Friday evening, I opened my outdoor concert season with a trip to the Oregon Zoo to see the B-52s. By the time I arrived, the parking lot was completely packed. Growing up, the B-52s were a ubiquitous radio presence and even played the theme song to my favorite cartoon, Rocko's Modern Life. I never knew, however, that the band had such a devout following.
I walked with fellow concert goers through the Portland mist, past the vacant Black Bear Ridge, Lorikeet Landing, and Primate Center. By concert time, the animals had been put away in favor of some of the best people-watching I’ve experienced in a while. Men in metallic silver T-shirts, lesbian couples with matching raincoats, and children all gathered against a backdrop of towering fir trees to pay homage to these sovereigns of camp. And they had a great time to boot.
The crowd danced like a giant wedding reception to favorite "Private Idaho," a song that highlighted frontman Fred Schneider’s spoken vocals, Cindy Wilson’s callback, and Keith Strickland’s surf guitar. In addition to the tried and true, the band also played songs from 2008's Funplex. "Ultraviolet," though released just last year, sounded much like everything else in the band’s new-wave catalogue. The evening bopped along with "Quiche Lorraine," a bizarre tune about a poodle who wears sunglasses, a bonnet, and designer jeans. At least this is what I think the song was about. With the B52s, sexual innuendo comes about as easily as the go-go dance.
I made my way to the front of the crowd for the second half of the show where, despite the middle-age of the crowd, it smelled just like a high school party. Though it reeked of cheap wine and cologne, no one cared how they looked when "Love Shack" played. As I sketched in my notepad, the woman dancing next to me asked if I was doing a Psychology experiment. I assured her that I was just a writer and she cheekily promised that I fit in just fine.
I put my pad away for the encore and danced to the evening’s closing song, "Rock Lobster." Over thirty years after its release as the band’s first single, it still held up as a perfect dance song. The crowd exited the zoo jubilant, assuring me that the B52s had done their job.
