The boy and I attempted to scalp tickets to see Ladytron. But at $60 bucks a pop, we decided we’d just walk around and see if anyone else had tickets available. It turned out they didn’t, but the experience of doing that was far greater than it would have been had we just gone in to see them perform.
The reason for this? Well, the boy is a rather determined one. When he likes a band, he loves the band. We waited around the back of the venue where we saw Ladytron’s tour bus (a similar setup to the Blonde Redhead concert we went to; they, too, had a tour bus around back), along with two of the members up on a fire exit platform being interviewed, a camera panning the sidestreet where the last of the line was wrapped around the building.
The boy stared lovingly up at them and we hung about, waiting for a closer glimpse, maybe even a handshake. Eventually, we saw two of depart in the direction of a restaurant. We waited outside at a nearby bar, the boy smoking cigarettes so it didn’t look like we were loitering.
And then, we were rewarded. We saw two of the members emerge, and we approached. When we got there it was a little embarassing; they must get fans following them all the time. In any case, I soon spoke up and asked if they were with Ladytron. Confirmative! The boy was then very expressive, and we were told they didn’t have any room on the guest list otherwise they’d make some for us, and then they shook hands with him (I’m not one for touching band members!). We said goodbye, and watched them walk off to their venue.
The boy pointed out on the way home that the great thing about slightly less popular, more indie bands, is that you can just walk up to them and meet them; they’re far more accessible to their fans.
A much more satisfying experience, I think, than spending $60 each on getting in, enduring a few hours of loud music (most of which was probably not played by Ladytron but their opening bands), and then probably not getting to meet them afterwards.
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