One of the great bonds your Dad and I have always had between us is music. Grammy and I brought him to his first concert in 1989 to see Bon Jovi at Old Orchard Beach. They were one of the biggest rock bands of the Eighties. It was an outside summer concert; your Dad was 11 years old.
I brought him to a lot of concerts over the past 25 years and we still talk about new albums and favorite artists.
Rock music shifted from the “hair metal” era to “grunge” as your Dad entered high school. Nirvana led the way with their revolutionary “Nevermind” album which featured a song called “Smells like teen spirit.” Their lead singer of Nirvana was Kurt Cobain and the drummer was Dave Grohl.
The nineties were the last great decade of rock and roll, and between 1994 and 1999, we saw most of the greats, both grunge and classic rock.
Some of the musical artists we’ve seen together include Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Stone Temple Pilots, Live, REM, Candlebox, Sponge, Bush, Neil Young, the Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Matthews Band, Collective Soul, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Radiohead, the Black Keys, Nada Surf and Silversun Pickups.
The act we’ve seen the most is Pearl Jam – we both love that band and last saw them in November 2013. Pearl Jam was the second biggest grunge band after Nirvana. PJ’s lead singer is Eddie Vedder, one of my favorite rock voices of all time.
That’s why it was so special when your Dad asked me if I wanted to go see the Foo Fighters with him… and you! He remembers all the great concerts we’ve seen and wanted to introduce his son to the art form that has been our special bond. The founder of the Foo Fighters (and lead singer and main songwriter) is… Dave Grohl!
What a treat it was being together at your first rock concert… at the age of nine vs. 11 for your Dad. You beat him by two years – your Dad was so psyched to bring you.
Two other things made it memorable: the concert was at Fenway Park – on a warm July night. Hard to beat that location for your first concert – or any concert. The second cool fact was that Dave Grohl played the concert seated on a special “throne” because he had broken his leg. No one does that, they all cancel their tours, but not him, it was “the show must go on!”
It was fun watching you during the concert; it is a bit of a shock to the system. After the concert you commented on the number of “f-bombs” that had been thrown out (there were a lot, but as your Dad pointed out, nothing you hadn’t heard before at school) and how loud it was. As the days went by, you told all your friends about it and thought it was a very cool experience.
I’ll always treasure this photo of the three of us, taken minutes after arriving. There you are at the age of nine, your Dad at 37 and me at 61 years old. Three generations of rock and rollers. I hope we get to see a lot of other rock concerts together in the years ahead.
