Road Trip Homework

It has been years since my sister and I went to a concert together. One of our first concerts we saw was in 1991…the original Lollapalooza concert. Lollapalooza is an all day concert event created by Jane’s Addition front man Perry Farrell. In 1992, we headed to Albany NY to see the second concert. It was our first official road trip. This was before cell phones, GPS and CD’s. We drove listening to cassettes, missed our exit and ended up somewhere in NJ.

We arrived in Albany the day before the concert and stayed in the worst motel ever. The bathroom was disgusting and there were old marshmallows under the bed. The hotel managers sat on lawn chairs outside the office. As bad at the accommodations were…it did not matter. The 1992 Lollapalooza concert had an amazing line up. Performing on the main stage were Lush, Pearl Jam, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Soundgarden, Ice Cube, Ministry and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I have been to many concerts ranging from Pink Floyd, Garbage, Depeche Mode, Ozzy Ozbourne, U2, Guns N Roses and Disturbed. After my daughter was born, my concert list changed dramatically - The Wiggles, Cheetah Girls and Miley Cyrus to name a few.

This month, my sister and I are going on a road trip. We are going to see Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden. My sister has been a fan since our 1992 Pearl Jam concert. She would attend every Pearl Jam show if she could. This will be my first Pearl Jam concert since 1992. I know the old songs but I have 18 years to catch up on. In preparation for the concert, Sis assigned me homework. She handed me CDs and told me to “Learn the words”. She calls or emails me with the first few lines of a song and wants me to finish it.

So far, I failed every pop quiz.