonable price. Proof was in last weekend's sold-out shows by the Pretenders and Gary Louris and Mark Olson, both of which were worth the $22-$35 ticket prices."

Wait a minute - OLD FART GIGS? Is he referring to the gig that I attended and thought I was hip? What the hell does that punk Riemenschneider mean by that? Is this what it has come to? Wasn't I (we) the one who drank a thousand beers and went to countless Soul Asylum gigs? Remember Jase? The Replacements, Husker Du and The Suburbs? Why, that was only...........20-some years ago.

Now wait, I've seen some cool bands lately. A few years back, my neighbor and I saw Shane McGowan and the Popes at First Avenue. We we're hung over for a couple of days after that, though. Hey - we saw Wilco at Northrop. I took the next day off from THE CHECK so I wouldn't be tired - I'm no dummy! And, to top things off, CR, Dave M., and I recently attended the Hold Steady/Drive By Truckers show at First Avenue. We took the bus, man. (Can't be too careful, you know!)

This brings us to the supposed "Old Fart Concert" that Riemenschneider is referring to - Mark Olson and Gary Louris. These guys came from The Jayhawks, one of the coolest alt-country bands of all-time. My brother and sister in-law came into town for that show. We arranged for a baby-sitter for the kids, drove down to The Varsity in his mini-van, and stayed for the ENTIRE SHOW - both encores! One thing that kind of sucked was that all of the chairs and couches were taken by time we got there so we had to stand. Kind of hurt the lower back after awhile. It was cool, though, because the show was finished by 9:45, which allowed us to get home by 10:30 so the babysitter could go home.

So who's calling who an Old Fart?????

Peace,

Jeff