So OMG!! I am still ridiculously excited about last nights adventure and just had to sit down and tell you all about it. First – those of you who don’t know me may be surprised to hear that I love live music as much as I do. I love lots of different kinds of music, and I don’t really understand all of the different genres that they subgroup stuff into. Like what exactly is the difference between post-hardcore, pop punk, experimental rock, emo, and metalcore? All of those were used to describe one band I like BTW, but basically these days I really love high energy fun music and almost none of the music I enjoy most is played on the radio anymore so I thank the Universe for Spotify.

Growing up in the 60s and 70s it was easy for me to love popular music on the radio. I would save my allowance most weeks and walk to the department store in town (K mart I think it was) and buy as many 45’s as I could! Some weeks I saved up to buy a whole album and THAT was a big deal! The first album I ever bought by the way was the Beatles 67 – 70 collection. The second was Hotel California. After that it was bit of a blur – I was completely addicted. 🙂

I went to my first live show in about 1978 – I was maybe 15. My best friend and I both told our folks we were sleeping at the others house and we hitchhiked from Lindenhurst Long Island to the Calderone Concert Hall in Hempstead NY. It was a 2500 seat venue and we saw Peter Frampton during the “I’m in you” tour. It was amazing… I was completely awestruck and have loved going to live concerts ever since.

In my 20’s and 30s I went to a lot of shows at Nassau Coliseum and some to the Garden but then at some point I kind of drifted away from it for a few years. In Poughkeepsie I loved the Chance and Mid Hudson Civic Center because they were super close and I started going to live shows more often again. I remember taking my favorite little buddy (whose non binary pronouns are they / she) to one of their first shows there – it was a pop K fest show called “Not so silent night” and I got to put her up on my shoulders and work our way towards the front for Miranda Cosgrove.

Flash forward 10 years or so and the kid got into the car and would immediately put their ear buds in and I realized that if I ever wanted to have a conversation with this kid in the car again – I had better figure out a way to help them lose those buds. So I asked them to put the music through Bluetooth and the kid looked at me like “Umm you ain’t going to like this” – I said “Try me!” and the next thing I know “King for a Day” by Pierce the Veil was blasting out of my car speakers and I felt a little like my ear drums were going to implode and I could not make out a single freaking word of the first 10 – 15 seconds of the screaming (I think the kid was going for shock value to shut me up btw – but she had met their match (wink)) because once the song really kicked in and Vic’s voice shifted to the melody – I kind of liked it – ALOT!

I am still not a huge fan of what I consider serious screamo and brutally hardcore stuff but I think I have developed pretty thick skin when it comes to my tolerances for uhh intense vocalization – lol. I have discovered the app Shazam that would listen to a song and give you the lyrics in real time was my best friend. If I can understand the words – a lot of times I can stay engaged long enough to decide if I like the song – sometimes it took a few listens. 🙂 This has helped me expand my musical horizons dramatically over the years.

Most of you have probably never heard of the majority of the bands on my faves playlist… stuff like: Bring Me the Horizon, Falling in Reverse, Black Veil Brides, My Chemical Romance, All Time Low, With Confidence, Stand Atlantic, Pierce the Veil, Sleeping with Sirens, Escape the Fate, A Day to Remember, YungBlud and Simple Plan.

I freaking adore Simple Plan! And that is who we went to see last night. The show was originally scheduled for May but someone came down with Covid so – there we were at the Palladium months later – outdoors with Set It Off, Sum 41, and Simple Plan finishing off with a huge crowd on a beautiful summer evening! My buddy was tucked safely in the ADA tent with enough of a view to be content and I found a spot on the barricade to the left of the stage and just danced and sung my heart out for hours. Then that feeling hit me again … I wanted to try crowd surfing!

Yes! I know it’s crazy and dangerous and potentially life changing in a very bad freaking way but – there is something about the thought of it that makes every cell in my body tingle and I have kept chickening out over and over again. The first time I even saw such a thing was at a PTV (Pierce the Veil) show with the kid they were like 13 and it just looked like fun but my brain said – “Ughh no way lady – you are too old and too heavy for these kids to pass over head” so I let my rotten inner critic win and I was secretly REALLY bummed. – For years! Every show I went to that had crowd surfing – I would longingly look on from the sidelines thinking “Shit. If I could ONLY lose another 20 pounds or so I am going to try that one day!!”

