This past year has seen me at a (relative) bunch of concerts, thanks largely to Anna being a big fan of many of the bands from my youth.

In August we saw Primus play in a cool venue in Colorado Springs (the Ford Amphitheater). Not only was their show great, but the opening act was Fantastic Negrito, who is also amazing (and who signed a CD for me).

In December we saw two shows back-to-back at The Observatory in North Park. On the 29th we saw Social Distortion (for me the big draw was Mike Ness, who’s solo work was my constant companion through grad school, and it turns out who knows my sister in law). Like so many of these shows, it was a multigenerational thing, with old folks like me who were fans back in the day, but also kids and grandkids were at the show, which was amazing.

The following night we saw X, with John Doe, DJ Bonebreak, Exene Cervenka, and Billy Zoom. They are still amazing in person, and we ran into one of my friends & PhD Committee members, BT Werner, who actually went to my first X show back in the late 90s.

In March, for Anna’s birthday, we went to Austin to see the Violent Femmes play. We got front row seats and again, it was a fantastic show by artists I have loved since I was a kid. So cool to share that with Anna and Theresa.

More recently, we went to see Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson in concert. I have always wanted to see Dylan in person, and it has been >40 years since I saw Willie play, so it was nice to get the chance!

Not a bad run of concerts for an old guy!