Rock n Roll

Terry and I had been waiting a long time. We?d been waiting since we first heard that one of our favourite bands, The Duchess, were going on tour and would be playing Clinton City. We bought tickets immediately, and then we waited. When the night of the concert finally arrived, Terry drove us to the colosseum, and we waited in line to get in. I turned and surveyed the concert-goers standing behind us for as far as I could see. Even though we hadn?t moved since we joined the queue, I estimated that there were more people behind than in front of us, and that felt like progress.Finally at quarter past seven, the gates opened, and we slowly shuffled forward. It took another fifteen minutes just to reach the big-armed security guards who checked our tickets. The guard in front of me scanned a bar code on my ticket, looked me over, and nodded. Terry received a quick pat-down from his security guard. When the guard found nothing of interest, he was turned loose and joined me inside.We headed to the concession stand and got a couple of ridiculously overpriced beers, then headed for the field to stake out a spot for the concert. The show probably wouldn?t start for an hour, so we waited, and watched people milling around. There was a lot of black, which was fitting for a heavy metal band.The Duchess stood apart from the other bands in their genre by infusing their hard pounding music with a dynamic ambience that appealed to the sort of people who read the Pitchfork music blog. One minute they?d be furiously blasting everyone away, and the next they?d drop into a pastoral psychedelic interlude, gradually building back to a deafening crescendo. You got the sense that these weren?t just a bunch of typical half-baked metal-dudes, but serious musicians.Gradually the Colosseum field filled with more and more people. The buzz of the crowd grew steadily until I had to shout over it into Terry?s ear. Finally, as the sun was beginning to set, the opening act took the stage to thunderous applause. Unfortunately, the applause was premature. They were bad. Laughably bad. The songs all sounded like variations Bostancı Escort on the same basic tune, as if the band had only managed to learn just a handful of chords. This one they played a little slower, that one started with an acoustic guitar intro, before going back to more of the same.If that had been the worst thing about the band, it would have been forgivable. However, the band?s stage antics were ridiculously pretentious. They mimicked all of their rock idols. The guitarist awkwardly pulled off Pete Townshend windmills. The drummer twirled his sticks not once, but repeatedly throughout the set. The singer peacocked around the stage like some combination of Mick Jagger and Axl Rose. The bass player pouted and posed as if he were a fashion model. It was all pretty embarrassing.After about forty minutes, the band left the stage. The guitarist and bass player leaned their instruments against the amplifiers, creating an annoying high-pitched feedback. The sound went uninterrupted for several minutes, until a roadie came out to switch off the amps, receiving a polite, but underwhelming amount of applause from the audience.I went to the toilet for a piss, while Terry bought us another round of eight-dollar Budweisers. When I returned, I found him trying to hold the two plastic cups, while frowning deeply at his phone.?What?s up?? I asked, taking the beer from him.?It?s Janine,? he said, referring to his girlfriend. ?She says someone at work stole her purse.??Shit.??Yeah. She?s kinda freaking out. She doesn?t have any money, and her keys were in there, so now she?s locked out. She wants me to come get her.??Seriously???Yeah.??But the Duchess is about to go on.??I know, man.? Terry looked pissed. ?Fuck!??You have to go?? I asked. ?I mean, doesn?t she have some other friends that can take care of her for awhile??Terry considered the idea, and I could almost see the angel and devil on either shoulder arguing their cases. ?No, man,? he said, shaking his head sadly. ?I gotta go.??Man, that sucks!? I said.?Yeah, sorry,? Terry said. He handed me his beer so Bostancı Escort Bayan that I was holding one in each hand. ?Give me a call tomorrow, and let me know how the show was.??Sure,? I promised.Terry walked against the current of the crowd, and faded from my view. I looked down at the beers in my hands. Two drinks and no friend. I quickly chugged one of the beers before heading back to the field.The sky was completely dark now. The night air was cooling, but the collective heat of a couple thousand human bodies was still sweltering. I wandered through the crowd, aimless, and not wanting to settle too close to anyone. I finally found a little space for myself about fifteen rows back from the stage. I stood, sipped my third beer, and waited for the Duchess to take the stage.In front of me was a group of three girls. They were shouting and laughing and seemed more than a little tipsy. The one directly ahead of me had unnaturally bright red hair, and was wearing a dark crimson dress. She made an exaggerated arm gesture, which caused her purse to fly backwards into my arm. My drink splashed over my hand.?Oh shit,? the girl said, spinning around. ?I?m so sorry. Are you alright???Yeah, I?m fine,? I said, wiping my hand on my jeans.?Did I spill your beer?? she asked. ?I?m sorry, man. Do you want me to get you another one???No, it?s fine,? I declined. Honestly, the beer that I?d chugged had gone straight to my head. I was content to just nurse the one that remained.?You sure???Yeah,? I said, finally looking up at her large green eyes. She was wearing dark makeup, and a black choker necklace with a small crystal pendant. Her crimson dress showed off her collarbones, and highlighted her curves, which were ample without being obscene. I guess she was trying for a gothic vampire kind of look, but wasn?t quite pulling it off. It was the way she was smiling. Drunk and apologetic, there wasn?t anything dark or menacing about her. ?Okay,? she said. She gave me another appraising look up and down, flashed her smile at me one more time, then turned to rejoin the Escort Bostancı conversation with her friends.Awkwardly alone again, I sipped my beer, and checked my phone for new messages. A minute later, there was a roar from the crowd as the Duchess, walked onto the stage and picked up their instruments. The drummer tapped at his kit, while the bass player thumbed a couple of scales, and the guitarists tried a few exploratory chords. Finally, the singer nodded to the other musicians, who signaled that they were ready to start. The drummer counted them in, and the lead guitarist began to play a familiar figure.The crowd erupted again, recognizing the intro to the song, Dozens, one of the Duchess?s biggest hits from their previous breakthrough album. I felt the crowd pressing against my back, collectively trying to get closer to the stage. I took a small step towards the girl in the crimson dress, trying to respect her space, but also making room for the people behind me.As the band sped towards the climax of the song, I could feel the palpable energy of the crowd around me rising. I?ve never really believed in God or anything like that, but being part of an audience like this was almost a spiritual feeling. The singer gripped the microphone, and let go of a terrifying howl, as the band reached its peak. And then without pause, they launched into the next song, this one a chugging kind of disco groove with heavily distorted guitars. It was a new one from the current album.The girl in the crimson dress in front of me began to sway her hips in time with the beat. All around me, people seemed to be really getting into the performance. Caught up in the moment, I started to shuffle back and forth, bobbing my head as well. I didn?t feel as alone anymore.The next song was slower, and spacier as the guitarist made use of his effect pedals to create a kind of alien ambience around the steady thud of the rhythm section. I could smell someone (or maybe several people) sparking up a joint somewhere in the crowd that they?d managed to get past security. The girl in front of me was dancing even more sexily, letting her hands slide over her dress, and through her hair. I?d come to watch the band, but I found myself getting more and more distracted by her hypnotic ass.The following song was faster and more aggressive, almost punkish. The crowd responded, bouncing and pumping their fists in the air.