After my breakup at the end of March, I was set with a new wealth of freedom. I'd gone from being a family guy in a long term relationship and stepfather role, to essentially having no one to be responsible for at home beyond myself. It was strange, but excellent at the same time. One of the things I promised myself with my newfound freedom, was that I'd make up for lost time by seeing a rock concert every month, seeing as how it'd been a few years since my last one.
The first concert was at the end of May. I'd always wanted to see the alt rock band Weezer. This band is geek rock at it's finest. They were playing down in Connecticut at Mohegan Sun. I have an old friend that lives nearby there, and the night of the concert happened to be her birthday, so along with a couple friends of hers, we made it a fun birthday night out for her. A good time had by all, and the band was awesome!
A couple weeks later in June, I saw Cake in Essex Junction, Vermont. It was another fun concert, with a strange family fair type atmosphere. I was there with three other couples, all friends of mine. It was kind of odd for me being the seventh wheel and all, but I stil had fun.
In July I visited my friend Jen in Nashua. Jen and I have the same last name, but not related, and since she was a couple years older than me, we always joked that she was my "big sister". On a whim we drove to Boston and happened to catch Tenacious D. Awesome comedic rock band! Headed by Jack Black and Kyle Gass, the band tends to mix 70's/80's hard rock with mystical midevil comedy. Thoroughly rocked!
In August I went to my first hometown of Bangor, Maine; visiting my friend Emily and her family. Emily, her friend Janine and I saw Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Cracker, Blues Traveler and the Barenaked Ladies. Excellent show! It was also nice to visit the town where I was born. I hadnt been back there since I was 15, a shame espcially considering my friend Emily had settled near there with her husband and kids so many years ago. Better late than never. I even stopped by my old home. That particular trip was also my longest motorcycle adventure of the summer.
Last, but certainly not least, was seeing one of my best friend's punk rock bands in Chicago in November. My good friend Jeremy works as a cop in Chicago, but also fronts a couple different punk rock bands as the lead singer. He'd been bugging me to visit him again (been 5 years), and I told him I'd do it, if he could give me a set day when his band the Modern Day Rippers would be performing. A date was sent to me, and i made the plans. Spent 5 days in Chicago. When I got to see my friend's band perform with a few others, it was apparent at that venue that the people were there to see the Modern Day Rippers. Awesome time.
I really think I made up for lost time with all the good shows I saw this past year. Next year I plan to see a couple shows, but not nearly as many as this year. I think I'll always remember 2012 for the good music...
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