Tonight I attended (part) of the final show on the “Perez Hilton Presents” tour at the Avalon in Hollywood. I got the tickets about a month ago when I was in a frenzy of attending concerts. I hadn’t been at all interested until I read Spin Magazine’s review of the first show of the tour and thought it sounded like so much fun that it would be worth being there. By the time the day of the show rolled around, though, I wasn’t really in the mood to go & had started questioning my original impulse.

As we sat in two hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic en route to the show, my friend said, “Perez is really Toohey.” And then the tone of my feelings about the concert had a name. I was on my way to see Toohey.

We missed the first act, presumably “Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head,” and arrived just in time to see all of glam rockers “Semi Precious Weapons.” Their set was preceded by a brief intro from the man himself, Perez Hilton, and a Big-Brother-esque video intro featuring a Max Headroom-style Perez.

The crowd was thinner than I’d expected, but the Semi Precious Weapons’ energy and showmanship were big enough for a much larger crowd in a much larger venue. I think my glam rock days are behind me, but if they weren’t, I might have fallen in love tonight.

The next act was New Zealand’s LADYHAWKE. Unlike the Semi Precious Weapons, I’d heard some of LADYHAWKE’s music before tonight, and I liked it. Somehow, though, I just wasn’t in the mood. Presumably half-way through her set, I turned to my companion and suggested that we go eat tacos. So we left.

As we drove home, I had to deconstruct my distance from the event during the event. Why had I gone? Why hadn’t I been more engaged? What the heck? Here’s what I decided:
One: If I were to name the two major goals we have here at BCTV, I’d say that they’re documenting great live music with video AND breaking new music. Since I wasn’t filming tonight, and since Perez Hilton has already “broken” these bands, my covering the show wasn’t really serving either of these goals.
Two: I think I wanted to see this show (in part) to see the new bands. Bands someone else was already covering. I think I wanted to let Perez Hilton do some of my job for me! And although they were very nice bands, I don’t think they’re ones I would have chosen on my own. And it isn’t fair to turn in someone else’s work anyway, so I’m glad I left when I did.
Three: I think Perez Hilton might actually be Toohey– at least in some degree. He is a self-promoter who has lifted himself up and is using the power of his platform to lift others up. But do I care? Do I like these bands because Perez does? How much sway does his opinion have over me? It turns out not to be much.

Now don’t get me wrong. As I stated in my earlier post about the show, I read his site daily. I think he’s a prime case study in how to use new/social media to create a career and draw an audience to you. He does a lot right. I’m just not convinced that his flair for curating the best in celebrity gossip necessarily translates to being the last word in fashion or running a record label– or putting together a career-making concert tour. I suspect, however, that a year’s time will convince me, and that he’s capable of being the last word in fashion and running a record label and staging a second annual version of this tour with a bigger sponsor and bigger bands and a bigger audience. I guess all we can do is watch and see…

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