All About Trey

Erase Hate

So Sunday I drove out to Merriweather Post Pavillion to go see the True Colors concert. First I have to say, that even though it takes a while to drive there (50 minutes-ish), I was flying the whole time. Not stuck in bumper to bumper traffic like if you head out to the Nissan Pavillion. That place just blows. Now normally I avoid outside concerts, especially in the summer, because the thought of being jammed packed into some venue with everyone reeking of the beer sweating out of their bodies just makes me ill. And trust me, I smelled it Sunday night. But I managed to block it.

In addition to it being a good cause, HRC and PFLAG, I was really excited to see Erasure. Sure Margaret Cho was funny. As was Rosie O'Donnell. And The Gossip rocked pretty hard. But the Dresden Dolls and Debbie Harry? Ugh, pass. And we had Rufus Wainwright. I'm just not sure about him. But the main attraction for me was Erasure.

Erasure is one of the four music groups that I listened to in my formative years. The others? Pet Shop Boys. New Order. And Depeche Mode. New wave was the fall back for those who couldn't go all the way into the goth world. It was kind of like Goth-lite and was more socially acceptable to be into New Wave, as opposed to Goth. Plus with most of the New Wave artists being British, you could sort of cling to that. Oh, it's not gay, it's British.

Yep, New Wave was where the shy, not yet out, pre-gays could hang out. And I remember dancing at the Odyssey in Colorado Springs on New Wave Thursday nights. My parents could never understand why I would go out on a Thursday night, but not on the weekends.
Looking back it was all kind of amusing.

The funny thing is that at first I didn't even know that Erasure was gay. When I was in the Navy in Japan I heard about them playing in Tokyo, so I managed to get a ticket and rode the train up to see them. After getting lost in a part of Tokyo I had never been to before, and begging directions in my pidgin Japanese, I made it to the concert. Surrounded by an interesting mix of Japanese and expats in Tokyo, we watched as Andy Bell strutted out onto the stage wearing big feather wings, a golden harness across his chest, and gold hot pants that included a gigantic horn that jutted out from his crotch. Yep. He's gay. But the music was amazing and I had a great time.

Sunday night brought all of that back. They only played about six or seven songs, but I think I knew every one, and I especially like their new song: "I Could Fall In Love With You." But I think I'll leave you with "Hideaway". Enjoy!

Labels: gay, Music

posted by Trey @ 8:55 PM