Never Too Old to Mosh (updated)

Yesterday, I proved several things to myself: (a) The depths of motherly love are, indeed, infinite. (b) Concert venues rob you blind for food & drinks. (c) One is never too old to mosh.

When we got to Edgefest, the gates hadn't opened, but the line was almost a city block long already. When I got to the security checkpoint, I was informed that my camera wasn't "small enough." (Pardon me, assholes, if you're going to say "small cameras allowed," please elaborate. It's the smallest camera in my house.) So, I got to go back through the line after putting the camera in the car; it was not looking like a good day so far. 

After wandering around the vendors (including the Sierra Club, Frisco Recycling, and Green Mountain Energy!), we went into the stadium. Having social anxiety and agoraphobia to widely varying degrees, I was immediately grateful for having taken my Klonopin. I would estimate 10,000 people were there at this point (at its most crowded I would say 20,000).

When Bullet For My Valentine went on, we went down on the floor (having no intentions of anything other than enjoying the concert). At some point, though, a mosh pit opened up right next to us, and, in the true nature of a mosh pit, began sucking people inside it, including me. At first, I was quite panicked, afraid I would soon surely die. But I didn't. And I got to unleash my (not so) hidden inner fool. It was all good.

Now, let me be clear. Moshing? Very physical, frightening, and pretty damned silly-looking, but somehow cathartic. Crowd surfing? Absolutely the dumbest thing (and pretty freakin' selfish) I can imagine at a concert. Hoisting yourself along at the mercy of millions of groping hands, hoping they can hold your weight (and that they are even paying attention to your body hurtling toward them) is just not bright. To quote Davey Havok, official Beautiful Human & lead singer of AFI (who did, indeed, perform later):

Just in case someone has misled you to believe otherwise, crowd surfing sucks. I would leave it plain and simple like that but, for fear of someone confusing the statement to be only a commentary against aggressive behavior at shows, I shall further clarify. Not to be confused with crowd crawling to sing along, the dying art of stylistic stage diving or the evermore rare head walking, crowd surfing is a passive, non emotive, 'Hey mom look at me and how wild I think I am.' behavior. While kick boxing, slamming, singing along and the like are all visceral and emotional responses to music, crowd surfing is, simply, weak. Always has been. There is really no better way to cheapen a live performance than to float like a happy little cloud atop the hands of discomfited showgoers. For all those aghast, having been misinformed and tricked into thinking it was cool, or far out, or what ever you crazy kids might call it today, FEAR NOT for you are not too far gone! We at the Church of HolyChristCrowdSurfingSucks welcome you with loving arms. Now you know...and you know what GI Joe says about knowing. That is my public service announcement for today.

Ironically, the crowd surfing numbers reached ridiculous proportions during AFI's performance. I just know he was looking out at the crowd, thinking, much as I was, "You fucking morons!"

All in all, my day was exciting, eventful, and, yes, even fun at times. And, just to prove I can turn any blog post into a green opportunity, I got four "Recycle Revolution" organic cotton bags for recycling our drink cups; I dried my hands on my pants when I washed them, and I only used one napkin when I ate lunch!

(Update: Final count was more than 30,000 in attendance. That equals about 1250 pounds of black eyeliner and body jewelry! hehehe)