Monday, June 12, 2006

The Kids Redeemed

It’s no secret that I’m not impressed with the kids today. It could be that I’m just an old bitter man who drinks in the front parking lot with a wife beater and yells at the kids.

After the NIN show, I wasn’t sure what to expect as I headed off to the Artic Monkeys concert.

The concert was held at my favorite venue where I’ve had some of my favorite concert moments. Some that comes straight to mind is seeing Prodigy where we were asked to leave the upper levels because all the jumping was causing the place to become unstable. Orbital/Crystal Method where some of the sickest moves I’ve ever seen were displayed in a dance off. Dido where I was about 5 feet away from her. This and others like Pet Shop Boys and Marilyn Manson just to name a couple.

Earlier that day, I had endured two seriously tough ultimate matches that lasted about 5 hours in over 90 degree heat. We had very limited subs and was playing a high school/college team. Damn kids and their running around. It was all I can do during the game not to just hurl. I’m really selling this sport aren’t I?

Both games were great as both came down to the last point and more importantly we won both games. In the first game, because we were short people, we played 6 vs.7. Now that’s a lot of work trying to cover multiple people.

I was tired, to say the least, going into the concert. The venue offered standing room right in front of the stage or seating up in the balconies. Being old and very tired, we opted for the seats. Up around the seating area, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone around us was English. Not totally unexpected as this is an English Band. Their heavy British accents and England Soccer jerseys was an easy give away.

What a reaction when the monkeys finally came out. They rocked a lot more than I thought they would. There were people dancing in their seats and in the isles. As I looked down from the balcony, I saw a wave of people jumping up and down with fists pumping. Now that’s good crowd.

The energy level stayed high during the whole show. Crowd surfing ensued as the Monkeys kept rocking out. Even as tired as I was, the energy of the place lifted me back to life. About half way through the show I was back up and moving around in the isles too.

I was expecting a good concert, but it turned out to be great and lots of fun.

Kids, especially English ones, you are redeemed.

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