Sean Manning has put together a collection of essays entitled The Show I’ll Never Forget: 50 Writers Relive Their Most Memorable Concertgoing Experience on Da Capo Press. It only takes a few pages to realize that contrary to what one may be expecting, this is not a book about music. This is not a book about bands, a book where you will have the chance to vicariously experience a memorable musical moment.

The formidable list of writers draws you in. With a roster including Harvey Pekar, Charles Cross, Heidi Julavits, Chuck Klosterman and Rick Moody, it seems to guarantee an absorbing read. And it is. But don’t be fooled into thinking that you’ll be reading about the music.

What happens is that as soon as writers start to remember a concert, they spin a story—as writers often do—around the circumstances of the event. All of a sudden you realize that you are reading about a dicey relationship, a younger sibling, a teenage exploit. By the time you get to the end of the essay, you invariably wonder if the writer was really paying attention to the concert at all, or if they were so wrapped up in their personal lives that they forgot to listen to the music.

But that is also the point. We come to a concert venue with a particular set of expectations, many of which actually do not have to do with the music. It makes sense that the most memorable parts of things may stray off of the stage.

I still feel like it’s a bit of a teaser to pick up a book with Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Nirvana and Miles Davis on the cover and then wind up learning absolutely nothing new about them. It’s true that you may learn something new about yourself, and while that may not make a decent music critique, it does make a decent anthology.