Why Do I Leave Shows Early??

I went with friends to see Doves last night at Terminal 5. The band was in top form, as usual (I have seen them 4 times now and have never been let down. Well, except for the first show at Irving Plaza on the Lost Souls tour when they were plagued by technical difficulties and had to stop the show for a LONG time). I have to say that it was the first time I've ever found it difficult to find a space to actually see the band. Like ever. Granted we got there as they were just about to go on. But still. Anyway, great great show. They started out with the mind melting "Jetstream" from their new album Kingdom of Rust (which is nothing short of genius by the way), got the room bouncing with Motown stomper "Black and White Town" from Some Cities, and almost ended with "Cedar Room" from Lost Souls. The reason I say almost ended with "Cedar Room" is because it was the first of the encore songs and the last entire song I heard.

I'd like to blame it on hunger, being slightly drunk (due to having not had time to eat dinner, hence the hunger, and drinking a healthy quantity of beer), and tired (up at 730am and worked out after work, before show), and I just wanted to get home and crawl into bed. But the reality is much more disturbing: I made a calculated decision that if I left at the time I did, I would beat the large crowd leaving the venue, and would have a much better chance of getting a cab.

How lame is that? Would I leave a movie before it was over? Of course not. I'd already paid for my ticket and mortgaged the house in order to buy popcorn and soda as well, and god dammit, I'm not going to miss the ending after having invested so much. So why would I do this at concerts? I asked myself this morning that if I had made it to one of the My Bloody Valentine reunion shows, would I have done the same thing? Answer: probably. I saw them on the Loveless tour anyway. Okay, not a good example. Would I have left early from The Who playing live at Leeds in 1970? Answer: I honestly don't know. And since The Who is my favorite band of all time -- in fact I am probably the biggest Who fanatic on the planet -- this is the kind of disturbing, gut wrenching, soul searching question I will spend the rest of my life trying to answer. Or at least, spend the rest of today trying to answer.