tonight, we are young
Am I allowed to “review” a concert if I only watched one of two opening acts and not the headliner? Given that the motto here is “journal, not journalism,” I’m going to go ahead and do it. Cool? Cool.
Last Tuesday night, I journeyed to the ‘burbs to see Ryan Star, a longtime friend-of-a-friend and, in recent years, employer-of-a-friend. (I hope I got the preposition sequencing right.)
It was a night of screechy teenybopper immersion. Ryan was opening for Andy Grammer, who, it turns out, is a Disney Channel-approved teen heartthrob type, and playing after Action Item, who, it turns out, is a group of Disney Channel-approved teen heartthrob types. One member actually did look like a long-lost Jonas Brother.
While sitting there among people less than half my age (now there’s a depressing thought!), I started wondering how I missed out on this entire scene as a preteen. Of course, one big reason was that I was not allowed to go to concerts until I was 17.
But, really, were there music heartthrobs, in the grand Frank Sinatra tradition, when we were younger? I remem
ber that other girls in ballet class used to squeal when our teacher played New Kids On The Block songs during lessons. But we were only six or seven years old at the time — a little too late to the NKOTB party by the time we we reached our prime teenybopper years.
Late-90s/early 2000s boy bands? I remember a few girls in high school who were obsessed with *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, but most of us were past that by the time the boy bands were really gaining popularity.
In between, in 1996 (we’ll call this the Peak Teenybopper Year for my cohort), the Billboard Top 20 singles were from Los Del Rio, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, Celine Dion, Tony Rich Project, Mariah Carey (again), Tracy Chapman, Bone Thugs & Harmony, Donna Lewis, Toni Braxton, Keith Sweat, Quad City DJ’s, Everything But The Girl, Alanis Morrisette, Whitney Houston, Gin Blossoms, Brandy, 2Pac and Dr. Dre, Celine Dion (again), Eric Clapton, and LL Cool J and Boyz II Men (again). So says Wikipedia.
…
[pause for nostalgia]
….
Maybe the Hotties!! were more under the radar. Anyone who had a musician crush of note at the time, feel free to fill me in. (Of course, the Wallflowers finally hit it big shortly thereafter, but we’re talking Before Jakob Dylan’s Eyes Were On MTV And In People Magazine And I Would Never Be The Same.)
Anyway, Ryan Star. Always a pleasure to see. The first time I saw him live was in 2006 in Cambridge, Mass., at a venue that I’d thought was some sort of hip club ironically called Elk’s Lodge, until I got to the door and realized it was literally an Elk’s Lodge. He’s come a long way and no longer performs at venues with giant scary deer heads mounted on the walls.
I’m biased due to the friend/employer-of-a-friend connection, but the guy is one of those artists who give their all at every performance and try to forge genuine connections with the fans. It makes any show enjoyable (and seemed to pay off for him, given the swarm of fans at the merchandise table afterward). Plus, there’s a piano.
#mostdigressivereviewever
