There's only so many "firsts" you can have in your life. First kiss, First time, First Love. In my case, my "firsts" happens to be my first concert. Now, without getting too wordy. I am just going to say, my first concert was absolutely Mental. That being said, that is a complete understatement.
First concerts are always interesting. I guess you could say I was the "Concert Virgin", being the concert "virgin" I was I totally forgot to calculate in the wait time. Not just the wait time. Oh no, the wait time in the freezing cold. Doors should have open at 6 and we were there at 6, but we didn't get into the concert until 7:20. The winter was not friendly to us and the smokers in line didn't help the situation at all. All said and done, we made it into the building. We still had another 15 - 20-minute wait, but hey! I guess that is to be expected. Finally after handing the tickets to the guy collecting them. They had to mark you. If you were 21 and over you got yourself a fancy black light stamp, but if you were under 21, like myself. You got a nice, ugly line of sharpie on your hand.
Once you waited in the freezing cold, got marked and went to the downstairs (where the underage group goes). The concert was starting. The band I decided to go see was "I-Prevail", but of course you can't enjoy the band before you hear the openers. Now, this was a bit of a shock to me considering that there were three openers before I-Prevail played anything. These openers consisted of "Bad seed rising" , "Hotel books", and "Sleep Wave". I honestly have never heard of any of the opening bands, but they weren't bad at all. They had energy and they all had their own tone. I just got a tad bit bored of the openers after I listed to the three bands for a little more than 3 hours.
Three hours passed and it was finally time for the band I came to see, "I-Prevail". Moments after they stepped on stage we were greeted by the band with a "How you Mother Fuckers all doing tonight?!" speech. I have to say after that statement the crowd sure as hell got Rowdy. The band went on to continue about how they felt our concert group was one of the best. The energy the crowd had and how everyone knew the lyrics to the song made them feel like they were back at home in Michigan. The venue I went to see them was at the Chameleon club in Lancaster, Pa. They also mentioned that this happened to be one of their favorite venues back when they played there 2 years ago. The band itself you could truly see that they love what they do and they truly appreciate all their fans.
After the moments of appreciation and getting "hyped". The band went on to play. Now, this was my first concert, but I have always talked to people who went to concerts a lot. They always seem to mention that the group and or singer doesn't sound the same as they do on recordings. I-Prevail did not fall into this stereotype. The band sounded exactly like they do on their albums. It was incredible. That just shows that this band was known for how good they are and not just how good they can make them sound on an album. It was hands down not a disappointment. The music started getting heavier and heavier and out of nowhere, the mosh pit started. People were throwing themselves around, throwing each other around. It was honestly pretty insane. Next thing you know people are crowd surfing left and right. Most of them ended up being dropped, but let's be real. That's to be expected. The security definitely had their work cut out for them keeping people from crowd surfing on to the stage and from climbing on the stage. Rock / Metal concerts get crazy really fast, but in all honesty,I wouldn't have it any other way. The whole night was quite the experience. The band sang their last song, but the crowd managed to get them to do a double encore. Which was great!
The concert was incredible and the night was amazing in itself, but I honestly feel that a concert is 10 x better if you go with people you know and who just want to have a good time. The people I attended the concert with were amazing people overall and just had such a passion for music. Which made everything so much better. A concert is one thing, but having friends that appreciate music as much as you do is something you can't pass up. Last night was so much better just do to the fact I attended my first concert with some great friends.
Rock on!
