The Concert Experience

April 18th, 2013. I walked into The Tabernacle and an immediate, overwhelming surge of acceptance rushed through me. For the next few hours, this venue would be my home. I spotted a familiar face walking toward the crowd, a girl I'd met twenty minutes prior in line. Walking over together, we began squeezing our way through the crowd. I had wanted to get to the barrier for the first time and, thanks to her, that goal was fulfilled.

In the midst of us making small talk, I found out that she runs a band blog, and I had followed her for a while now. We took a few pictures together then let our mothers find their seats. We were down on the floor and they were up on the balcony.

First, You Me At Six came on. It was amazing; they were amazing. The adrenaline started to take over as soon as I was able to feel the bass in my lungs.

One of my first few 'experiences' with the pit was during their set. we were side stage, my friend and I. Side stage was pretty much the outer edge of the pit. Now see, any other day, getting repeatedly pushed over would result in anger and a fight. But this wasn't any other day for the lot of us. Getting pushed into was now a good thing that everyone wanted to be a part of.

At the time, my friend had a broken ankle. So while the pushing and showing was going on, I kept trying to keep from knocking her down. That and periodically checking up on her lead to me being given a Dolphins hat after You Me At Six's set. Reason being? "...nice during the pit." Let that be lesson to everyone; being nice in life will get you farther than not.

Before Mayday Parade came on, the adrenaline slowly decreased and the sickness started to settle in. Seriously dehydrated and slightly depressed, we reluctantly traded in best seats in the house for balcony seats and some water.

Mayday Parade came on , the adrenaline returned. The balcony was still wild, but not nearly as wild as the ground floor. Part way through the set, they performed 'Somebody That I Used To Know' featuring Vic Fuentes. Vic came out and sang, which was great. I will always love that collab, it was great. Oh, and Derek Sanders performed barefoot, so that was great.

Pierce the Veil was on next, and words cannot even begin to describe how amazing they were. Tony, my husband, was flawless. Jaime was flawless. Mike was flawless. Vic was flawless. If there's one moment that was more prominent than the rest, it was during 'A Match Into Water'. The whole crowd, in unison, yelled: "God, you vulture! Bring her back or take me with her!" There was just this unbelievable connection between us (the crowd) and the four remarkable men on the stage.

All Time Low was introduced by a gentleman in a suit. He announced them like wrestlers, and they came our in robes, which was hilarious. (If anyone's interested, there's a video of it on Youtube.'

It was during All Time Low's set that I (and my mom) realized my mom had (has) a thing for Zack Merrick, their bassist.

A Ton of bras got thrown on stage, mainly at Jack. Don't underestimate me when I say a ton. They were all obviously flawless, again leaving me wishing the night would never end.

But alas, the night was now over. We spent around thirty or forty minutes waiting by the tour buses, but we didn't really get to meet anyone. Toward the end (when I left) we saw Jack but there were already kids piling up by him. Maybe 100 or more.

It's difficult to believe that these men ware all real people and not just sounds on music tracks or photographed faces. But in that moment, I got it. They were real people who did real-people-things. They were beautiful, more so than what a photograph could ever show. Fucking beautiful.