A Bad Calm.

One thing that amazes me is the type of people who go to concerts.
Generally speaking, I would assume that if you paid to see a concert you would have a good time. But at every concert there is at least one of the following: someone to drunk to see the stage, someone to high to make it down two steps to the pit area, and someone to angry to realize they basically paid to get in an argument with me about the flash on their camera.
At Wednesday night’s show, Andrew Bird and the Apostle of Hustle, I was lucky enough not to witness any of the former. There were people drinking, but they were being smart about it, and there was one guy smoking pot and a chick using the flash on her camera, but they both cut it out when I asked them to. I didn’t have any problems with these folks. In fact, I didn’t have any problems at all.
Now, I know what some of you may be thinking. “Dominic, why are you complaining? Wouldn’t you, as a bouncer, be ecstatic at the lack of confrontation?”
I don’t want anyone to get the idea that when I’m working security I go looking for fights, quite the opposite, in fact. As it turns out, if I pour enough charisma through my teeth, most people are happy to stop doing whatever it was that sparked my ill-gotten attention in the first place.
But, when a crowd of people pays to see a concert, I have to imagine they would want to ENJOY the concert. Apparently the fans of Andrew Bird aren't into the whole “moving to the music” scene that so many fans of so many other types of music are down with. To use common vernacular.
Now, I am not the type to say people aren't “doing the right thing” at concerts. I guess I am of the school of thought that you should be doing something other than standing when you go to a concert. I'm not here to pass judgment on you if you choose not to “groove” or “get funky.” However, I will say this: working security for a crowd that doesn’t move is kind of scary. Its really similar to what I imagine babysitting a bunch of heroin addicts must be like. It’s as if you are watching the conglomerate, fully aware of their affliction, and you are constantly on edge waiting for something to spark a riot.
I'm not kidding. “Enforcing” this crowd was a very intense experience. I was constantly waiting for someone’s foot to get stepped on or for a sneeze to explode into a full out brawl. It might have been the boredom, but at one point I saw a kid lift up his hand to readjust his hat and I could have sworn he was going to clobber the girl in front of him.
And there I was, on my toes, ready to save the day.
The moral of the story here kids is that if you are going to go to a show, please enjoy yourselves. Feel free to experiment with whatever you think you can get away with. Maybe even take it over the edge a bit too. I promise that if I don’t like it, I will let you know. Besides, who knows the next time you’re going to be able to pay twenty bucks to hang out with 700 good friends of yours and listen to some sweet tunes?

In other news, Friday night is the LAST EVER Phix show at the Fox. This is good news because it means one less jam band to keep track of. For those of you who enjoy twenty-minute instrumentals and weed, please stop by.