Whither live music? What price fashion and decorum?

I’m not sure how I feel about Arcade Fire asking its fans to dress up to go to one of its concerts. I’m not going so it’s a moot point but if I were going, would I dig out my tux, top hat and pince-nez from the closet and show up looking like a dandy, or would I amble into the stadium in Zubaz and a salsa-stained scoop tank and give a middle finger to polite society?

This issue begs several profound questions. Whither live music? What price fashion and decorum? I am going to dig deep into my own soul to find the answer. 

I’m not much of a fan of dressing up, at least not to the extent of a suit and tie. I look and feel awkward as hell in a suit jacket and just will never be comfortable. I will suck it up and dress up when someone gets married or dies because I’m an adult and that’s what you do. Mostly, I will go a little less formal. I favor more casual clothes but not too casual. So unless I am going to the gym or very ill and on my way to Walgreen’s to get some medication, you will never catch me outside the house in any type of sweatpants of pajama pants. I just don’t do it. Even when I work from home, I won’t wear business casual like I do at work, but I will wear real pants. It just never occurred to me to do otherwise.

I guess Arcade Fire should get kudos for getting people to go to their shows and not to look like they just crawled up from the bottom of the Okefenokee swamp. Can you really enforce that dress code? If you bought a ticket, doesn’t that give you the right to attend no matter what you’re wearing?

I think a dress code depends on the venue more than the act you’re seeing. If I were going to the opera house, I might wear something nicer but it just would seem odd wearing a suit and tie to the Wells Fargo Center or, God forbid, the Concrete Bunker Theater or whatever it’s called in Camden.

At concerts, I will dress according to the act and season. The last show we saw was Holy Ghost at the TLA and I think I wore jeans and a sweater. If I see Madonna at the Wells Fargo Center, I’m wearing something comfortable because I will dance all night and there’s no point in dressing up if you’re going to sweat through your clothes. If I go to the Kimmel in the winter, I might wear my nice overcoat.

To sum up: Suits. Dresses. Live music. Venues. Sweatpants. I hope you’ve found this discussion as enlightening as I have.