I have to admit it. I'm not much of a concert goer. I realize that may come as a shock to some, but I can count the number of live concerts I've been to in my life on one hand. Okay, I know my column is called "On the Town," but to be honest, I never really understood why I should go to a concert, fight the crowds, and pay good money to see someone who's record I could play at home! It just seemed like a hassle coupled with a burden, and when Marcy told me Kevin was going to see the Bangles last weekend at the 9:30 Club, and that she needed someone to cover the story, I was reluctant. She cinched the deal by agreeing to let me bring my friend Donna and adding an order of nachos and two small Diet Coke's to my expense account.

A word of warning: They do not sell nachos at the 9:30 Club! Although I could have sworn I saw a woman carrying a basket of nachos as I milled about before the show, when I tried to find some, they kept telling me they didn't have any! So watch out!

As a child of the '80's, the Bangles have always been one of my all-time favorite groups. I LOVED that video they did for Walk like an Egyptian. It was the one where they all dressed up like Egyptians and people on the street walked like Egyptians. I LAUGHED SO HARD WHEN THE DOG WALKED LIKE AN EGYPTIAN!!! That was pretty good, even though I thought the song was called "Rock like an Egyptian" for the longest time. I was surprised they were still touring after all these years, but Donna told me she thought they must be coming out with a new album, and she was right. About every other song they would say, "This is a new song," but to be honest, I only recognized about two of the songs they played all night, so I think most of what they did was off the new album.

Well, they played these new songs for about an hour, and then they stopped, said goodnight, and left the stage! What's up with that, I thought!!! First no nachos, now this. I definitely felt ripped off, and Donna and I started to leave when we heard the audience absolutely howling. We decided to see what was going on and to our surprise the Bangles had come back on stage! I guess they must have felt bad about only playing for an hour when everyone had paid $25 to get in, so they came back to play another couple of songs, including Walk like an Egyptian! Strangely, at this point a fifth Bangle came on stage playing the tambourine. I didn't remember her from the video, so I guess she's new to the group, but she did a pretty good job. The whole time I thought how cool it would have been if they had brought the dog from the video on stage, but after all this time, that dog is probably long dead, which was kind of depressing when I thought about it later.

Anyway, after that song they said goodnight again and left the stage, but everyone was clapping and hooting like crazy, including me and Donna, and believe it or not, they came BACK on stage a couple of minutes later! This time they did Eternal Flame, which I didn't remember, but Donna said she knew it, so I guess it won't be on the new album. About halfway through this song, people started taking out lighters and lighting them. I thought this was pretty cool, but I didn't have a lighter, but luckily I had a pack of matches in my jacket I had swiped from the Scottish Inn in Tyler, so I just kept light matches the whole time, and the song ended before I ran out.

After this song, they finally left for good, which I was kind of glad about, because my legs were getting tired, plus I realized Donna had sucked down three wine coolers during the show when I wasn't looking, and she was starting to get mean. Actually, the worst part of the show came afterwards. Since Donna was in no shape to drive, I ended up having to take us home, and getting out of the city was a nightmare. I had no idea where we were, and it took us about 2 hours to find an exit to 395 South, and the whole time, Donna just kept cracking jokes and pretending she was walking like an Egyptian, which got pretty annoying after a while. But overall, the concert was GREAT! I can't wait for their next video!

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