surprise in concert

Friday, April 24, 2009 |
Jo, who lives around the corner and sometimes lends me baking implements, sent me a text on Wednesday afternoon.

4:31pm  Jo:  Hey! Do you like and/or know fall out boy and would be interested in going to a show tomorrow?!

4:33pm  Me:  how much are tix? i’d love to, but flat broke till may

4:34pm  Me:  crap. also have class till 7

4:48pm  Jo:  I can spot you for it no worries. I wasn’t planning on leaving until after 7 so that wouldn’t be a problem. Let me know!

4:56pm  Me: YES!

And thus I found myself at a Fall Out Boy concert last night, after six hours of seminar and not much sleep the night before.  Just for the record, I know two and a half Fall Out Boy songs.  That ‘Dance Dance’ one, the ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’ one, and half of ‘America’s Sweethearts.’  I say half, ‘cause I know the chorus.  BUT!  The wonderful thing about a pop/punk concert you didn’t plan on going to is that you don’t have any preconceived notions to hold you back from enjoying yourself.  As in, I just enjoyed the music and the show without spending the whole time wishing for a certain song, or obsessing about a particular band member, or (thank goodness!) going down into the crowd of high school kids right in front of the stage to jump around.

And I’ve never really noticed it before (this may be because I’m not a concert-going type...wait for it, I’ll explain later), but concerts are great places to people-watch.  There was this one girl in particular that caught the eye immediately.  She was wearing a deep v-neck white t-shirt, a black tie, suspenders, extremely tight jeans and knee-high boots with 4-inch heels.  Oh, and she had Lady GaGa hair (you know, the straightest, bleachiest blond possible, with bangs?).  But it wasn’t just her appearance.  She showed up right after us, started dirty dancing with her guy friends, and then tried to finagle her way backstage with a girl friend.  When she couldn’t get past Security, she continued dancing, falling over, and generally providing amusement to our entire section.  The way she worked those suspenders, dude…be classy, Atlanta. 

Speaking of keeping us amused…there were four opening acts before Fall Out Boy played: All Time Low, some band I’m not remembering the name of, Cobra Starship and Metro Station.  We only ended up hearing part of Cobra’s set, and Metro Station’s lead singer had a cold and sounded horrendous, but then after that there was a good twenty minute time out while we waited for the main act to set up and come out.  During the break they played an R&B mix, and one chubby boy (it was at a distance, so I can’t be sure, but he couldn’t have been older than 16) got his groove on.  I mean, he had the entire arena cheering him: getting low, shaking his a$$...he had more moves than I see in most music videos.  At one point he even took his shirt off and had groups of girls running up to hug him.  The Security guy in front of us was laughing and shaking his head, and the rest of us were screaming for more.  Love it.

But to go back to the topic of concert-going in general: it’s just not my deal.  My sister LOVES concerts.  And I’ve been to enough to know what I’ll enjoy, what I’ll tolerate, and what I’ll think was a waste of time.  For instance, I will pay a lot of money to go to (and I really will enjoy) an outdoor Jack Johnson concert.  I’ve been to see Switchfoot a number of times, so I know I like them in concert, too.  What I do not care for are concerts in venues with only one type of seating, bands I don’t know (there was this one time I went to a jazz concert in Pittsburgh and spent the entire time wishing I was on the way home…), having to stand so close to someone that their sweat may transfer onto me (MAJOR hang-up, right there), and events where the median age of attendees is probably 20 or 30 years older than myself (Trans-Siberian Orchestra circa 2007.  No, I did not pay for those tickets.).  I could give you a list of concerts that have been so-so, but I have friends who read this blog, and I’d like them to remain that way…

That said, the Fall Out Boy show was vastly entertaining (both on- and off-stage antics), I’m old enough now to purchase alcohol at these things, and by going to the concert I a) missed a massive thunderstorm (not a huge fan of thunderstorms.  Actually, not a fan AT ALL.) over Atlanta, b) got to hear some sweet music, c) spent my Thursday night doing something rather than going straight off to sleep, and d) got the weekend started off right.  Oh, and I got a couple of cool photos.

1 comment:

Ginny Larsen said...

dude, sounds like you enjoyed yourself... and i would have been laughing right there with you in regards to the 16 yr old.

i love that you point out that i'm a concert fan (i think i only didn't like one concert--5 iron frenzy) and that i am, therefore, AWESOME. oh wait, you didn't say that, but i get the feeling you meant to say so.

anyway, love you tons. and yes, chip is staying with us. cool, no?

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