The joys of live music: Or why Friday night's Nickelback concert was so epic

My best concert experience ever! TWO guitar picks!

Nickelback and Three Days Grace at the Comcast Center in Mansfield Friday night, 9-24-10.

I couldn't believe it when the lead guitarist Brad Stock of Three Days Grace tossed some guitar picks in my direction, and I got one! I was even more gobsmacked when I got a second one from the headlining band, Nickelback! Sweet! I've been to dozens if not hundreds of concerts, and I've NEVER gotten a souvenir from any band.

It paid to get great seats. I was in the 2nd row on the far left. Had to use earplugs about 3/4 of the way through because of the deafening explosions.

Setlist: Burn It to the Ground, Flat on the Floor, Photograph, This Afternoon, Shakin' Hands, Something in your Mouth, Animals, Savin' Me, Rockstar, If Today was your Last Day, Too Bad.

Encore: Gotta Be Somebody, Someday, Figured you Out.

Theater: Alice vs. Wonderland

Another tour de force from the American Repertory Theater, "Alice vs. Wonderland" is a colorful, fun adapation of the Lewis Carroll classic that features budding young actors from the ART Institute. To ensure everyone in the class had a fulfilling role, the director divided the role of Alice into six actresses -- all of whom had different clothing but the same red backpack. I particularly liked the performance of Alice 5, Jennifer Soo.

The identity crisis Alice faces in the play mirrors the journey everyone makes in their teenage years. The messages and emotion in the the play were intensifed by the reaction of the audience, which consisted mostly of high school students. I'm sure the experience would be quite different with a more "mature" audience. I'm very glad to have had this experience with teenagers though! (Matinee on Wednesday, 9/22/10).