Blondie

…and the cost of “free”

There are many things to love about New York City.  Such as the opportunity to see iconic bands like Blondie for free!  On 20 July, House of Vans brought Blondie to Brooklyn, and also had the band act as a curator by selecting the supporting acts, one of which had to be an unsigned artist. Blondie picked Liz Phair as their opening act and SASAMI as the unsigned artist.  It was necessary to RSVP online (a maximum of two tickets per person) but the catch was that the ticket did not guarantee entry to the show.  You still had to line up before the show and once capacity was reached, you would be turned away.  But New Yorkers will stand in line for just about anything it seems, especially with the possibility of getting something for free.  The show would also include visual projections of photographs by Blondie co-founder and guitarist, Chris Stein, featuring images of pop culture icons and New York City from the 1970s.

I’m pleased to say that, after waiting in line for 1.5 hours, we made it inside the House of Vans venue, a place “where imagination lets loose over concrete bowls, art installations, workshops and concert stage” according to their official website.  It includes an indoor skate park and a spacious outdoor area where guests were able to enjoy free beer and had to stand in yet another line, this time to secure a free limited edition t-shirt and uber cool tote bag (courtesy of our host). 

Here is the thing with anything that is “free” though, especially a concert.  It means that a lot of undesirables find their way into the event, those unsavoury characters that don’t give a fuck about anyone else around them.  Add free alcohol and you’re guaranteed to see behaviour that gets your blood pressure up and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.  There are the inevitable line cutters, this obnoxious group of chance takers who think nothing of cutting in line while the rest of us have been waiting patiently…you know, like civilized people do.  They are extremely sly, often asking some unsuspecting person “is this the line” and then continuing to hover around them as if they know them.  We see you.  But I also blame the people standing behind them for not calling them out.  One group of girls tried to do this with a particular repulsive line cutter but even then the bitch stood her ground, pretending the guy next to her was her friend.  I can only hope there is a special kind of karma for them.

The inconsiderate behaviour of some fucktards continued once the concert started.  We missed the unsigned act since we were in line, but made it inside for indie rocker Liz Phair, who was awesome.  We stayed in our spot and waited (again) for Blondie to take to the stage.  A few minutes before they came on, there was an altercation between two girls that involved name calling, slapping and hair pulling.  Their spat caused them to push into people around them and was eventually broken up by people in the audience – no security in sight!  Those close to the epicentre of the brawl managed to shake this off but when Blondie started there was a surge forward in the direction of the stage.  A special shoutout to the asshole with the awful dreads who, after obstructing the view of people behind him with said dreads, ploughed into the crowd and spilled his drink on them.  Then there was the never-ending attempts at crowd surfing which, once again, disrupted those who were there to enjoy the music as they had to dodge kicking feet and flailing arms.  Have fun, feel the music, live for the moment and all that shit but have a little respect for those around you – that’s all we’re asking for.

Now that I got that off my chest, Blondie was fantastic!  

Debbie Harry appeared on stage wearing shades, a bright pink top and matching stretch pants, and a cape that had “Stop Fucking The Planet” in neon letters on the back. It was hard to believe that she had just turned 73.  She had this incredible presence that is hard to define and sounded great.  It was one of those surreal moments, seeing this band that I grew up listening to performing just a few metres away from me.  They performed most of their biggest hits, including Call Me, The Tide is High, Atomic, Rapture and Heart of Glass as well as some of their newer songs such as Fun and Gravity (written by Charli XCX and Dimitri Tikovï).  The final song of the night was Dreaming. 

A big thank you to the House of Vans for making my dream of seeing Blondie on stage a reality.