Your youth and present day sounds like mine. Back in the late seventies and early eighties I lived in the Arctic. Still do. The nearest city big enough for concerts was over seven hundred miles away, so going to shows involved taking a Greyhound bus and tied up three days. Missed a lot of work but got to see Van Halen tour for their first album, before they became a pop band. Ted Nugent when he was freakin’ wild, and not just crazy. Bowie. Stones. Blue Oyster Cult. Stevie Ray Vaughan. More then forty others. I still go to shows when I can. Metallica and Maiden. Wife isn’t into it but daughter and I go. The real problem is that there are fewer good shows to go to. Any good show now is one of the old bands from back in the day as modern music really isn’t about music or talent, really. We did like Avenged Sevenfold, though.
It’s a shame that future generations won’t get the opportunity to see a young, hungry, twenty year old Eddy Van Halen crank out great hard rock. Or see Heart with Ted Nugent play “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin for probably twenty minutes, passing solos back and forth. Or ZZ Top play Lagrange. I was lucky enough to, and I cherish that.
I wish I had taken better care of the shirts, most are gone now. But it seemed like those days would never end. I outgrew my original Bowie shirt, daughter still wears it from time to time. I take better care of my Priest, Maiden, and Metallica shirts now but sure wish I still had my original Blue Oyster Cult shirt.
