For to review my attendance and experienceat

For to review my attendance and experienceat

For my first critical essay, I have chosen to review my attendance and experienceat a rock concert. On Thursday January 18, at the Scottenstein Center in Columbus, Iattended the concert of the controversial Kid Rock. Other performers at the showincluded rock bands Fuel and Buckcherry. Although there were only three bands thatpreformed that night, I found another source of entertainment within the crowd of people; the wild antics of the die hard fans.

In my essay I will try and attempt to describe asrealistically as possible, my experience.Prior to the concert I had been somewhat familiar with all three bands’ music. Iwas excited to attend the show, but I didn’t know what to expect.

I had always thoughtof Kid Rock(the headliner) to be a punk/hard rock band. I had only attended alternativeconcerts in my lifetime, so I had never had an experience like this. The other band,Buckcherry, was also a hard rock band. Fuel, on the other hand, was more of analternative style band. Their music was more my style than the other two. To begin the description of my experience, I arrived at the arena shortly before theopening band appeared.

At this time, there were not very many people in the audience. Actually, I was wondering where all of the people were at.I had purchased GeneralAdmission tickets, so my friends and I decided to grab a close spot near the stage. Wesettled on a spot roughly ten feet from center stage. We later found this choice to be amistake.

As I glanced around, I saw a large variation on audience members. I saweveryone from children, teenagers, college students, and middle aged adults(who mayhave been accompanying their children). I also noticed that no matter what their age was, all seemed very excited for the show. I felt likewise. After about a twenty minute wait,the first band took the stage. The first band was my favorite of the three, Fuel.

Fuel madea calm but cool appearance, and put on what I felt to be a great show. After they weredone, I thought that the eighteen dollars I spent to buy a ticket was already well worth it. Fuel has many songs on the radio, so the fans sang along and seemed to have a good time.

I also found myself getting extremely into their performance at times, and screaming outtheir lyrics in unison. After they exited the stage I heard a couple of nearby fans wishingthey had played longer. Overall, their performance was outstanding. As we waited for thenext band to take the stage, more people filtered into the arena. As more people arrived, Ifound the noise level to jump also. The space in front of the stage that I was occupying,seemed to get smaller and smaller as more people squeezed in. After another tedious wait,Buckcherry arrived.

Their entrance was a little bit louder and more fans seemed to getinto it this time. As they played, I realized their music to be very heavy and thrashing attimes. One song almost gave me a headache. On the up side, I enjoyed one of their songsa lot. It is called “All Lit Up”.

It gained great airplay on the radio a couple of years ago,and I actually have it in my collection at home. When Buckcherry performed this song Ifound myself jumping up and down along with the crowd. It is a real mover, and I relayenjoyed it. Buckcherry exited the stage after a mediocre performance. While we waitedonce more, loads of fans seemed to filter into the arena.

This time Everyone seemed tohead straight for our general location. I asked my friends if they felt crowded also, butthey replied that it was all part of the experience. So we stayed. Finally, the act all hadbeen waiting for, Kid Rock. Kid Rock and his crew entered the stage with an explosion. They were loud, outrageous, and out of control.

. Their performance took me by greatsurprise. I had not expected this much energy on he fans’ part. As Kid Rock started torock, the fans around me went wild. They jumped up and down , and all around Ian moshin front of the stage. I get helplessly bumped and flailed back and forth into a fewstrangers myself.

. This was all out of my control. I have to admit that I was veryuncomfortable a times, and I definitely came home with a few bruises. All part of theexperience right? Because of the fans’ wild behavior, I did not enjoy the show as much asI would have liked.

I actually missed part of it due to distraction. But in the end, KidRock turned out a great performance, and he sure did do one other thing; satisfy his fans.As far as interpreting songs. I have never really been good at his. I am just one tosit back ,a nd enjoy a song by the sound of it, not by its content. So I will try my best tointerpret these following songs.

I picked one song from each of the bands to dissect. Iwill first start with “Hemorrhage” by Fuel. This song seems to me to be a bout thedangers and hurt of love. The singer repeats a phrase over and over: leave love bleeding’in my hand, in my hands, love lie’s bleeding’. Either he is referring to the tortures andpain of love, or how he has the curse to destroy love everytime he gets a hold of it. Thissong is very dark, and sad.

The song conveys a sad, empty feeling with its lyrics. When Ilisten to it, I almost feel the pain and suffering that this person is going through.The next song is “All Lit Up” by Buckcherry. I have liked this song from the firsttime I heard it, however, I have never really listened to the words until now.

The song hasone plain and clear meaning; cocaine use. The lyrics of the song are about how the singerfeels and acts when he is”all lit up”. “all lit up” is a term for being high on cocaine.

Tosimply write a song about such a terrible thing, may symbolize the pain and depression inthe singer/songwriters life. This is defintely not a good thing to be singing about. Afterfinding out what the song means, I can’t decide whether I still like it or not.The last song I will interpret is Kid Rock’s “Only God Knows Why”. This song isabout Kid Rock’s life. It seems he is very unhappy and unsatisfied with his lifestyle(beinga rockstar) Some lyrics to back this are:”Outskirt stands and one night stands Still I can’tfind love” “It’s been so long since I’ve been home” “I’ve been sitting here trying to findmyself”.

It is very obvious between the tone of the song and the content of the lyrics, thatKid Rock is giving a cry for help. But to who? His fans, family or friends. This isuncertain. Maybe he just wants the world to know that fame and fortune come with Iheavy price. Once you become famous, you may never be able to lead a normal lifestyleOverall, I thought the event went very well. All three bands’ put out a greatperformance.

It seemed there was something there for everyone. Hard rock, punk rock ,and alternative rock. I personally enjoyed the show, and I know that my friends did. Itwas obvious that he fans were having a great time at the show, judging by their antics, so Iwould say that all went well. After being better familiarized with the bands’ music, Iwould have to say that I might even go see them perform again.

Everyone left me with agood impression, and I would say that I was satisfied. I think the most important thingthat came out of this event though, was the fact that I started to pay attention to littlethings like the fans’ behavior, the general style of the band, and most importantly, themeaning of the songs. From now on I am going to dig a litter deeper into the surface ofthe song to et something out of it..

I realized that songwriters do not write songs solely torelay a feeling, but to get a message across.Bibliography: