Oh man, it’s almost Labor Day weekend! Which means barbecues, earlier sunsets, and the close of summer in the American mind-set. (Not to mention the ever-closer encroachment of the Video Music Awards! Ack!) So what better time to look back? Feel free to share your favorite musical experiences of the Memorial-To-Labor-Day period in this space, while you are (I hope!) waiting to go outside and enjoy the last crackles of summer. My list—which ranges from shows to finding out bits of news—after the jump.


• Kelly Clarkson at the Great Allentown Fair, duh.
• Paul McCartney at Citi Field, which was made extra-special by me bringing my mom. Because it was her first concert! Ever! (I know!)
• The Roots Picnic, especially when the crowd was spazzing out over Public Enemy’s in-reverse performance of It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back.
• Mew at the Pitchfork Music Festival.
• Finding out that Annie’s Don’t Stop would be re-released with an awesome new cover and new tracks that I’d never heard.
• Watching my pal Christopher R. Weingarten claim his online-pundit status.
• It wasn’t technically summer, and they were putting on a slightly stale show, but I’m glad I finally got to see GWAR.


There were probably a few more, too. This summer wasn’t that bad!


The biggest summer bummer, after the strange aftermath of Michael Jackson’s death, was definitely finding out how many people would believe that “gullible” wasn’t in the dictionary if some Internet site told them that was the case. C’mon, people. Let’s all try to learn critical thinking skills for back-to-school season, ‘k?

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