When I bought our tickets a few months ago for the Bridge School Concert this month, I should have noticed the signs. First, I just didn’t feel all that jazzed about the lineup. Yeah, maybe it was because I hardly knew any of the people (e.g. Elvis Costello, Cosby, Stills. Nash & Young, Jenny Lewis, Diana Krall, etc.). I know, maybe I should actually know these artists, but I don’t. Remember: my excuse for such cultural illiteracies is that my parents are immigrants. And yes, I know G, your parents are immigrants too, but you were also a music (/physics/bio…) major. 😛

Anyway, after my whole Ticketmaster debacle, I should have just gotten the refund and ended the transaction right there. Nope, this would continue to be a very painful process. The day before the concert, John called his sister to confirm our plans. She and her beau were supposed to join us. Well, she ended up getting stuck in Pennsylvania for work. Then, we scrambled around last minute trying to fill our two spots. In the end, John’s office friend A joined, and we sold the fourth ticket at the event. Fine. Then, we headed out to the amphitheater early, thinking we’ll try to get good lawn seats. Nope, the lawn was super packed by the time we arrived, so we were very far back. We had a jumbotron in our direct line of sight, but far away. Incidentally, the brand-new folding chairs we bought that morning from REI? They were supposed to kick our lawn seats up a notch. Well, they weren’t allowed. We had to check that shit at the gate. Seriously, it was one thing after another. Thankfully, we packed a shitload of snacks, and they sold wines by the bottle. Haha. But man, that music was so blah. I mean, yeah, sitting far away definitely killed the live music experience, but the other issue was the schedule/song lineup. There was just no energy. I dunno if people were tired or in a drugged out stupor already or what. Totally dead. We left early. Yeah, it was that disappointing. You KNOW how cheap I am. If I buy a 3-month Groupon for $25, I will use it the entire three months even if I HATE the workouts (e.g. kickboxing). But man, for Bridge this year, we just had to cut our losses. We jetted after Jack Johnson (Banana Pancakes was probably the most pumped up song of the night!). Man, what a disappointment. The first year John went, he saw DMB, Beck, Modest Mouse, Beck, Pearl Jam… Last year, we had Foster the People, Sarah McLachlan, Ray Montangue, Kd Lang, Eddie Vedder… This year? Total bust. John says we’ll just watch the webcast from home next year. Haha, honestly, I think this is just one other indication that we are turning into old geezers: we’d rather watch a concert on tv. So stinking geriatric and lame, but heck, I can’t even deny it.