Welcome to the Friday Tailgate. Of all the things you could be doing on Friday afternoon as you wait for kickoff, this is definitely one of them. Maestro, the tailgate music:
As usual this is the spot for your pregame predictions and thoughts, but also the landing spot for our traditional game of Over/Under (see below).
But on this fine day it’s also the spot for an unrelated question: what is the best concert/musical performance you’ve ever been to?
I have seen a lot of artists in a lot of different settings, and they have invoked a lot of different emotional and intellectual responses. But personally I think my all-time favorite was R.E.M. in 1995 at the old Omni in Atlanta. It was the finale of the transcontinental Monster world tour, the band’s first tour in six years.
While my memories of the show may be outsized by the fact that it was the first big arena rock show I’d been to, it was also a chance to see the world’s biggest rock band, in front of a largely hometown audience, at the absolute height of their powers. It was a tour that saw three of the bands four members wind up in the hospital at some point, including drummer Bill Berry undergoing emergency brain surgery in Switzerland.
But as the tour closed it was as if the band had gotten its second wind, like a marathoner who sees the finish line and takes off toward it with lung-burning, leg-shaking urgency. Peter Buck’s crunchy, squealing guitar on “What’s The Frequency Kenneth?”. Michael Stipe maniacally strewing hand-scrawled lyrics through the crowd during “It’s The End of the World as We Know It.” Almost thirty years later I still talk to people who were there and remember it in crystalline detail. It was a near religious experience, the kind that I sincerely wish everyone could have at least once.
But enough nostalgia. Let’s look forward. There’s Georgia Bulldog football to be played tomorrow, and we’re going to guess how it’ll play out. Gentle readers, during tomorrow’s SEC matchup are you taking the over or the under on:
- Brock Vandagriff throwing 1.9 interceptions?
- Branson Robinson scoring 0.9 touchdowns?
- Trevor Etienne scoring 0.9 receiving touchdowns?
- Lawson Luckie snagging 2.9 passes?
- Kentucky surrendering 3.9 sacks?
- Peyton Woodring kicking 1.9 field goals?
- Brett Thorson punting 3.9 times?
- Georgia scoring 39.9 points?
- Kentucky scoring 12.9 points?
Y’all have a super deluxe Friday night, and…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!