Concert Memories; September 13th

 Six years ago today, September 13th, 2014, I went to the Tacoma Dome and saw part of the Katy Perry concert.  I had to leave early to catch a bus back to Seattle to stay in the Hostel overnight.  The big thing I remember most about the show due to this was the opening act, Tegan and Sara, the Alberta-born lesbian twins who play alternative pop.  They performed mostly from their newest album at the time, "Heartthrob," playing "Goodbye, Goodbye," "I Was A Fool" and "I'm Not Your Hero."  They also performed "Everything Is Awesome," the song they recorded for The Lego Movie.  Katy herself did a great job performing, as well, wearing memorable costumes throughout the night, such as dressing as a cat while performing her hit "Hot N Cold" in a slowed-down, jazzy style.  She also dressed in an Egyptian Style of outfit, looking like most depictions of Cleopatra, for "Legendary Lovers" and "E.T."  She started her show with the opening track of her newest album, "Roar," from the "Prism" album.  After that, she did the memorable "Part of Me," which was the title track of her documentary and also had a music video featuring her training with the Marines.

I would like to see either act again, but it's been hard in the last six years because Katy Perry toured only once during that time and when Tegan and Sara perform locally, tickets get sold out quickly.  I attribute this to how progressive Seattle is and how they want to support like-minded artists, which is a good thing, but sometimes, it doesn't feel so pleasant to be unable to buy tickets for those artists myself.

The very next day, after a rest in the Hostel, I went to the Seattle and Bellevue Schools of Rock performances of Hair Metal and The History of Metal at El Corazon in Seattle.  There were several great performances from the young people who performed, ones that stand out (names according to complementary program) are Miranda Kitchpanich on the Hair Metal side, who sang "Yankee Rose" by David Lee Roth, "Too Young To Fall In Love" by Motley Crue, "Still of the Night" by Whitesnake and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Warrant.  On the heavier side, Izzy Hughes stood out for her bass playing and singing, much like classic rocker Glenn who has the same last name, which made me wonder if they were related.  She played bass on "Into The Void" by Black Sabbath, "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Metallica and "Die With Your Boots On" by Iron Maiden, filling the roles of classic bass players Geezer Butler, Cliff Burton and Steve Harris.  Later, she sang "Metal Meltdown" by Judas Priest, hitting all the major bands during her night and providing a very strong voice that was well-suited for the song.  All in all, it was fun, and there were also great performances by "Stargazer" by Rainbow and "You Could Be Mine" by Guns N Roses, but I was disappointed that there were no Ozzy Osbourne solo career songs and there were too many thrash metal songs with the guttural voice that some call "Cookie Monster vocals" and others call "imitating Satan."  Despite this, the good easily outweighed the bad.