Concerts

Last Night: The Descendents at Free Press Summer Fest

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Milo Goes to College came out the same year I was born. "When I Get Old" came out when I was 13. And 19 months ago at Fun Fun Fun Fest, I found myself wondering what singing that song must be like for Milo, who was 47 at the time.

Today I realized that was the joke.

Here's a band that's been around longer than I've been alive, playing songs that were written while I was still learning to talk, the music was harder and faster than anything I had seen on the main stages all weekend -- and they played it well.

If the Descendents proved anything at this year's show, it's this: Age may be a number, but being old is a state of mind.

Personal Bias: I've spent far too much of my life identifying with songs like "Hope" and "Coolidge."

The Crowd: A bunch of dedicated fans front and center having a good time and a bunch of people sitting quietly in the area around Stage 2.

Random Notebook Dump: It's hard to make a band like the Descendents look super-exciting when capturing them on video on a big stage like that. They don't really move around a lot, they don't have a big stage production and they don't really slow down. The video crew did their best, but if all you had to go by was their visuals, you'd think the show was only pretty all right.

Random Notebook Dump Two: Someone was throwing water balloons into the crowd at random. I watched one ping a girl on the side of the head, and for a moment I thought she was going to beat the holy hell out of the guy behind her. Luckily for him, cooler, wetter heads prevailed.


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Cory Garcia is a Contributing Editor for the Houston Press. He once won an award for his writing, but he doesn't like to brag about it. If you're reading this sentence, odds are good it's because he wrote a concert review you don't like or he wanted to talk pro wrestling.
Contact: Cory Garcia