thank you for the music

Sunday evening we took our daughter to her first real* concert. We took her to see an ABBA tribute band at an amphitheater in the area. We had planned on packing a picnic and eating dinner there (like my parents used to do with me at the Hollywood Bowl), but it dumped rain all afternoon, so we decided to eat at home and show up at the last minute. Apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea because there was quite a bit of traffic, but we were able to find decent seats in the bleachers. The only disadvantage was that they involved climbing over a lot of people to get it, so there would be no trips to the portapotties or gourmet coffee cart.

We were impressed to hear that this band had performed at the Hollywood Bowl just a week ago. I thought the music and costumes were pretty good, but the choreography/stage presence (especially of the non-front people) and the sound could have been better. They repeatedly had problems with feedback which was very annoying. Below is a clip of a previous performance by the same group, though this time without the symphony orchestra. (Please excuse the quality of the photos, they're from my mobile phone.)

It was neat to see the special guest appearance by Ulf Andersson, the original saxophonist from ABBA. He looked rather old, but he still new how to work the stage. They also had original ABBA guitarist Janne Schaffer, but it was clear that he was a studio musician.

I suppose we had luck with the weather in that it drizzled intermittently but didn't rain nearly as much or as hard as it had all afternoon. Some people had umbrellas; a lot had disposable rain ponchos; pretty much everyone was wearing rain gear of some kind. I had a rain coat, rubberized pants that I use when working in the forest, and rubber boots. I'm sure I looked like a total hick, and I couldn't help but remember how I used to get dressed up for concerts when I was in college: high heeled black leather boots, tight black jeans, a glittery top, and a borrowed black leather jacket with fringe.

Our daughter was thrilled by the experience. She's a huge fan of Mamma Mia (the movie) and knows a lot of the songs. It was really cute to see her singing along. However, two hours starting at her bedtime was a bit much for her, and she was also bothered by the music being so loud.


* Previous "not real" concerts include local musicians performing at a local church.