In my next life, I want to be a rock star. There is no doubt that my passion is theater. However, when I was growing up, I wasn’t standing in my bedroom spouting monologues or even singing showtunes. Nope. I drove my parents crazy blasting my cassettes of Motley Crue, Skid Row and Lita Ford. I turned the volume to 11 and rocked out.
The moment I was able to sneak out to see a concert, I did. My first concert was Slaughter at the Ritz in 1991. I remember being so excited just waiting to get into the Ritz. It was way too crowded. All the girls with big hair and studded bras were pushing their way to the edge of the stage. I was scared and overwhelmed but I elbowed my way too. Then Valentine, the opening band, came on and it was so AMAZING. Then Slaughter came on and it totally rocked! As you music lovers and concertgoers know, there is nothing like seeing a band or artist perform live. It doesn’t matter if it’s in an arena or a small club. And so began my love affair with concerts.
This week I decided to jot down all the bands and artists I have seen in concert over the years. I wasn’t expecting the memory block. I couldn’t remember who I saw and when I went to some of the concerts. So I went online and found this cool website called My Concert Archive. My Concert Archive is a site that allows you to build your concert history. This was extremely helpful to me because as I went through each year, I came across bands that I forgot I saw in, say, 1994 (that would be Candlebox at Roseland). But then I started seeing bands that I thought had fallen off the planet still touring. For example, Ratt played the Lincoln County Fairgrowns in Merrill in 1998 and Dokken played the Arena Pier Ten in San Juan, PR in 2004. These are hair metal bands that fell out of favor when grunge appeared. That was really inspiring. They tour because they love it. They will tour all over the world because they love it. It doesn’t matter that they may not be the hottest band at the moment.
I got the message loud and clear. I have to just do what I love and not let someone else dictate what they believe is right for me. I wonder if anyone told Ratt 13 years ago to give it up. I am glad they didn’t because when I saw them a few years ago at Jones Beach, they were awesome.
Keep doing what you love because you never know where the journey leads you.
Favorite Concert: Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer at Nassau Colliseum in 2010 tied with U2’s 360 Tour
Second Favorite: Lady Gaga at Nassau Colliseum in 2011
Third Favorite: Meatloaf at MSG in 1994
Malini Singh mcdonald 
Hi Robin,
I try not to listen to advice given from those not actually live their words. That was a hard decision to make but have no regrets about it.
Oh, Malini!
You have NO idea how much this means to me because I am in the throes of beginning to imagine my next step/direction in life, and going through so many doubts and wondering whether I am crazy to even try and holding back from telling many people because I KNOW THEY WILL TELL ME ‘NO! NO! NO!” and I just don’t want to argue or even try to convince them that it’s right for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Malini!
I am so involved in theater these days that I am not performing as much as I used to. My voice is not like it used to be. I realized that when I was singing lead for a garage band. I couldn’t belt like I used to…
But I will continue to rock out at concerts and when I see my friend’s band play.
My only question is: why not in this life Malini? It’s never too late, you know. Have you heard of Susan Boyle? Go for it! Rock out!