Dancing Choose

We don't really know how to dance in America anymore. Growing up at the peak of middle school awkwardness and the plato of gangster rap, the only true dance we ever learned was the obnoxious and creepy freak dance. So placed at a dancable concert, our generation of rock, metal, experimental, and electronic fans really don't know what to do with ourselves. We have no idea how to dance.

But thats ok.

The biggest complaint I hear about any concerts is that the crowd stood still. I can't tell you how many times I've herd that phrase groaned from the mouths of friends and people next to me at shows. My advice to you? Shut the fuck up. Its true that an upbeat concert with no one moving is a terrible thing, but don't pretend your not part of that, don't think your the only person there who wants to dance. You just stand there awkwardly waiting for someone else to be brave enough to start dancing, and thus give you the ok to do the same without having to be brave yourself. So push to the front, close your eyes, fell the music, start moving, freak out. No one knows how to dance, and dancing terribly is much more fun anyway. Pretend no one is watching, the band will thank you. So will everyone else when they start picking up your grove.

The other thing I find to be more or less a capital offence at concerts occurs only when the audience does actually start moving with some intensity. You find certain people who are annoyed if not actually pissed off at this movement. People who start shouting for the crowd to "just listen to the music." Or people stuck at the front of the mosh pit being crushed against the stage, who begin yelling and pushing back against the dancers. My advice to you? Trust me, the crowd will always win. No matter how hard you push the crowd will push back harder. No matter how loud you shout the crowd will shout louder. Give up. Move to the back if you want to stand still.

These people mainly justify their behavior by claiming they're just there to hear the music. And alright thats legitimate. But its not true. A concert is an occasion with generally poor mixing, and a loud environment, in all there tends to be less audio fidelity then just sticking on a cd. On top of that, you only want to be in the front in the first place so you can see. Everyone knows that if your stuck behind someone tall you're not going to enjoy yourself nearly as much. So that suggests concerts are to a good extent visual experiences. To me though, besides for the audio aspect, what I'm there for is the physical. The motion of the air when the drummer strikes his set. How you can feel the crisp reverb on the guitar in the soles of your shoes. How the singers voice rattles your head. On top of that theres the community. A room packed specifically full of people excited about one band, people willing to spend time and money because they love this music so much. Its the closest thing to utopia I can imagine.

So, once again, deep breath, close your eyes, get inside the music, and fuck all else and dance.

you got to give it up