Live Shows, I Dropped The Ball On This One

After my visit to Kansas City to see Bela Fleck a couple of weeks ago, I really started to think about how much I miss going to shows. (It was a great story. If you missed it check it out here.) I also thought about how it would be give me a good chance to share my experiences, pictures and all.

Bela Fleck and the African Project was a good chance to expand my musical horizons a little a bit, get a little cultured, and truly get a different perspective on music. (It's easy to get in a "rut" by always listening to the same music and not giving those other genres a chance.) Back in college and the couple years after I used to hit up a lot of shows, not only because I was in a band, but because it was so fun and intense to catch my favorite bands in a live show. I'd really like to get back in the habit of seeing shows consistently, and I can't help but want to hit up the hard rocking shows that I'm used to.

Though I really don't want to spend the money, I've been consistently searching for shows in the area so I can start to get my rock on once again. Being only about an hour away from KCMO, the odds of finding big shows is definitely up. Also, living in a great music town like Lawrence gives me the good chance to hit up local bands on a nightly basis. My search usually starts at Jambase.com, which is a great concert directory for any area you're looking to see a show.

A couple of weeks ago, even without the help of sites like Jambase.com, I learned about an amazing show put on 98.9 The Rock in Kansas City. It's an annaul festival called Rock Fest that we heard about last year but just missed as we moved out after it took place. I thought this was going to be the show to get me out of my drought.

The festival is ginormous. We're talking about close to 20 bands including Korn, Buckcherry, Shinedown, Theory of a Deadman, Saving Abel, Rev Theory and Drowning Pool. We're talking two stages set in the middle of Kansas City. We're talking all day, rockin' hard with 50,000 people around you. I've never even imagined being part of a crowd this big and a show this hardcore but this year was going to be the year. Pre-sale tickets were only $20 a piece, we'd snag them before they sold out, and we'd be heading to KCMO on May 30th.

Or so I thought.

When it came down to actually getting the tickets I kind of procrastinated. As excited as I was about the show, it was still hard justifying the $40, $40 that I really don't have. (Don't forget, jobless dude here.) So I waited. The first day of pre-sale passed, the second day passed, and by the third day the need to buy immediately passed my mind until about 20 minutes after it was too late.

The price more of less doubled (I definitely couldn't justify it then, not matter how bad I wanted to go) and as of right now, all 50,00 tickets are sold out. I totally dropped the ball on this one and I know I'm going to be kicking myself all summer. Maybe I got the punishment I deserved with this ridiculous sinus infection that's had me in bed for the past 3 days.

Needless to say I'm going to be getting right on the next tickets that I want to purchase if I want to get this live show trend on a roll. Either that or I'm getting started slowly by hitting up some local bands and testing the local scene's waters. I like supporting local artists because I know from experience how hard it is to get those people in front of you.

Eh, for now, back to bed. It's Sunday, and I'm alone all day. I'm feeling ok about that.