Last night I went to my first concert in maybe half a year. It was really fun — not least because I missed going to concerts.

Okay, this isn’t technically true. I went and saw that band (Habana Abierta) with Emily and Mateo and Genny and Ashley and Maureen. But that was a band I’d only ever heard once before, and it’s not the same.

Anyway, last night I joined my friend Adelaida, with whom I work, to see Micah P. Hinson play at the Teatro Circo Price in Madrid. (You can even see photos from the concert, not taken by me, on flickr; o the internet.) According to her boyfriend, whose name I will admit to having forgotten, Hinson is a lot more popular in Europe than in the States; no one seems to have heard of him. (I learned of him from Ade.) He sounds to me a bit like Murder By Death (the band, not the movie), although his most recent album (All Dressed up and Smelling of Strangers), which he played a lot of music off of, is a variegated cover album, which really covers all sorts of music. His music is usually on the folk side of things, but one song he played made me think of the Ramones (it wasn’t a Ramones cover), one made me think immediately of the Dead Kennedys (I just listened to them as a result), and he covered Bob Dylan.

I don’t think that description really tells you very much, but I guess it’s as it’s going to be.

Micah, although technically the headliner (I think), played second; before him was a group called The Duke and The King, who played a sort of pop-rock that was pretty fun. (They also covered Helter Skelter.) And after him was a more-or-less-blues group called Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, who were fun, although I left about halfway through their set. (Best part of their set: a song called “Bootie Town” — in part because it was actually a fun song, and in part because of being asked what bootie meant. He translated, actually. He didn’t really speak Spanish (and for comparison, Hinson didn’t even try; there were clearly some people who understood, but a lot more I think who just cheered when it seemed right), but he knew enough to say “culo” and, later, “Mala Niña.

And that was that. I should go make dinner.