Where's Our Encore?

Screaming, shoving, mosh pits, the smell of pot from backstage.

I remember my first rock concert like it was yesterday.

AP Tour, March 27, 2011.

Although, I have to honestly say the beginning of it was quite disappointing.  I love my brother, Joe, and his girlfriend so much, they're amazing.  But, I had it in my mind that I was going to see the whole rock concert, but....they did not take me to the whole thing.  Well, long story short, a few tears were shed and I finally ended up getting there halfway through, meeting up with a friend of mine, Elijah. 

Before I was allowed to enter, I had to get patted down by a guard at the front, which for me, was a first.  I didn't mind, though.

The show took place at the Regency Ballroom in San Fransisco.  There were 2 bars in the very back of the stage, serving beer in plastic cups.  There was also a first aid area outside of the ballroom, in case someone got hurt.  Which, I would find, wasn't exactly hard to believe.

There were some very strange people there, but nothing I didn't expect.

There were 2 type of people that attended the concert.  Those that wanted to have fun, and didn't really care about the music, and those who stayed back from the front and just listened.  

I expected everything that happened there, to happen.  The bands on-stage were screaming, cursing like crazy, and throwing full, open water bottles into the crowd.  One band even threw 2 drum sticks into the crowd.  One of the sticks ricocheted off my calf.  When I finally realized what hit me, it was too late when I finally turned around to grab it.  A kid, who seemed a little younger than me, had snatched it up.  There were some really poor attempts of crowd-surfing.

I had started to make my way up front with Elijah, his dad, and his younger brother.  Then, out of nowhere, people in the very front started shoving, for no reason.  It was pretty insane.  I tried to avoid it, not wanting to have to visit the first aid area in front by the entrance.

I finally managed to get farther up into the front.  The closer I got the the stage, the more that the smell of marijuana and sweat overwhelmed me.  It wasn't bad though, just strange.  The smell was sweet, musky, and somewhat natural.  

There were very large guards in the front, keeping people from getting on stage.  The picked up anyone who got close, and set them down somewhere farther.  They looked angry, but now that I think about it, they probably had to be to keep the bands safe.

Before I even got up close to the front, a mosh pit formed, and I was on the very edge of it.  I almost got shoved into it by fellow rock-lovers.  People I didn't know were doing the weirdest things in there.  I guess that kicking, screaming, head-banging, and running in circles is called dancing.

So anyways, I tried to make myself get closer to the stage before my favorite band performed.  However, there was a very short, obese girl screaming bloody murder in my ear, so I decided to back out of there, and go stand in the front to the left of the stage.

 I had the chance to see 3 bands (out of five).  The first, I think, was the band "Conditions."  The second, was Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows (DRUGS for short).   The lead singer one said, "Hey.  Kid with the glasses.  I'm gonna fuck that girl you got your arm around later." 

I missed Versa Emerge, and I See Stars.

 When DRUGS was finally done playing, the stage crew set up a huge black screen, while they set the stage for my second favorite band, Black Veil Brides (my first being Avenged Sevenfold, but that doesn't matter right now).

I left the ballroom temporarily to buy some stuff.  After I was done with that, I went back inside.  A few minutes passed, and then it happened.  BVB (Black Veil Brides) started playing.  The played almost all their songs, including "All Your Hate," "Knives and Pens," and my personal favorite, "Perfect Weapon."  It was so incredible.  Andy Six would stop singing, point the mic to the crowd, and wait for the crowd to finish the lyrics.  Like the other bands, BVB threw full water bottles into the crowd, spraying water everywhere.  The crowd was going wild.

There was an immense amount of energy coming from them.  They were tackling one another, and Andy's pants, at one point, almost fell down.  

They cursed a lot in between songs, which was quite funny, because none of their songs have that.

I remember that at the end of BVB's performance, Ashley Purdy took his guitar and flipped it over his head, revealing the back.  "PORN", it said, in black scratchy letters.

The crowd desperately tried to get an encore, but BVB was done.  After all was said and done, I left the venue with a Black Veil Brides poster, a shirt, a necklace, and a bracelet.

Hopefully, I will soon attend another rock concert.  My hopes are for Avenged Sevenfold to perform near me.

-Jen