I managed to see 4 different concerts last year, across 3 states. This is the story of those shows.

The first show was in Las Vegas back in March.  In conjunction with the IBM Think conference, the Barenaked Ladies were performing on the beach at Mandalay Bay.  IBM had hooked one of my co-workers up with a cabana for the show, due to her being a legitimate superfan of the band, which the rest of us got to crash.  The group cycled through their hits, including the theme song to The Big Bang Theory, which was a nice surprise. I don’t think you could ask for much more out of a free show attached to a tech conference.

The next night, there were two shows going on.  We had our choice of Train or The Chainsmokers, and I went with option 2.  The show was at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and it was not quite what I was expecting.  In my defense, I am an old and thus was not up to speed on the nature of the Chainsmokers, so I should have been more familiar with the type of music the band would be performing.  While the two guys I were with decided to bail after a half hour or so, I decided to stick it out and was genuinely entertained, if not in the manner I was expecting.  I can’t say it is something I would want to see again, but I’m glad I did so at least once.  And, hey, you can’t beat the price.

In August, Pearl Jam came to Wrigley Field for 2 shows and I attended the first one.  It’s been a long time since I considered myself a Pearl Jam fan, and the show, while entertaining, certainly dragged for long periods between songs that I knew.

Finally, in October, I traveled to Boston to, on top of Angelina related things, see Garbage at the House of Blues.  The 20 Years Paranoid tour, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of Version 2.0, had played in Chicago the week before, but I’ve already done that a time or 5.  With Game 1 of the World Series taking place across the street at Fenway Park, Garbage put on another fine show, ripping through the entirety of their second album, along with some covers and special treats.

And that does it.  Time will tell what 2019 has in store and I look forward to finding out.