a new doxology

I’ve been to a lot of incredible concerts in my life, some that I’m still proud to tell people about (Garth Brooks, Chicago, Jay-Z, Ben Harper and Jack Johnson, to name a few) and others that I’m now a little bit embarrassed to admit that I attended (so I won’t list any of them here). Concerts can get pretty expensive, but rarely have I let the high cost of a ticket keep me from seeing a band or artist that I really like put on a great show. Yet one of my biggest regrets in life so far was not going to a Coldplay concert with one of my roommates during our senior year of college (the video above for “Clocks” is from that tour). In my defense, I wasn’t a huge Coldplay fan back then (like I am now), but that shouldn’t have mattered. Sure, I was a college student at the time, so driving to Minneapolis from Iowa on a weeknight (aka “a school night”) and paying $50 for a concert wouldn’t have been a great financial or academic decision, but I should have realized that a band like Coldplay was basically guaranteed to put on a “that was the best concert I’ve ever been to in my life” type of show. In fact, that’s exactly what my roommate said about the show when he got back from the concert, and five years later, he still says the same thing about that show today. I suppose it’s possible that his memory of the show has improved with time, but during that same time period, my regrets about not going have only increased. I wish I had gone to the Coldplay concert at the Target Center in 2003…

I’m not someone who likes to live in regret, I suppose no one does; I just don’t see the point of it — especially as a person of faith who believes in the forgiving power of God’s grace — but if there’s anything we can take from our past mistakes (things we’ve done or not done that lead to feelings of regret) it is the wisdom that will help us not repeat them. So today I have a short list of bands and artists who I will do whatever I can to see in concert if I get the chance, regardless of ticket cost or other factors; the list includes Coldplay, U2, Michael Jackson and possibly John Mayer and Kanye West (I would definitely love to see either of them in concert, but I’m just not sure if they’ve achieved “short list” status yet).

Coldplay’s new studio album is rumored to be set for a May ‘08 release and according to an official post on the band’s website earlier this fall, it’s going to be “the album people will remember them by.” Hopefully the tour for this album will include a stop in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Who is on your short list that you wouldn’t miss seeing in concert for any reason???