my first rock concert. and my last.

well, me and miss rabbit had one of our first "big girl" adventures february 5. we attended the hinder rock concert in the nearby town. just the two of us- no boys. i told her i thought it would be really fun if it could just be a girls thing and she agreed. i sort of wish she hadn't.

this is how the night panned out.

five o clock i finally escaped chemistry lab and i began readying myself. after forty five minutes of straightening and hair spraying hair, applying fake eyelashes, drawing on gobs of black liner and mascara, and squeezing myself into skinny jeans and a tight black v-neck tee, i was ready. and after forty five minutes of curling her hair, applying pretty pink eyeshadow, and putting herself into jeans and a white top, miss rabbit was ready to go too. i was "rocker chick" and she was "girlie girl."

we arrived at the location a half an hour before the doors opened at seven. and we were met with such long and wide lines that we parked ourselves and stayed in the car. sat on the heated seats. listened to music. and played word games to overcome the boredom. and while we stewed, our apprehension of the coming night grew. more particularly my nervousness was affecting my bladder. or as miss rabbit so affectionately called it: my "tiny tank."

we watched children, teenagers, older people, middle aged people, and people of our own generation pass by on their way to the doors. finally when we could no longer postpone reality, we breathed and strengthened our backbone, and sauntered over to the doors. again to be faced with a just as long line.

fortunately the line went fast, and after being patted down and corralled, we beelined for the bathroom. and as to be expected at any concert the line was long. and slow. forty minutes later i found out the bathroom was only equipped with three toilets. lovely.

standing in line we encountered cutters (thank god the lady in front of us said something to make them leave, i was scared. they looked really scary), obnoxious drunk women shouting about how bad they had to piss, and other women who would walk up to the bathrooms and then notice the long line and be outraged. finally, we relieved ourselves and made way into the concert room. where the opening band was beginning. thirty minutes or so later, hinder came on stage.

let me say a few things first:

1. the concert was for all ages. it should not have been. i would say fifteen and over would have been appropriate. there was a lot of f words being thrown around (by the lead singer and in the songs), a lot of drunks, a permanent marijuana stench, and little kids weren't even able to see (if they were in the very middle of things) because they were too short.

2. there should have been a reserved area and a cheap ticket area. some sort of border to separate the decent folk from the hoi polloi (no offense).

3. and the bouncers/security men should have been a little more stringent in what they deemed okay, and not okay.

the concert itself was pretty good. since the band was touring to promote their second and newest cd, we were unfamiliar with most of the songs. we only had the first (and we deemed it the best) cd.

actual encounters were not many. just one incident where one tall homeboy and his friend stood really close to us. and looked at us. later the tall one kept squeezing his way in and out of the center of the crowd over and over for reasons unknown. and offended miss rabbit with an accidentally grope to her breasts.

along with enjoying (that is not the most precise word...) the concert, i enjoyed observing the behavior of the people and the people themselves. i made a mental list of things i wanted to rant and blog about so here goes:

1. the drunk people. they were in the center of the mass, near the stage (we were close to the front but off to the side, and not totally locked in) and did i mention they were totally trashed? of course during all the extreme rocky songs they tried their best to start a mosh pit. they crouched and ran in little circles knocking into each other and other unwilling participants. very unwilling participants. people had to hold hands so they wouldn't fall down. many actually did fall down, and one overweight and overwrought girl with glasses was getting really upset. at these times me and miss rabbit took a couple steps back and took in this behavior at a safe distance.

2. the head banging tweens. off to my side were about four tween boys with the cliched mop of dirty and long hair. and of course they were using it. by doing head banging motions or just outright whipping their heads around in tight circles flinging my face with sweat, dandruff, and most likely lice.

3. the man/woman. a person standing in front of both of us who seemed to be enjoying the show. the only excitement they showed was a slight bobbing of the head and at one point a succession of whoo's. but for the life of me, i could not figure out if it was a man or a woman. miss rabbit told me later she was a woman and she smelled really bad. i wouldn't doubt it.

4. the anorexic poseurs. these two, really made me mad. they looked like sisters but i couldn't be sure. both were small, rail thin, had sad facial expressions, shorn heads, spiked dog collars (which could be dangerous. hello!), and the entire time had their arms in the air. i would continually see their pale stick arms and hands strewn with those black and red jelly bracelets tied in knots around their wrists and fingers (so middle school) waving in the air. they were doing the rock hand symbol and one kept putting both her hands together in a heart shape whenever the singer would look in her direction. i couldn't stand it!

5. me and miss rabbit were sure the lead singer was gay. but we later found out he was married. anyways he reminded us of johnny depp from pirates of the caribbean. he had longish black stringy hair and wore a long swallow tailed black coat decorated with studs and leather. and all the microphone stands had bras hanging from them. that was funny.

6. the overall look of people there was just unattractive. they were scary, intoxicated, trashy, obnoxious, and creepy. even during the last song (get stoned) someone lit up and the smell of pot permeated the air.

finally we left at ten. and were quite happy to get back to our safe and comfortable room. all in all, it was quite an experience but we agreed that it just wasn't our scene.