Apparently Cream has been out on tour. Tickets for their shows at Madison Square Garden were selling for as much as $4000, which is about 100 times the amount I'd pay to see these old guys in person. I understand the hook: Clapton, Baker, and Bruce haven't played together in public in 37 years, but still, even $200 for a nosebleed seat is too much to pay. The review in today's Washington Post makes it sound like it was a great concert, but I like the photo that comes with the story. Talk about seeing three grandpas up on stage. I had the same thought while watching Pink Floyd playing at Live 8 this past summer. I love these bands and others like The Who and the Rolling Stones, but they're really getting up there in years. Even if they can still bring it, eventually it's like you're watching the talent show at the retirement home.
Unfortunately, my lack of interest in seeing old guys playing thirty-year-old songs in concert means there are only a few bands I'd be willing to pay to see in concert, and most of those (U2, Coldplay, Dream Theater) have come through New York in recent years and I've stayed home. Part of the problem is that the tickets for all of these shows are still outrageously overpriced. But I also think I'm getting older, and I'd rather shell out for the opera or the NY Philharmonic and hear REALLY old music live than hang out with the kids at an arena rock concert. Or go to a small club or bar and hear a local group like the Wiyos. And that depresses me a little. Maybe I need to go to another rock concert just to refresh my memory of how it feels to hear one of my favorite bands play an old gem live for thousands of screaming fans. Before I become an old geezer reminiscing about "the old days."
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