Guilty Pleasure -- Originally Posted April 13

This past Tuesday I went to the previously fabulous and great westerly Forum for one of my guilty musical pleasures, Muse. It's been at least a decade since I'd been in lovely Inglehood, and let me tell you, the place retained all the charm and allure of years past -- I am speaking of the man fleeing two bicycle cops in the midnight hour. My friend Rebz took the plunge on my extra ticket, because my buddies had approximately zero interest in going -- and if they had, I think we'd have looked like either a couple of fish out of water, or worse yet, a couple.

As was my last concert experience seeing the band in the more intimate Wiltern, the show was fantastic. Their songs are full of catchy hooks and the band plays as tight as fuck, plus you get your money's worth with of two hours of show and encores. If you are ever looking for something to counterbalance your Nine Inch Nails, this is the band. Hell, the singer is about as close as there is to a Jeff Buckley voice out there.

Going to the show made Muse more the guilty pleasure than before, due to the young crowd. And I mean young. I still pass for a half dozen or so years below my age due to my genetic superiority and timeless good looks, so I didn't look like the adult weirdo come to lurk at the concert -- and thank God for that. There were some clearly adult looking adults there, and they didn't come with kids...although they probably thought about trying to leave with one or two. But seeing kids who's only taste of alcohol may be what they sneak out of their parent's liquor cabinet sitting along side of me and enjoying the same music is not a testament to my hipness, but a reinforcement to the guilty nature of the pleasure. Good music is ageless, but I'm not the Hot Topic demographic that was out in force that night.

So what have we learned?

1. I don't know anybody else my age that likes Muse
2. no guys that I know are fans
3. I was probably in the elder 5% of those attending the concert
4. The Forum is in a shitty neighborhood
5. guilty pleasures are okay
6. clearly, I'm blogging instead of working