I know it will happen one day, when am I really gonna be too old to attend concerts? I feel already too old sometimes as I am often surrounded by kids in their late teens and early twenties, especially when I get to check new upcoming bands at the Echo, Echoplex…. I have never felt so old when someone asked me if I was the mother of one of the musicians of some bands… ouch! Actually, I easily could have been the mother, but why was this young girl just assuming I must have been related to one of the guys to be there… why people in their 40s, 50s and even beyond, could not be at concerts because they just enjoy music? Why has live rock music to be obligatory connected to youth??? That was so youthist of her part, if such a word exists… if it doesn’t it should be invented, as this is a real problem. You know twenty-something-girl, I intend to go to concerts as long as I can, as long as I can stand up for several hours without collapsing, I will draw the line if I end up in a wheelchair, but otherwise, you’ll see my wrinkled face first row for a long time.
So I am pathetic? did I become the old person who doesn’t want to assume her age, to go with the rules? At night, 50-something people stay in front of their TV, especially after a day at work, and they fall asleep while watching Jimmy Fallon. Not me! I am stubborn and I almost fall asleep while standing up in front of a stage populated by kids that are barely older than the ones who attend my class during the day… Also these kids don’t know what I am doing on certain nights and I want to keep it that way.
Getting old is hard enough that I don’t need anyone’s harsh judgment at the top of pre-menopausal symptoms! I am in relative good shape, I can stand up for hours and hours, I can walk and run for hours, whereas I often see these youngsters sprawling on the floor when they have to wait for more than 20 minutes, so don’t tell me I am too old…. I know this girl wasn’t saying anything bad but she made me realize how old I am, showing up at these shows as if I still were … young I guess?
But you know what, old can be good, I have been to a lot of concerts and I exactly know what my musical tastes are these days. At twenty, I was not sure I knew anything about music – I don’t pretend to know anything now, but at least I have listened to a lot of stuff. Experience is certainly a plus when you review shows, I would have been incapable of doing so at 25! I learn about new artists every week, I am constantly exposed to new stuff, and it is actually an excellent way to stay young, I am not stuck listening to the Stones, Queen, ABBA, Hall & Oates, Steely Dan, the Bee Gees, Billy Joel or whatever music was popular in the late 70s like many people of my generation, there’s nothing wrong with that, but you know what I mean.
Very often, I feel invisible at these concerts, but to all these young kids who occasionally give me the weird look, I want to say, okay kid, my generation (and even the one before) invented punk rock, what did yours exactly come up with? EDM may be? I rest my case… or may be I am showing my age once again.
