As a kid, I remember jamming out to Kool and the Gang and laughing at my mother for not knowing who they were. I’d make fun of her whenever she’d break out her record player and put old Beatles records on. Little did I know that Karma would soon have her dirty way with me.
If you’re in your twenties and you think that you’re still young, then try going to a Fall Out Boy concert. One look at the people who were waiting in line to get in and I suddenly felt like I needed hip replacement. I was quite possibly the oldest fan there, but I held my head up proudly and stuck through the harrowing experience. I’ve put together a list of things to remember for anyone my age who decides to attend a similar event:
· Keep your strength up.
It’s important to fulfill your nutritional requirements during any all-day event, whether it’s a sci-fi convention, a gay hotel orgy, or a Fall Out Boy concert (which, eerily enough, all seem to draw the same type of crowd). Power bars are the food of choice for Trekkies, but the gel packets that marathon runners use for races are also convenient. The last thing you want is to contend with a hypoglycemic-like collapse in the middle of a mosh pit.
· Don’t make eye contact with the other fans and definitely do not engage them in conversation.
It may be tempting to rag on the horrifying fashions worn by the tweens who attend such concerts, but it’s best to keep your eyes down. If you stare at them for more than a second, you’d be frozen. You’d stand there, staring at them, wondering how they ever thought that wearing flannel indoors was hip. You’d look at their makeup and wonder how all of that eyeliner managed to stick to their skin without clumping off. Before you know it, an hour will have passed.
And don’t even think about making conversation with them. Not only will they give you their life story, but they’ll make references to things that you will know nothing about. By the end of the conversation, they will have added you as a friend on facebook and sent you their results to the “Which Pirates of the Caribbean character are you?” quiz.
· Don’t wear trendy white shoes.
I’ve never understood the draw of wearing nice shoes out at the bars because everyone else is too concerned about their own shoes and they’re probably too drunk to care about anyone anyway. I really don’t see why people would wear nice shoes at a concert that didn’t have a conductor in it. I made the mistake of wearing my new white Tsubos to this concert and now they’re my new gray Tsubos because I got stepped on so much.
· Be prepared to bend over at a moment’s notice.
I’m not being nasty. There’s actually a very good scientific explanation to this tip. Everyone knows that tall objects topple over, while an object of the same mass but different height will not budge as easily. When the crowd starts to push when they see something they like, you can bet that you’ll be on the floor faster than Annelle looking for her contact lens at the Christmas fair. If you bend your knees and lean forward, you’ll shift your center of gravity and you won’t fall over. You might even get some jollies from the occasional crotch that rubs up in your goodies. Ok, I was being nasty.
· You do weigh more than a fourteen year old white girl.
Pete Wentz made a cameo during Hey Monday’s set and I felt a bony arm come across my chest. There was a skinny white girl attached to that bony arm and she almost pushed me over. I then realized that I was bigger than her, so I grabbed her wrist, flung it away from me, and pushed her away. I also called her a “betch” and flipped my imaginary long blond hair out of my face.
· Bring nose plugs.
Forget the ear plugs. They may protect your ears from the loud music, but they do absolutely nothing to block out the piercing screams of misguided fan girls who think that Pete Wentz is playing his guitar to them and no one else.
Nose plugs, on the other hand, mean the difference between enjoying the environment and holding back the power bar or gel pack you should have eaten in the beginning like I suggested.
· You can still have a good time even if you’d never heard of the opening bands.
There’s nothing worse than realizing that you’re an old geezer at age 29. I’d never heard of Hey Monday, Metro Station, All Time Low, or Cobra Starship, yet everyone around me knew every word to every song. The best thing you can do in this situation if you’re an old gay man like me is to squint your eyes and pretend that the band members are attractive. This was easy for these bands because all the guys were fucking hot. Then all you have to do is smile and nod your head like you’re saying “yes” to them asking if you want to give them a hand job in the bathroom. If you’re a prude, you can just jump up and down to get a better look at the bulges in their tight black jeans. Either way, you’ll look like you’re into the music even though you don’t know what the fuck is going on.
· When times get tough and you feel like giving up, look for inspiration.
It’s three hours into the concert. Your feet hurt. You’re tired. You’re hungry. Your nose is burning from the putrid stench of unwashed teenage armpit. It’s easy to just call it quits and go home. What do you do? During moments of despair, people often look to Jesus as their source of comfort. I found my own personal saviors in the hot daddies who took their daughters to the concert to protect them from devious young men.
The important thing to remember is that you have every right to be there, just like everyone else. Cher said to “follow your bliss,” and you should never feel ashamed of it, even if your bliss is the bliss of every emotionally-unstable teenager in the Chicagoland area.