Friday night I went to my first show. These guys:
Well, first show sort of. I've been to a Tori Amos concert, and I've seen Trout Fishing 5 or 6 times, but those are pretty tame outings compared to where I was last night. Picture the scene: the Metro on Clark in Chicago, a fairly intimate venue. We were just a few people from the stage. There are no seats in a place like this because you aren't supposed to be sitting; you're supposed to be on your feet dancing and getting tossed around in the crowd and stuff. The show was sold out, so we were packed in pretty tightly.
At first -- I kind of hated it. The music isn't exactly my type of music, especially not close up like that where you're just being assaulted with sound, and there's no possible way to make out a single word the singer is saying. Some ass in front of me was dancing in a way which even I, with my limited show experience, could easily see was in strict violation of the unwritten social contract which governs dancing in an area where bodies are pressed against you in all directions. Flailing limbs are NOT okay. Most of my bruises today are from his elbows. For a while, I just stood there with my arms crossed trying to protect myself from him. Add to that my 30 years and schoolmarmish appearance, and you can understand my extreme discomfort in this crowd of teens and hipsters.
Then -- I started to like it. There were some songs with no lyrics and it was easier to get into the music when I wasn't trying to figure out what the singer was saying. And the whole moving with the crowd thing came together for me, the way that when you're learning how to ride a bike you fall off a bunch at first and maybe hate your bike, but then when you've finally found your balance, the whole activity is suddenly a lot of fun. Soon, I even perked up enough to only roll my eyes when the guy in front of me tried to grind on me, and when the kid to my left accidentally burned me with his joint, I was able to smile understandably in response to his apologetic face.
It was a good time.
1 comment:
It is SOOOOO obvious that the singer is lip synching in the video. I hope this was a free concert. Be careful, though. You probably started liking the music because that guy with the joint next to you was too close.
PS I can't spell synching but WORD says I'm not wrong (in the sticktest sense of the word) so I'm going with it this way.
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