I would also tell myself it’s irresponsible – if they drop you in the parking lot you could end up really freaking hurt, crippled or dead – or you could hurt someone else and that would be truly awful. Then I went to Warped Tour Atlantic city in 2019 and there were 30 thousand people on the beach – on freaking sand – worst case scenario – even if they did drop me how bad could that actually be? But I could not work up the nerve to actually freaking do it! And I regretted it for weeks in fact.

Until a few short weeks later – the very last Warped Tour – Mountain view California – tons of asphalt parking lots – ughh – but the last band (NOFX) of the last night of the last LAST FREAKING WARPED TOUR EVER IS ON STAGE and my brain said “IF you do not DO THIS NOW, you will regret it the rest of your God damn life!” So I off-loaded the backpack and my phone and anything in my pockets to the kid and ran to two tallish guys and the back of the crowd and said in one long breathless babble “OMG I am scared to death and I have never done this but it’s on my bucket list and I have no idea how to do it.. please can you help me get up there?! And seconds later I was in the air being passed over head slowly and bumpily but I WAS DOING IT!! But I had timed it badly because only a few moments later the song ended and I was lowered gently back down the the ground. Even so, I didn’t get hurt , no catastrophes, no injuries or trauma! Ok I didn’t make it all the way to the barricade – But I FREAKING DID IT! I jumped up and down and whooped and woo-hoo’d and ran back to the kid and of course they could not see me well enough to have gotten a video of me actually doing it but they were thrilled for me anyway. 🙂 I called Brett the next day to tell him and all he said was “Pics or it didn’t happen.” Grrr! OMG!! Lol!

So – last night – Simple Plan is playing – the crowd is loving them – loads of people crowd surfing 20 or 30 feet from me – I texted Brett – “I think I am going to crowd surf now – If I die … know that I was doing something I loved” Then I ran over handed the kid my phone etc. and tried to find my way to a spot where I think I see people going up in the air. I found a couple of guys that looked pretty tall and capable – they enlisted the help of 2 more and next thing I know I am up again… it’s almost a bit surreal in the moment – the stage lights wash over the people in the crowd in front of you and all you see is hands and heads and you are watching yourself being passed along over the top of the crowd – with adreneline coursing through your body – to me – it truly feels like an ecstatic experience!

I am sure it felt like I was up there longer than it probably was and then they lowered me down – right at the edge of a mosh pit – something else that kind of terrifies but intrigues me! I hesitated right there at the edge for a moment and went for it!

Now this was a fairly tame pit by moshing standards but I jumped in and bounced and danced and “splashed” in the pit for a few moments and then decided to take my crazy ass back over to where the kid was while I was still feeling pretty damn proud of my uninjured self! Ha lol! I got crowd surfed right into a freaking mosh pit! Woo and or freaking HOO! I was so freaking pumped and ridiculously proud of myself for challenging the fear, overcoming the negative self talk and doing it anyway! IT WAS SOOO AWESOME!!!

Even now the next day – I feel energized and alive and happy. Like ridiculously happy! I am definitely a woman of a certain age. (I am going to be freaking 60 in less than 6 months) I am probably old enough to be the mom of the majority of the folks in that crowd – but that kind of music and the energy of the crowd and dancing, playing – and trying shit that scares the crap out of me – reminds me that I am definitely not dead yet. Far freaking from it!! And I have a LOT of life left in me! I also have a lot more concerts still coming up this fall and I absolutely want to get to that damn barricade! And maybe mosh again – maybe lol OK not positive on that one. But I promise to keep you posted! <grin>

In the meantime I found this awesome article with tips about how to crowd surf successfully and trust me – I am reading and taking notes because I WILL get to that barricade this fall. 😀 RiotFest in Chicago is only a couple of weeks away! Let’s DO THIS!! 😀