New Jersey: Summer Concert Mecca?
If there are rules to blogging on concerts and music, the first should be don’t procrastinate on entries. There’s a really good reason for this: you tend to forget the set list if you don’t write your entry shortly after seeing the show.
Case in point: my summer concert forays. Since June 21, the “official” start of summer, I hit the Dropkick Murphys’ summer tour–admittedly, this was out in, as bassist Ken Casey said “Outside Pittsburgh or wherever the (expletive deleted) we are”, but I haven’t missed a summer tour since 2007–The Offspring at Roseland Ballroom July 8, Warped Tour July 19, and Mighty Mighty Bosstones Aug. 16. While I tried to get to the Bouncing Souls’ Aug. 22 show, 95 flooded, and I couldn’t get to Philly. I’m pretty disappointed about that one, since I haven’t seen the Souls in ages, and since it was my friend’s bachelor party. Sorry I missed the fun Rob!
I’m pretty happy to say the shows were mostly awesome, even if I procrastinated myself out of remembering the set lists. The incredibly minor cons included missing the opening bands for the Offspring, the lack of a decent pit at the same show, and missing the start of Warped because I overslept and then couldn’t find parking at the venue.
And, after hitting those shows and spending a few days in Boston over the summer, I’m pretty convinced that New Jersey is the Summer Concert Mecca. While perusing LiveNation and Ticketmaster for Boston shows prior to my trip, I was bummed for two reasons: (1) There were only a few shows in the Boston area during the time I visited, and (2)Of the shows, none particularly interested me.
Despite the traffic (Turnpike, I am looking at YOU), tourists at the beach, taxes, and high rent, New Jersey is utterly amazing for concerts. Look at any venue’s concert list, and you’ll find a show for every weekend in the summer. If you opt for the less-mainstream approach, you can find decent music at many bars throughout the state–there are constant chances for decent entertainment.
While I know this is a Central Jersey blog, I have to mention the proximity to New York and Philly and how easy it is to attend a show there–barring torrential downpours and your route flooding.
And the entertainment doesn’t taper off at the end of summer either. Look at the show lists for Stone Pony, House of Blues, Starland Ballroom–it’s (almost) all concerts, all the time. If you search Ticketmaster or LiveNation for Philly and New York, it’s even more to choose from.
Now if I could just get around that pesky money thing, and trying to have more of it, I’d be set!
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
