Feeling Sixteen Again
Last night, I went to see a band. I was a little nervous about it. It was my first time going to see a band in my new city. I've never been to the bar, there was no easy parking around, and I didn't know what the crowd would be like.
Initially, I considered skipping the support bands and just going to see the headliner, but that would have just been letting the fear of the unknown win.
And I'm glad I didn't. They were pretty good bands! I remembered how fun it was to go see an Australian band at a dingy bar.
When the support bands were playing, I was happy to hang back a bit, but I noticed tall guys were standing right up front. Don't they know that's not good live show etiquette? So, between sets, I decided I was getting to the front while they all bought a drink or two.
So there I was, front row at the rock show when the band came out. Initially, it was a bit of head nodding, and then they played one of their most popular songs and the crowd surged forward! There was no barrier between us and the stage, and I wondered if we were all going to fall onto it.
We didn't, but I was getting jostled around by these bigger men, and I was transported back to being sixteen when I first saw this band live. Front row in a sea of tall guys jumping around, going with the flow just to avoid getting trampled.
At first, I was a little annoyed. Like, come on guys, can you not elbow me?! Can you have a little self-awareness, please?? But I remembered I had put myself there, in the front row, and I let myself get moved around by the crowd. And it was fun!
It was kind of wild how much trust there was in the crowd. People would lean sideways or backwards, just assuming someone would push them upright again.
For the last song, one of the band members started crowd surfing. At that point, I decided I was no longer sixteen and I didn't want to get kicked in the head, so I moved out of the way and happily watched the fun instead.
Now it's the next day. I didn't get much sleep, I'll probably lose my voice, and I'll likely find some new bruises, but I'd definitely go back and do it again.
For a couple of hours, I got to be sixteen again, except this time I was old enough to know when to get out of the way.
Do you prefer the big atmospheres of festivals and stadium shows or like smaller smaller shows? Email me or leave a message on my guestbook.
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