The Used Concert Experience

It was a concert that me and my brother looked forward to. It wasn't easy to get the tickets (almost sold out), but we finally did. Held at Tennis Indoor Senayan, we departed from home at 5pm and reached there at around 6:30pm.

The Used is an emo rock band. So it wasn't surprising for us to see a pool of black-clothed teenagers lining up in front of the stadium, sitting on the gravel and holding cigarettes. In the car, my brother once again reviewed tips for watching a rock concert.

My first rock concert was Avenged Sevenfold, where I was squished by tall, sweating boys from all sides, being one of the very few girls who attended the concert. But The Used had much more of the female population, and for that I was glad. But something caught my attention. It was the way these girls dressed.

Hot pants, complicated outfits, SKIRTS even, lots of bangles and accessories... Wow. I imagined them being groped by men on all sides. Duh, it's a rock concert. You're gonna be sweating and jumping and your cute little necklaces will break and fall out, your hair will be in sweaty locks, and if you're wearing make-up, well, it won't take long for you to look like a total clown. That is, if you happen to be in festival and standing somewhere in front.

I actually have a real life example. Just now I was standing around lots of girls and there was a couple of them who were dressed to the nines. I assumed they were close friends, and came together. Beside them, was a whole group of girls. Complicated. Let's do it this way:

The two girls = A
The group of girls = B

The group of girls dressed simply, like anyone would to a rock concert. On the other hand, one of the girl from A was wearing sleeveless top, showing off her black bra strap, wearing a Ripcurl hat, and hot pants. Imagine imagine. Of course B wasn't happy about her (jealousy? don't know), and I happened to hear one of them whispering to another "later on in the concert, let's take off that girl's hat, throw it to the back, and snap her bra strap."

Oh how very entertaining. I would like to see it happen, but unfortunately, when the concert started, I was pushed by the human wave to the middle of the stadium, whereas they were at the right. Well, lesson learnt: when going to a rock concert, it is best not to make yourself seem like a total poser by dressing, let's say, hip-hop-ish, or basically dressing too pretty for the occasion.

I was taught by my brother, who was taught by friend Justine, how to make your way to the front row during a concert. Basically you slip through people, endure major pushing, keep your balance, and take advantage of every opportunity for an opening. But for a girl, it is not that easy at all. Especially if you are surrounded by boys, and you only have one ally with you. So throughout the concert, I suffered, like I had expected.

• People's hair flinging about and going in my mouth. EW, YES! But it happens and I can't help it.

• A boy on my left used his elbow to push me backwards. The problem is, him being tall and me short, his elbow was on my NECK. IS HE TRYING TO MURDER ME?!?! Imagine the pain. I tried pushing him away several times but he resisted, so in the end, I pinched his elbow like mad, and pulled it away from me. Then he stopped. Ass.

• Well, I have a lot of accomplishment in slinking past the boys, and so I am proud. Like this fat guy beside me, he kept pushing me to the other side, but I resisted and kept pushing him too. Then in the end, when everybody started jumping and he lifted his arms, I took the opportunity to quickly slip in front of him. Tadaa, he is now behind me. Do not underestimate me, men!

• There was this other guy in front of me who happened to have a HUGE mass of afro hair! It was like a frikin bird nest. I couldn't watch the show properly cos of his hair. Several times, I had to push his fluffy hair down.

• Lesson learned: girls with long hair should tie their hair when going to a rock concert. DO YOU KNOW how my hair suffered from major pulling?! This happened in A7X concert too but I forgot about it.

• Girls in concert can be meaner than boys. Stay away from them.

But aside from all those points, one MAJOR thing that happened... is my brother's handphone getting stolen.

From the start, my brother was prepared. He wore pants with deep pockets, and these even have zippers. His phone and cash was there, and he safely zipped it up. How would he know, that during the concert, when he spontaneously reached out for his phone, it was gone, and the zipper was wide open.

I didn't know how and when it exactly happened, I wasn't right beside him. But I knew something wasn't right when I turned and saw him talking seriously to two little boys behind him. Then he told me that his handphone was stolen, and that just took everything away.

Of course I couldn't just stand there, watch the concert and pretend nothing happened! Handphone got stolen for christ's sake! And the criminal must be near us. Very near. I kept asking my brother if he wanted to go to the back, and finally he agreed. But before that, I approached the two boys, and asked them about the phone. They insisted they didn't take it, and even asked me to check their pockets. So I did. Ass pocket, I also did. Would I care?

They really didn't have the phone with them, but I wasn't going to believe it just like that. From my brother's description of 'I checked my pocket and my phone was gone. I turned back and these two kids were giggling with each other', I was clearly suspicious of those boys. So when my brother and I walked away from them, I stopped not far, and watched the boys from where they couldn't see me.

If I were like them, and I just slinked out of such a situation successfuly, the next thing I would do after my preys have left would be to chatter excitedly to my fellow partner-in-crime. They were small kids, probably primary school children. How professional could they be? They definitely didn't look the part.

So I watched them. And indeed, they turned and talked to another boy behind them. I immediately walked up to him and played police. If I were in another country, I would have been sued for accusations, but not here. The boy happily lifted both hands and I checked his pockets. Nothing. By then, people around us were more interested in what was happening between me and the boys than The Used back on stage. I'm hot-blooded like that.

Pissed, I came up to the whole team of security and told them every detail. They said they would check on it, and already a lot of handphones and wallets are missing. Not long after, they caught a culprit who stole handphones, but my brother's is not in that stash.

That happened to be the only culprit the security managed to find. They searched the boys but found nothing.

Well, I guess there was nothing else to be done. The show wasn't that great, I fell down on the rough gravel, bled my knees and tore a little bit of my pants, the handphone got stolen... You know what? The only thing I enjoyed about this concert was making my way to the front row. I swear if I go to another concert in the future, which I might not, I would start from the very back of the stadium and make my way to the front. Elbowing them, pulling their hair, stepping on their foot... it's all good clean fun.

So learn from my mistakes, readers! Especially you Indonesians! Instead of using your expensive handphones, use cheap ones instead just for the night. Alright, see ya around. College at 8 tomorrow, will I survive?

Labels: concert, rock show, Tennis Indoor Senayan, The Used