(originally written 11/25/07)

     I have not been able to write lately because I have not really had the time and by the time I did, I had forgotten exactly what I wanted to write. Enough of excuses though.

    Last night I went to a concert at home of my favorite band, The Academy Is… Unfortunately, it was the not the best concert of their’s that I have seen; it wasn’t that they didn’t perform well, but I was a little preoccupied for most of the concerts and felt like I was fighting for my life. After the second band was finished, the kids near the front of the pit just started pushing every which way and they did not seem to understand that there was nowhere for people to move but they just kept pushing. This was the biggest concert of TAI I had ever seen in the biggest venue besides the Honda Civic Tour, and it was the most cramped I had ever been. In all honesty, I felt like my ribs were going to break. I always stay out of mosh pits and try to stay out of the general moshing of the pit sometimes, but this was insane. I could barely move of breather until after the fourth band when we decided we couldn’t take in anymore and fought our way to the side. We couldn’t see as well, but we could move and breathe.

   Nowadays when I go to concerts I feel pretty old, but most of the time in life I feel really young. I’m pretty sure I was older than most of the people around me, ranging from 1 to 7 years older. One of the things I did notice is that the pushiest and nastiest people were probably the ones from 14-16 years old, and maybe some younger ones too. Sometimes they were just plain nasty, one girl started pulling on the hair of the girl in front of her because she was taller; how immature is that? So many of these kids were fighting for no reason to get closer to the stage and didn’t care about anyone but themselves and the friends they were with. So what if people were being squished and could literally not move, they weren’t directly affected so they didn’t give it a second thought. Sure, almost everyone in the pit wanted to be front and center, but after a point people need to realize that’s just not going to happen and enjoy the concert from where they are.

    The sad thing is, in my opinion, that there is part of a generation that just has the me-first mentality and it doesn’t just apply to the pit at a concert. There have always been people like that in the world, but probably not as many. There are so many more influences now that lead to that mindset. It starts widespread in the kids about 2 years younger than me and trickles down to the even younger. One of the major influences I see is the television programming, much of which is just reality shows of priviledged and rich kids; shows like Laguna Beach, the Real Housewives of Orange County, and the Fab Life on VH1. Kids see this and think that they should have the same thing, even though they are probably worlds away from anything like how Lauren Hill lives. Kids are growing up constantly seeing the lives of celebrities when they are the most impressionable. So many parents also try to coddle their children and tell them they deserve the best, but from seeing everything on TV and in pop culture the kids don’t realize they have to work to get the best, they just feel like everything should be handed to them.

    The work ethic seems to be very slowly diminishing in our country. I’m not saying that we should be like some of the baby boomers, married to our work and doing everything we can to become CEO of that majors Forbes 500 company, but we should still try to work hard at what we do. Personally, from my limited personal experience, people around my age are not as lazy and coddled as people think; most people just want to do things untraditionally and don’t see how wearing a suit to work would help a good work environment compared to being comfortable in jeans. I feel like we still work, but many of the younger generation feel like they don’t have to and they deserve everything just handed to them. They have just become more and more selfish and more me-oriented. Everyone should take some time for themselves and allow themselves some personal indulgences from time to time to keep themselves sane and happy, but there’s more to life than that; but where is that depicted in current pop culture? It’s not, especially when heiresses like Paris Hilton are always in the public eye. Is there a way to right this wrong? Some parents might be unconsciously supporting this behavior, and some others have children that are so self-involved as it is that they will not take anything they don’t want to hear from their parents into consideration. I really hope that this trend doesn’t continue and that this situation isn’t as widespread as I think.

    Because of the fact that half the time I was at the concert I was getting beaten and pushed and squished, I was not able to enjoy the concert as much as I could have. During the first band who played before the concert technically started when everyone wasn’t there yet, I had fun. I was dancing and jumping and singing along with everyone else. I wasn’t the closest to the stage, but that didn’t matter. It was a little more crowded for the second band, but not too bad, and after that it continually got worse. I have seen The Academy Is… on multiple occasions already, three this year alone before yesterday and I have loved the experience every single time before, and if I had not seen them on this tour already I would have been very disappointed. They were amazing, and people were singing along and jumping, but it just didn’t feel the same. It wasn’t just people who genuinely love the band who have been with them for years or even just music lovers, it was people who went because they could. I just was not feeling the vibe I usually do at one of their concerts; maybe it was just because I was feeling so bad by the end of it. The band said it was probably the best experience they has ever had onstage, and yet their set seemed shorter than when I saw them on the first date of the tour, and this was the first concert of theirs besides at the Honda Civic Your, when the crowd didn’t even try to get an encore from them. Yeah, it was a really long show, but I just wasn’t feeling the love.

    As horrible as it is, I almost don’t want them to make it big. I’ve been listening to them and seeing them for the past 3 years and it’s been amazing; they would used to come out and say hi to the fans waiting outside the venue and have signings and were just nice guys, and now there are way too many people for them to do that anymore. They started a fan club so they could try to keep touch with some of their fans, but I feel bad for the kids that can’t join. I joined, and I wasn’t even able to go to the meet and greet yesterday which was supposedly rushed since there are so many members in Chicago. I’m happy for them and their success, and yet I’m jealous of it since they are no longer just my band. They are not huge yet, and are not headlining in arenas, but last night they played in a venue twice as big as their normal one and it sold out; that’s probably an amazing feeling for them, but I would rather be at a sold out show in a more intimate venue with people who truly care and feel the music. I’m not saying I’m one of those people whose lives where saved by their music, but it has touched me and I really appreciate it. I really hope that their new fans feel the same way, but I’m sure some of them don’t even really listen to the lyrics. I am not yet going to go as far as to say that they are selling out and only care about the money, but I do hope they don’t go down that path.

    For once though, I would like to be in their position, but starting to make it big and having thousands of fans, but to just be in an amazing band. If I can feel amazing during most of their shows from feeding off of their energy and the energy of the crowd, I can’t imagine the rush they get actually performing. I would love to be onstage and perform to a responsive crowd like last night’s, where at least a third of the people are singing along, or even at a smaller venue where everyone is singing along. To know that people actually love your music and appreciate it must be a great feeling. That’s not the only reason I want to be a musician, but that would be an amazing perk to the job. Maybe one day, but I can’t even play an instrument yet and my singing voice is not that great. Until the day I can be part of a band and be a musician, not even a great one, just one, and probably even after that day I will still be living in other people’s music and hopefully the next time I go to a concert to live in the music, I won’t be beaten alive and fear getting a broken rib.