i don’t know, i don’t know…

I have a confession. In the fall of 2005, I went to an Ashlee Simpson concert.
Now let me clarify. The aforementioned guy who “just friend”-ed me called about a month or so later telling me he got tickets for an Ashlee Simpson concert… in New Hampshire. He explained how none of his friends would ever go to such a thing and he thought I would enjoy it. I’m not one to turn a free event and it was a nice gesture on his part, so I apprehensively agreed. I guess friends hang out or whatever, and this sounded like a fun adventure despite me not being Ashlee Simpson’s number one fan.

As he picked me up hours in advance of the concert, the guy informed me that the concert was in Podunk, New Hampshire by the beach and that I should mentally prepare myself for what I was about to experience. Apparently we had to show up way before they would let us in because he was sure there was going to be a massive line and we needed to get there in time so we could get a good spot. While parking the car, he announced, “THIS IS IT,” I was kind of amazed. The venue was in the midst of a completely dilapidated and boarded up boardwalk. All I could think was “Oh Ashlee, Ashlee, Ashlee…”

Well… the wait in line was interesting. We were easily the oldest people there without children, and while I felt awkward at 22, him being 28 was possibly more noticeable. We were actually approached several times by gaggles of girls who made posters for the boy band-ish opening act, and they were convinced that we were members of said band just hanging out before the show. They even showed us the pictures on their homemade posters and screamed, “LOOK, THAT’S YOU! OH MY GOD!!!!”

We were eventually herded into the venue itself after a painful wait, and I needed a drink. If you ever want to be able to quickly and easily get a drink from the bar at a concert venue, go to an Ashlee Simpson concert — you’ll have very little competition for the bartender’s attention. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, we had to consume our beverages in a gated off area all the way in the back so we were forced to chug our beers. The lights went down, I was led through the parents supervising their children to the area just behind the screaming girls, and the show began. For what it’s worth, it was actually pretty fun. From what I could tell, she sang live despite her marred reputation from the SNL incident. We jumped around and I sang along to the songs I knew. We got back to Boston late, he dropped me off, and I actually never heard from him again.


Now if there’s one thing about Ms. Simpson I don’t get, it’s her label/management’s inability to pick the right singles. From the first CD, I will never get why Unreachable or Nothing New were not singles. From her latest CD, it’s just been a parade of mistakes while the one gem of the album, the Timbaland-produced Murder, sits waiting. Just for the record, I cannot stand Timbaland’s current omnipresence, but this is one instance where his help is needed and appreciated.

From her second album, which was the one just released when I saw her in concert, the only two singles were those girl-powery anthems Boyfriend and L.O.V.E. The one song I fell in love with, however, was Burning Up which I think would’ve had much more mainstream appeal. I’ll definitely always remember that strange experience of seeing her in concert in the middle of nowhere with someone who had already kinda sorta dumped me a month earlier whenever I hear that song.