Not Like Riding A Bicycle

So after coming up with another song idea, on Saturday I decided it was time to revisit Section 8 for pretty much the first time since the move to Toyota Park.

Wow. It's very, very different. On the one hand, I didn't see many faces I recognized. On the other, a lot of people seemed to recognize me when I took the capo stand in the second half, and I'd be lying if I said that little round of applause didn't make me feel good. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for attention.

Speaking of that capo stand, the common practice seems to be that you stand on the supports on the sides to get up higher than just standing on the platform. Back at Soldier Field, it was all made out of wood, which meant those supports were flat. Now, they're round metal piping, and the net result was that I felt like I was going to fall for pretty much the whole stint. And I think the act of balancing for those fifteen or twenty minutes worked the hell out of my hamstrings, which are still a bit sore three days later.

The songs have also changed quite a bit, something I learned when I took over my former role on the drums for the first half. Obviously, the drumming is going to be simpler, but it was simpler in a way that didn't scale well with all my old parts -- I couldn't just graft my stuff on top of what they were doing. I just think differently about these parts, and do more tricky stuff just because I can, provided I can do it without detracting from the song (unlike, say, Dallas supporters).

Plus, I'm way out of practice with regard to playing really fucking loud for forty-five minutes straight, with the blisters on both my thumbs to prove it. You never realize just how important your thumbs are until they hurt every time you apply pressure with them.

Conceptually, I'm going to try to be diplomatic and say the vibe is just different, and let the reader fill in the blanks that I liked the old way of doing things better. Oops. If I were to put my finger on it, the biggest problem is the decentralization of the driver's seat. This may have been entirely necessary due to the increased numbers, but it seemed like there were four or five people trying to manage the songs and cheers at the same time, and they just weren't all on the same page. Not for lack of trying -- it's not easy.

I don't think there's an easy solution to that one, either, except maybe for the guys on the capo stands and the drummers to be always trying to look at each other and listen. And for Pete's sake, look like you're having fun.

(On a related note, if you're going to do the Tetris song, it should get faster over time. You know, because you're going up levels.)

Anyway, when I first decided to leave Section 8, I kept saying that it was in large part because I'm getting too old for that shit. Saturday pretty much proved it. I used to drum for all ninety minutes and man the podium for a full forty-five, and couldn't even come close this time. And get off my lawn!