My dad went with me and a friend to our first big arena concert when we were 14. Journey, the Escape Tour. It was November 7th, 1981. Loverboy opened up. My memories of that night are fuzzy. I have a tendency to zone out at concerts probably because of the constant noise level being a little more than my brain can handle. Or possibly from the smoke from the funny cigarettes. But I know it was an exciting head rush to feel the energy of a big live show. The thing I remember most is my dad swearing to NEVER do that again. Until one of us could drive he would drop us off and pick us up. My parents idea of loud fast rock music was the Little River Band.
So about a month ago, I woke up to the fact that Rush was coming to Dallas. And that it would more than likely be for the last time. Our little drummer boy has been really improving with his current teacher. He practices every day for at least 30-45 minutes. He loves and listens to all kinds of music and we just recently introduced both boys to Rush when we bought their greatest hits CD. So Jav and I started pondering whether or not Gabriel should go see the greatest living rock drummer live and in person. At the ripe old age of 8 could he handle it or would it just be too much for him? It seemed to us like a great moment that he might go back to for the rest of his life, the memory possibly inspiring him to create his own great music.
So we laid down some ground rules before we asked him whether or not he wanted to go: he had to use part of his 1st communion money to help pay for the ticket, he had to wear earplugs to protect his young eardrums, and no matter how late they got home he had to go to school the next day. When we asked him what he thought he yelled "YES!" They headed to the American Airlines Center last Monday night, 5/18/15. Jav was surprised how many parents with kids were there. Mostly high school age but a few that were younger. Jav got him a t-shirt and in the pic he sent Gabriel looked ready to rock. The guys sitting next to them thought it was pretty cool such a young kid was there, and kept loaning him their binoculars to watch Neil Peart's solos. The band had produced these really funny cartoons for the intermission and to play during a couple of songs. And those three guys, who have produced so much incredible music for 40 years, completely rocked!
When Gabriel told me about it the next morning his face just lit up when he told me about the drum solos. Yes, I thought to myself, this was what I was hoping for. He made it through the school day just fine which impressed me beyond belief. He wore his shirt today while we were out and about and someone asked him if he'd gone to the show. He smiled really big and said, "yes," his eyes twinkling. Yes indeed. And I think his dad (and maybe his mom) will be taking him to many, many more.
