…relieved, after Judas Priest unexpectedly canceled their Houston gig a couple days back.
I saw Priest in 1986(?) in Austin, and that concert got me to wear earplugs to concerts ever thereafter.
Let me tell you: I played in a loud rock band for ten years before that, and Judas Priest were LOUD. My ears rang for about four days after the show.
I am frankly amazed that these old farts can still play the shows they do, ditto the Rolling Stones etc. (but not the Eagles, who are pretty much just a mime gig nowadays, apparently).
More power to them, say I, although perhaps the last thing the Priest need is more power.
All that said, I myself have often said that I would (still) love to play in a band — just not a rock band; been there, done that, got the tinnitus. But put me in a quiet little dinner-dance restaurant, playing old 1940s and -50s standards and ballads, preferably in a trio (piano, bass, and Drummer Knob on drums) with a torch singer like Julie London or Diana Krall… I’d be the happiest septuagenarian in history.
I still miss playing in a band.
I play one of my guitars at least several times every week. Usually an unplugged acoustic but now and then a loud as hell electric through a big assed (165watt) Fender Amp Stage 112SE. I’ll stop the day I die.
“I still miss playing in a band.”
Indeed. And like you, I’ve got the tinnitus, and the wall of guitars and amps, to prove it. Ii don’t miss coming home at 4:00 am though, or loading out in the rain, or dealing with the drunks.
What I miss are those moments, when everything is right – the mix is dead on, the harmonies are just so, the 1/4 bend on the guitar is just enough off to get that wonderful bit of dissonance which then resolves itself so beautifully – those moments are magic. And as musicians we spend most of our time chasing those moments. And as in most things, the chase is the thing.
Right now I’m chasing – sorta – the perfect Les Paul. When – if – I find it, I won’t choose the guitar; it will choose me. When I finally pick it up – if – I’ll know. And it will probably not be what I expect. But, again, the chase is the thing.
I owned a used LP a long, long time ago (70’s) and in a moment of financial grief I had to let it go. I never got over it. Now, LP cost simply cannot be justified but my longing for one is vast. So, I am a woodworker, and I’m thinking about making one myself – just the way I’d have the custom shop build one for me if I could afford it. My target/template would be the Alex Lifeson signature model. Quilted maple, transparent rootbeer lacquer, black chrome hardware.
It’s bizarre that 2 of the three photos with the article are of Sabaton, without even mentioning the band.
I’m assuming the guys are opening for Priest, like they did in 2021, but you’d never know that from the Mail.
These days everything is DI’d and run through the front of house which they are standing behind, away from the rock banger you can’t probably talk onstage without shouting.
Agree on a good night when everyone in on form, nothing I know compares to playing live.
I miss it too.
Not my rig. If it doesn’t have tubes, it probably won’t get played. Marshall and Mesa.
You old rockers will live forever, because musicians never die, they just decompose.
Fred I take note of your wonderful comment. Let’s keep going with these and not take a rest.
Haven’t played in a band for s-o-o-o long. But still, after a 40-year career in the music biz, attending — at certain points — seven concerts a week, I started using plugs (albeit not religiously) sometime in the late ’80s. Still got the tinnitus. Not regretting it a bit.