9/5/13

09-04-13

There is a change in lighting and the in-between-set music slowly fades until you're left with nothing but a quiet, hesitant room full of strangers.  And anticipation.  A substantial amount of that.

As soon as the act of the hour begins their set, they arrive.  Right on time.  And by they, I mean the people who think it's perfectly okay to squeeze right in front of you in blatant violation of the unwritten rules of concert culture, and put their drinks down on the stage that has a sign which clearly states, "NO DRINKS ON STAGE." 

I'm beside myself. 

They whisper.  As if whispering is any less distracting than just jumping on the stage and rubbing their tongues all over the instruments.  They wiggle around.  There is no end in sight to all of the whispering and the wiggling.  And they never sing a single word at all, ever, to any of these songs that have saved you in the past.

Some people might simply label this as annoying.  I would take it further.  I call it irreverence.  Because I'm dramatic like that and had been looking forward to this concert for my whole entire life.  Or maybe just a few years, but come on.

Towards the end of the set, which mostly consisted of me leaning to the opposite side of the tall wiggly whisperers directly in front of me and flashing angry eyes at Drew as he mouthed, "CALM DOWN", someone to my left gets my attention.  They have their friends clear a space right at the front of the crowd, and motion for me to move up there.  I'm hesitant, tell them I'm too tall.

This person, this glorious stranger insists. "You know every word."

And I was beside myself again, but in a much better way.

5 comments:

  1. "And they never sing a single word at all, ever, to any of these songs that have saved you in the past." how utterly true.. i'm so glad that glorious stranger made your night.

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  2. i've never been to an actual concert (shame, i know) but at camp during worship i can never see the words or anything so i can imagine going to a concert and trying to actually listen to amazing people sing and people acting like they don't care could be annoying-- or irreverant. but wow, the glorious stranger totally made up for it. so nice they noticed. xx

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  3. never stop writing! you have a gift, lady.

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  4. "As if whispering is any less distracting than just jumping on the stage and rubbing their tongues all over the instruments"

    Pretty positive that this is my favorite piece of writing of all time. Nothing will ever beat that line or be more accurate. Concert goers are such... characters. I went to a show and a lovely gay couple pressed up against me the entire show. One guy was rubbing the other guys back... and also giving me a mammogram. NO JUDGEMENT BUT PLEASE NOT AT A CONCERT.

    Em
    Tightrope to the Sun

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  5. This is brilliant. I can't tell you how many times I felt that concert goers disrespected the artist that I showed up to see. Thank goodness for kind strangers!

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