Geriatric Rockers

Let’s talk about geriatric rockers.  And I don’t mean rocking chairs for old people.  I mean aging rock stars.

This week was the start of our geriatric rock concert tour.  Seems like this is the summer for octogenarian rock stars to take to the stage.  And we sixty-plus year olds happily gobble up the tickets and follow along. 

After all, we came of age, albeit a little behind our older boomer brethren, with the coming of age of rock and roll itself.  The ‘60’s brought us more than protests, turmoil, counter-culture, political unrest (hmm, what does this remind me of?!), but also bands like, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Grateful Dead, and the list goes on.

First up on our tour this past week was Roger Daltry, lead singer of The Who.

When Ernie asked me if I wanted to see Daltry at the Keswick in Glenside, I said, “You mean a Roger Daltry tribute band?”.

“Nope,” he said.  “Roger Daltry.  The actual Roger Daltry.”

“Get out,” I exclaimed!  “At the Keswick? Of course we have to go!”.  I mean, the chance to see one of the greats perform in a small venue the size of The Keswick, was a no-brainer.

Roger came out on stage looking classically cool  in his jeans and button down white shirt.  He still has a head of curly hair although it is now pure white vs blonde.  One of the first things he told us is that he is deaf and can’t hear anymore.  This is the result of being a rock-star and playing loud music all those years.

This then led to a couple of times on stage where he actually stopped mid-song to say that he couldn’t hear and they needed to start over.   We felt so bad for the sound guy, who was new apparently, because Roger kept motioning him to turn it up or turn it down, or change this, or that.

Roger wasn’t all that mobile on the stage.  He sat on a stool for a couple of numbers.  But he could still swing that mike. 

And even if he couldn’t hear, he could still sing.  His voice was pretty good and was able to hit those notes.  He did not do the scream in Won’t Be Fooled Again, saying that it used to wreck his voice after, for days.  So he bid us do the honors.  We complied.

All in all, it was a fantastic show.  For 80 years old, he was still rocking.  The show included Q & A, which he handled with a lot of humor and honesty, even acknowledging that The Rolling Stones, as far as rock and roll bands go, were in a class by themselves. He then drew a comparison between his band The Who, and The Rolling Stones, saying, “The Rolling Stones are a rock and roll band.  The Who is a rock band.”  Then he said something like, “The Rolling Stones is music you make love to.  The Who is music you fight to.”

I was still in awe of the whole experience, when before you know it, the next night we were off to the Linc for The Rolling Stones.  The band Daltry just paid homage to the night before.  It did not go unnoticed by the way, that The Rolling Stones concert is sponsored by AARP.  They know who their audience is alright.

If we thought Roger was doing well for his age, well, Mick Jagger took it to a whole other level. Octogenarian?  Really? With Roger, you’d say, oh yeah.  But Mick?  If you didn’t look too closely at his face on the big video screen, a face which had more wrinkles than a linen pair of pants at the end of a busy day, you’d swear he was 20.

His energy was beyond amazing.  He was dancing, and moving, and grooving all over that huge stage.  He was on fire.  His voice was great.  He had us in the palm of his hands.  We were enthralled.  We were all clearly wondering how the hell he does it.  Overheard in the bathroom, was, “Oh, I heard he rides a bike for 20 miles a day.”  No idea if that is true or not, lol.  But we were all clearly having the same impression.

I am 20 years younger than Mick.  I couldn’t even handle attending two concerts on back-to -back nights.  I had to rest and sleep up and take it easy in between the two shows. 

The geriatric concert tour continues in July when Ernie, along with our son and son-in-law, will see Dead and Company at the Sphere in Vegas.  I will not be going to that show (see my previous blog, The Grateful Dead Paradox, if you’d like to know why).  But while he is in Vegas, I am looking to get some tickets to this year’s Outlaw Music Fest where the headliners are Willie Nelson (91), Bob Dylan (83), Robert Plant (75) and Alison Kraus (52, a mere baby), and John Mellencamp (72).

Later in July, we will be seeing Chrissie Hynde and her group, The Pretenders. She is 71.

Then, we finish out the summer with Bruce Springsteen (74) in August.   However, he’s been having some health issues of late.  The reason we are seeing him this August is because he had to cancel last August due to a peptic ulcer or some such thing.  And then this year, doing his make up shows, he had to cancel a few more due to vocal cord issues.  We are crossing our fingers he’s able to make it this August and not cancel again.

But gotta love these guys.  They take a lickin’ and keep on rockin’.  They don’t let age interfere with doing what they love.  I mean, there is no playbook for what happens to aging rock stars, since they are really the first in their class to experience it.  So they are writing the playbook.  And that playbook is, rock ‘til you drop.

Good advice for all of us.