The Day After 12/12/12

Well, I was lucky enough to get a photo of December 12, 2012 at 12:12:12.  I even surprised myself that it clicked exactly at 12 seconds. A memento for my lifetime since it won't happen again while I'm here.  I think it's 1/1/01 at 1:1:1.  Don't think I'll be here for that.

Last night at Madison Square Garden was the 12/12/12 Hurricane Sandy Benefit.  As previously stated, tickets went for ridiculous amounts of money on StubHub and other selling sights.  Typical.  Didn't dawn on legislators until today that they should pass some regulations about profiting on benefit tickets.  My whole perspective about concert tickets will have to wait for another day.

Anyway, the concert began at 8pm aired on a plethora of stations both on TV and radio.  Bruce Springsteen kicked off the night.  It was a line-up of mostly old white rock 'n rollers.  The Stones, The Who, Roger Waters, Eddie Vedder, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, and Bon Jovi. The exceptions were Chris White of Coldplay, Alicia Keys, and Kanye West and Adam Sandler. If the truth be told, I am not a huge admirer of any one of the performers, but I am a huge admirer of most of them. Seeing Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend play for the longest set of the night, was a blast.  Roger unbuttoning his shirt as if it was 1969.  He's mid-60's and looks pretty good.  Sounds a bit worse for wear, but he wasn't leaving the stage.  Did a nice understated tribute to Keith Moon.  I was watching on the MSG Network.  The stations were all airing at different speeds.  It was so odd.  The sound for most of the singers seemed a bit off.  Don't know who was getting the well balanced sound, but it wasn't MSG.  The concert went on way past my bedtime.  I am not even sure if I got it all on DVR. It began at 7:30pmEST and ended past 1am.  I think Paul McCartney closed the show.  An amazing event.  Reports are that 2 billion people watched.  If everyone who watched gave one dollar, can you imagine??  The numbers aren't in yet so we shall see.

These benefits concerts that we have had all to frequently now are incredible.  I will make special note that certain performers always show up: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, and Paul McCartney.  They showed up for the last minute one hour benefit immediately following Sandy, too.  Steve Van Zandt in an interview last night said that it was personal. They all group up on the Jersey shore, but they would've been there anyway.  Never doubted that.  

The one glaring omission...women.  Alicia Keys was the stand alone female performer and I think sang only one song.  She didn't use it as an opportunity for self promotion.  Weren't there other super talented women from Jersey and NYC that could've been on that stage?  Bette Midler?  Christina Aguilera?  Mariah Carey? I am posing the question.  Maybe more women were asked and couldn't make it...maybe not.  

The bottom line it was an incredible concert to watch.  Think I would've died if I'd been there for six hours.  Too tired to stay and too tortured to leave.

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