Saturday I went and saw the greatest concert of my life (AFI, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Linkin Park) at The Gorge. Now I wouldnt be making an essay of a post on something like this if it wasnt worth sharing. So bear with me because every word I write is the truth. Heres what happened. Alex Harms, Ryan Brown, Jordan Williams, and I got through security at 5:30ish and were seated on the lawn section (cheap plebian seats). Concert started at 6:30. We sat and waited. The sun was going down and I was in full meditaton mode, my legs all folded up and everything, just conserving my energy for the orgasmic night I was about to partake in. I was there for one band and more specifically one man only... Jared. The Angel. Leto. The first band to start it all was AFI (A Fire Inside). I honestly feel bad for them because the reaction from the crowd was equal to brushing your teeth in the morning. I clapped a few times, that was it. They played, they left, we moved on. NOW HERES WHERE THE CONCERT BECAME THE BEES KNEES. I told my group of friends that the moment 30 Seconds to Mars descended upon us mere mortals, I was gone. That was exactly what happened. When the speakers boomed and out from the fog came the band of my dreams, my adrenaline and strength kicked in like that of a fat kid chasing the ice cream truck down the street, except this truck was having a blowout sale on double stuffed extra chunky Snickers ice cream with chocolate waffle cones. I ran. I ran through the crowd and jumped DOWN the stair-step seating built into the hill. I literally gallopped over people in the process and landed mostly on my feet, leaving them unscathed. I gripped onto the fence and from the deepest crevices of my soul, I bellowed everything I could muster. It was perfection. I was in the moment. The music penetrated me and I savored every song like a big ol plate of sushi. I climbed on top of the fence, shook it like a rag, and was in complete crazed-fan mode. Jared Leto was love. Jared Leto was life. For an hour of my life, I was of the moment. I was going so nuts, the people around me were working off of it. And they were probably scared I was drugged out, but for the most part they went with it and it was pure ecstasy. 30 Seconds to Mars sang about half of their new album and then did a few songs that were shouted out: Kings and Queens, Hurricane, This is War, and Bury Me. Exactly what I wanted. Two unforgettable moments happened that night. Moments Ill reminisce and smile about when Im old and immobile. First, Jared moved into the seated crowd on the right side and sang Bury Me with an acoustic guitar. The lawn fence was about 50 feet to the closest point from where he was singing, so naturally I ran to that spot. Nobody was getting in my way. I jumped onto the fence and sang with all my bodily capacity. I was so loud and probably obnoxious, he turned with his luscious Jesus hair all LoReal like in the wind and he looked right at me and right there, we shared a moment. You guys, Jared Leto, the lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars, the legendary, Academy-Award winning, rockstar made eye contact with me. His blue eyes met up with mine. And he smiled. And I smiled. We smiled at each other for that moment and the 6000 others there were gone. It was just us. I can legitimately assure you. Jared. Is. Beautiful. If you dont know who Im talking about, look him up. The cameras dont lie. After that moment, the second lifelong memory took place. He went back on stage and he sang one last song: Closer to the Edge. He called out that he needed the craziest, greatest fans on stage. Thats me! He was grabbing fans from the crowd in the mosh pit. I was in the back on the lawn about 400 ft away from the stage. 3 fences were in my way: Two fences for the lawn section that put an empty gap between us nothings from the hoity-toity seated section, and then the fence for the mosh pit section right next to the stage (the cream of the crop tickets). I first ran around to the right side and took the path to the pit to see if I could just run through security. And it worked... mostly. The guard at the seated area was a little guy close to my age, I sprinted right past him and apologized while he yelled at me that I couldnt do that. The second guard to the moshpit was serious business. He mustve been born knowing he would bounce for a living. I tried to do the same thing as I did with Security Kid but he was a wall, shoved me right back and flat out told me No. Security Kid caught up to me, so I let him take me back and we walked back to the lawn fencing on the right side. Back where I started. The song was halfway through and I NEEDED to be up there. If I was going to make a move, it was now. I would have to jump the fences and run through the battlefield of guards, chairs, and bodies left by the performance Jared just killed. Honestly, my thought process was that they could kick me out at this point and I could go home happy knowing that I saw 30 Seconds to Mars live. So really I had nothing to lose. I was between guards and waited until their attention was somewhere else (i.e. their phones or another guard next to them). I was a prisoner behind that fence and I had to be set free. The opportunity came, they were both distracted. The spirit of Steve McQueen from The Great Escape took hold of me and I parkoured over that lawn fence, booked it across the gapped area, supermanned over that second fence and merged into the seated crowd all Recon like. One section was behind me, I think I was safe. I tapped people on the shoulders and told them I was coming through. I crouched down low, like working through some deep Amazonian brush of a crowd, I crawled over the seats and dashed between aisles. In no more than 20 seconds I was at the last fence. And behold, right in front of me was The Pit. I took grip of the black fence and made one last jump over. Now you know that moment in The Sandlot where Benny Rodriguez jumps over the fence and lands in The Beasts lair and you can just feel the magnitude of the poop he is pooping in his pants as he realizes what he just got himself into? I became Benny. In no more than 30 seconds I traveled through 3 sections to arrive on Mars. No security saw me, I was safe, and I was IN THE PIT. I pushed my way through and I was a mere 20 ft from the stage. But lo, and trust me it still hurts, my efforts were futile. These people would not let me through, I mean of course they wouldnt! They were there for the same reason I was and why would I be the exception?! Unfortunately, the song came to an end and 30 Seconds to Mars exited the stage. Even though I didnt make it on stage, I did just work my way up to get a $150 ticket position and the header band hadnt even come out yet! I now had a spot in the mosh pit with 300 other drunk, high, sweaty, crazed hoodlums to watch Linkin Park for the next 1 1/2 hours. It wasnt Jared Leto, but I know that the 5700 other people behind me would die for the spot I was in. I found an UNOPENED water that someone dropped and I downed it like a bad post on reddit. I called my friend to reveal the big news. Alex, I made it! What do you mean? Im IN the mosh pit, Alex! I ran and jumped the fences and made it through! ...No. Way. Ill get you pictures, Ill see you at the end of the concert! And so the most brutal concert of my music experiencing career began. These people had stood all evening to see Linkin Park. They were more wired and antsy than a pack of coked up, freshly bathed chihuahuas. At this point my voice was gone, my heart was at max palpitation, and I was a sweaty twitchy mess, but the night was oh so young and we had a 27 song set list from the third best selling artists of the decade to experience! Lets go. Imagine your drowning and your trying to swim up to the surface for air, yet at the same time, hundreds of people are trying to push you back down to the bottom. In a masochistic way, thats exactly what The Pit was, and it was glorious. I got punched a few times and bit my lower lip. There was one guy in there, I can honestly say he was more monster than man. When One Step Closer was played, this spawn of Donkey Kong literally picked me up by the arm and leg and hucked me into the crowd like a hay bale. I remember as I was suspended in mid-air I had a moment to really appreciate that something like this may never happen to me again. It was all fun and games though, we were there to share the ruthless experience; we were all friends. I put my arm around a few guys and we sang songs together. I crowd surfed. Linkin Park threw shirts, drumsticks, and picks into the crowd. FINALLY, after 4 1/2 hours the concert ended. I caught up with my friends and shared everything with them. I couldnt sleep on the 3 hour drive back and couldnt fall asleep in my bed until the morning. The greatest part of it all though, was the energy that I gave off for everyone around. Theyd look at me and become inspired to scream out and go berserk. This sounds super egotistical, but the reason this happened was because the whole time I was dressed up as Hot Rod. :P
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 01:10:06 +0000
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