Concert Quiz

Are you up for a one question concert quiz? Lovely! Please read on. We have an extended holiday weekend in the US with lots of concerts in town. A couple friends and I were choosing between these two free concerts.

I know you’re thinking, “Who the hell is Mark Farner?” He was a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter for Grand Funk Railroad, so certainly a front man for GFR like Gramm was for Foreigner.

Frontier Days doesn’t really take place on the frontier, but in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. It’s not that far, but I wasn’t up for a drive on consecutive evenings. We had to pick one. The setlists were compelling. Here’s a link to Gramm’s setlist featuring a veritable hit parade of familiar Foreigner tunes. Here’s the link to Farner’s setlist featuring slightly older Grand Funk hits.

So, quiz time. Which did we choose?

That’s right. In honor of this Independence Day holiday, we decided to stick with an American Band rather than a Foreigner. We chose Farner. Oh, it also rained the night of the Gramm concert. Kind of a no-brainer really. But Farner did deliver a decent show.

He also delivered some interesting comments on government, COVID, and former President Woodrow Wilson. He really doesn’t like Wilson. Farner mentioned some grievance he had with Wilson about the Federal Reserve. I didn’t really understand it or even hear all of it. I was too busy erasing ‘Buy a Mark Farner T-Shirt’ from my ‘To Do’ list. Farner can sure hold a grudge. Wilson hasn’t been President in over 100 years. Will we still be complaining about Trump in 2123? Yeah, probably, although I know I won’t be around for that.

Farner closed his show with a great tune, “I’m Your Captain.” Click this link to see a shirtless Farner and the rest of GFR perform “Captain” live in 1971 in NY, breaking the attendance record at Shea Stadium set by the Beatles. Really. It’s on the internet, so it must be true. But people change and their ideas evolve over time. The one thing I am certain of is if today’s Farner with his goverment rants is my captain, then I want off the ship.

I hopefully will be around for my next concert later this month, which will also be a freebie, always a nice price. The scary (per Fox News) City of Chicago will be bringing Kurt Vile and the Violators to the scary lakefront for a free concert. I’ll have to take a scary train ride into scary Chicago and walk a scary mile to scary Milennium Park to enjoy a scary free concert. Here’s a scary preview of the concert featuring Kurt Vile’s wonderfully complex song “Loading Zones.”

See you in Chicago in late July … if you dare.