Go-Go's in Concert

We saw the Go-Go's at Crypto.com Arena on March 30th—with things opening up, it was a thrill to see a live concert, particularly a band that broke through when I was at UCLA, so they were part of my college soundtrack. (For Christmas, I received drummer Gina Schock’s coffee table memoir of memories and photos, Made In Hollywood: All Access with the Go-Go's, where I learned the band played and hung out at places I haunted back in the day.) While I’ve always enjoyed their song catalog, Talk Show has always been one of my favorite albums.

We actually had missed getting tickets for a Go-Go's concert in L.A. back in December, around the time the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because I dragged my feet on getting tickets…but that show and others ended up being cancelled due to someone on the tour getting COVID. So when an ad popped up for this show, we were sure to grab a pair right away (I later learned it was part of a busy current tour they’re on!)

The band did not disappoint and leaned heavily into the fast-driving punk surfer sound of their early years. The only small disappointment was that Schock, my favorite Go-Go (on whom I always had a crush), apparently was recovering from some recent surgery—fortunately, she was well enough to attend and came out onstage a couple times to rev up the audience and introduce the band. Filling in for Schock was Blondie drummer Clem Burke, who ably kept the band tight.

When we walked into the venue, I was surprised at how intimate the space felt—and how close we were to the stage. We were only one section up from the main floor. Although most of the show was sold out (the upper nose bleed seats were not in use), for some reason nearly our entire row was empty, so we had it to ourselves!

I actually have never been inside Crypto before (formerly the Staples Center), home to the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. Located in downtown L.A., the surrounding area (and, indeed, all downtown) has been undergoing transformation (and, yes, gentrification) in recent years—back in the day, downtown was home to offices and businesses, but otherwise a ghost town at night and on weekends. Outside the arena, directly across the street and throughout downtown, high rise buildings were in various stages of construction—we arrived a few hours in advance to grab dinner a few blocks away prior to the show and, on the way, walked across tracks of the relatively new L.A. Metro rail that the city has been building out. (I’ve taken the Metro from our Westside home to downtown L.A. in the past, a fairly jaunty 35-minute ride.) The Crypto.com arena has statues of Lakers (and Kings) greats outside and anchors an entertainment complex called L.A. Live that houses retail stores, restaurants, a performing arts venue called Microsoft Theater, and the Grammy Museum.

My biggest fear when attending concerts is getting stuck in parking lot traffic on the way out…which fortunately turned out to be a non-issue. I pre-paid for parking, strategically choosing a lot on the near side of our drive so that we wouldn’t have to drive into or through downtown…in fact, we live close enough that we decided to take local streets into downtown L.A. to avoid evening rush hour freeway traffic, almost literally a straight shot from our place and then a left turn, much of it running parallel with the above-mentioned Metro rail (my wife works in downtown L.A. so she is particularly familiar with the area).

We left the arena at the same time as everyone else but when we got to our car, people were still straggling into the parking lot, so we simply hopped in the car and exited the structure without any traffic or hindrance! In the street, there was a backup of cars to get to the freeway, but we simply turned right out of the garage into the opposite direction and took local streets until we were far enough out of the area and concert traffic to then hop on the freeway and drive home the last five or so miles home (we’re about 11 miles from downtown). Anyway, it was a terrific and memorable show!