January 25, 2005
Before I get into a few general observations I have to admit that it was not as bad as I expected it to be. That is not to say that it was great, but the music was a very good deal less bubble-gum than I expected. And Duff seems to have chosen not to follow the teen slut path to fame and fortune that some of her predecessors have taken.
The audience was probably 90% female, I was not the only dad suffering this night. The predominant ages were 13 and under and 30 and over. Stylistically they ranged from preppy and proper to prostitutes in training. The single thing that united them was their common yearning to be 17. The decibel level of the shrieks probably registered seismically. I was expecting this, but I was not prepared. Just try to imaging the shrill screams of overwhelmed delight from several thousand pre-teen girls in a relatively confined space. That is what I expected. Now double it. That is what I experienced.
The BIC® Lighter is dead to this crowd - as well it should be. It was replaced by thousands of Glow Sticks. Here's how they work.
The reaction between the different compounds in a light stick causes a substantial release of energy. Just as in an incandescent light bulb, atoms in the materials are excited, causing electrons to rise to a higher energy level and then return to their normal levels. When the electrons return to their normal levels, they release energy as light. This process is called chemiluminesence.You can buy bulk light sticks for $.41 a piece. You can buy them with a one color imprint for $1.75 for a quantity of 5000. Add in shipping and what pittance they probably pay the vendors, and you're talking about probably $2.00 a piece. We paid $5.00. The $3.00 profit probably gets carved up between the arena, the state, the city, promoter, the agent, and the talent. I am not going to even look at the actual cost of the t-shirt that we bought for $35.00.The chemical reaction in a light stick usually involves several different steps. A typical commercial light stick holds a hydrogen peroxide solution and a solution containing a phenyl oxalate ester and a fluorescent dye. Here's the sequence of events when the two solutions are combined:
1. The hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the phenyl oxalate ester, resulting in a chemical called phenol and an unstable peroxyacid ester.
2. The unstable peroxyacid ester decomposes, resulting in additional phenol and a cyclic peroxy compound.
3. The cyclic peroxy compound decomposes to carbon dioxide.
4. This decomposition releases energy to the dye.
5. The electrons in the dye atoms jump to a higher level, then fall back down, releasing energy in the form of light.
Acoustically the show needed help. With any bank of speakers, no mater how large and powerful, there is a line beyond which the sound coming out of them has ceased being just loud music and has become just a mass of distorted noise. They crossed that line by a few clicks on the volume control. I would recommend doubling the number of speakers and turning the master volume down to about 8. It would still be damn loud, but at least it might be intelligible.
The girls were ecstatic and in the end that is all that matters. On our way back to the car my daughter exclaimed - still using her best concert voice - that this was the most exciting night of her life. A parent can endure an awful lot to make that happen.
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 05:58 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Posted by: RP at January 26, 2005 01:16 AM (X3Lfs)
Posted by: Ted at January 26, 2005 02:23 AM (blNMI)
Posted by: Tuning Spork at January 26, 2005 08:20 AM (MB5kA)
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at January 26, 2005 10:30 AM (U3CvV)
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