Every. Single. Time. The music legends from my fragile, identity-formation period reunite or play a smattering of one-off concerts, I freak-out and immediately start hatching plans to be one of the faces in the sea of other devotees.

Just one thing about that… the shows never seem to live up to my sky-high expectations. I always leave the show feeling something like disappointment.

It is not to say that (watch out for names dropping) The Replacements, The Pixies, Neutral Milk Hotel, or Pavement didn’t put on great reunion shows-or continue to do so. The issue is that; a lot of the time those bands are playing exactly what they recorded 10-30 years ago. To make things worse, I just spent $100 and had to be too close to a bunch of other hipster dorks.

I seem to never learn.

Maybe, I don’t care though.

Maybe, I need to readjust my expectations, when I attend these; Reunions, Reboots or ‘Years-Active-Windows’.

Maybe, I need to tell myself; I already know, pretty much exactly, what I am going to see.

Last March, I had the opportunity to receive a check mark, or a half check mark at least, on my concert bucket list. I was able to see one of the greats from my youth, at Tree House Records in Minneapolis. There was an in-store performance by Lætitia Sadier of Stereolab. It was free, it flew relatively under the radar and I had a great spot to see her play. It was incredible and I know how lucky I am to have had the chance to see her.

Her performance was spellbinding. There it was- that conspicuous voice of Stereolab. She performed a solo set on an old fender mustang that she borrowed. Her flubs were excusable and her banter magnetizing. Her repertoire consisted of solo songs and a couple of Stereolab tunes.

Although, it was a wonderful experience, I kept thinking to myself; What am I missing? What am I missing from allocating more of my time and money towards seeing the established musicians from my past and not going to see the artists that are lesser-known and bringing something new to the the world? Maybe instead of seeing Kraftwerk, I should put more energy towards seeing some new upcoming band from Minnesota.

I have had conversations about this very topic with my friend Sean. These conversations have provided me with some insight into the issue. He said something to the effect of; “So many people spend their entire lives based upon the identity they created for themselves when they were 17. They never question what they are missing out on. Don’t you want to get more out of life?”

I do.

I do want to keep on wanting to see new and different perspectives and I want to keep learning. But, there is nothing wrong with revisiting the classics.

Now, if only there was some way to learn about new worthwhile music.

What about yourself? Tell me a reunion you were super happy to see, and or something new that blew your mind!