The concert experience

I took my entire family to the Big & Rich - Gretchen Wilson concert the other night - my wife, my 10-year-old son, my 2-teenage daughters and another teenage girl (cuz you can never have too much gossip and giggling.)

It was a controversial decision. A lot of my co-workers seemed to think that Big & Rich are evil folks out to ruin country music, and there would probably be animal sacrifices or some such at the show.

But I took everybody because there is a wide variety of musical tastes in my minivan, everything from Hillary Duff to Linkin Park, and "Horse of a Different Color" is only the second CD that everyone in the family likes. (The first, by the way, was "Employee of the Month" from the Austin Lounge Lizards. Yes, I do have an odd family - but there is something quite heartwarming about riding around with all my loved ones singing "Kick My Ass.")

It was the first concert for my son, and he asked me several times why it had to be so loud, and I couldn't answer him - mainly because my hearing's been spotty ever since I sat too close to the speakers at a 1979 Styx concert, but also because I don't know. Why do concerts have to be painfully loud?

I have a couple questions myself. Why do people stand up during the entire concert nowadays? I paid 29.50 (plus a very inconvenient $7 convenience fee) for my seat and if I had ever actually sat in it I wouldn't have been able to see anything but the cowboy in front of me's denim-clad butt.

And the concessions? My God, I expect to pay more than at the grocery store or even the movie theater, but this was ridiculous. I would have gotten a beer to enjoy, but I didn't want to wait back for an answer from the Credit Union. (The ATM machine had melted down when some guy tried to withdraw enough money to buy 2 pretzels AND a medium Pepsi.)

But music is what concerts are all about, and we have no complaints there. It was a great concert.

Even if there were no goat sacrifices.

The views in this column are those of Robert Loy and do not necessarily reflect those of CST.