Opera or Audioslave

On Wednesday eve, we double dated with the Big Guy's folks to see Verdi's MacBeth. On Friday, we took our kids to an Audioslave concert.

Common denominator: Having a panic disorder, any large event involving the preparation to get there, the getting there, and the crowds, causes me shortness of breath and chest pains with a strong desire to run screaming. Have I mentioned the panic disorder?

Difference: MacBeth is a heavy story. Scant comic relief, you know? Audioslave is heavy. Fun heavy. Raise your fist and yell heavy.
MacBeth leaves you thinking WHOA. Audioslave leaves you feeling YEAH!

The opera really was top notch. Even someone as uncultured as me can appreciate it. The set was stark with only grey and red, kind of like a White Stripes show only much less fun. I have no idea if the singing was good. Our men liked the male lead but not the female lead. I thought it was appropriate since Lady MacBeth is a conniving manipulator who convinces her man to commit serial murders in order to be the king, that she should sound like a crow instead of an angel.

Anyways at intermission I had to run up and down the stairs at the Hummingbird centre like a ten year old because the panic was pressing on me. I actually don't get opera. I never know when to clap. But the set was hardcore and the lighting really amazing. On the way home Jethro and I listened to Blood Sugar Sex Magic really really loud and then I felt a little better.

The Audioslave concert was different. Of course my chest hurt so bad on the way down the 401 that I was pinching my neck just to get a different kind of pain to focus on. Once we got there I begged Jethro to do the merch booth first, not wait til intermission because I can't be out there with all those people and not after the show because what if they sell out and the kids will be so disappointed and listen to me I'm telling you just do it my way and make me happy okay please just do it this way and shut me up this is serious. So the kids got their hats and I started to calm down.

As an aside, 30 Seconds to Mars were super lame. The band sucked and the frontman was rude. I told the kids, he can't help it, he's an actor, he's not a real rock star. He cussed so much, the kids were bored of it. We discussed how swearing to be cool just comes off as desperate. See, life is a learning opportunity. Seether were pretty okay. They didn't suck. Not great but tolerable.

Once Audioslave came on it was clear that this was a rock concert. They don't look like rock stars. Morello wears white pants and a golf shirt. Cornell in all grey. But they are rock stars, they are excellent musicians and seasoned entertainers. Wow. That Commerford/Wilk rhythm section is amazing. Imagine what it's like for a songwriter to have 10,000 people singing your song back at you. Cornell didn't even sing the first chorus of Like a Stone; we did. We danced, we threw the horns, shook a fist, clapped along, screamed, laughed, and sang at the top of our lungs. There was a moment where Jethro and I kinda grimaced at each other; that was during the second last song of the night, Killing in the Name Of, which our kids don't actually know. I haven't played it for them because of all the cussin. Girl had run out of steam by then, but Boy was standing there rocking out, shaking his little nine year old fist, getting right into it. Then we laughed. He didn't hear a word of it, not even when his mother was standing there, f*** you I won't do what ya told me! They closed with Cochise which was our Boy's song at the recital last year and the Girl woke up for it. We left the ACC feeling lifted, well worked over and happy. I was sweaty and had no chest pain. Got that? A little rock therapy makes the drive down there worth it.

So basically, both evenings out were entertaining. I wouldn't take the kids to the opera because it's not fair to ask the kids to sit still and quiet for 3 hours, (that's longer than church) and I don't think a story about premeditated murder is appropriate. Plus the whole set was covered in fake blood by the end. Cool but scary. So we plugged their little ears, and Jethro's precious ears, and rocked ourselves out to one of our favourite current bands.

And that night we did not listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers on the way home.