“I’ve been here before,” I thought to myself as my roommate and I entered the dark, crowded, energetic music venue. It was just past 5’oclock PM on a Sunday evening – on the evening of Valentine’s Day to be exact – and rather than being out on dates or having a fun girls’ night out to celebrate, we decided to do things a little more on the unconventional side. When one thinks Valentine’s Day, they usually think of flowers, hearts and soft, romantic music, not hundreds of skinny jean-wearing mid-pubescent teenaged boys and with dyed black, long hair, swinging their arms and legs around and moshing with the loud, harsh sounds of metal/hardcore rock music surrounding them. Regardless, this is what I decided to do to encounter the band The Sleeping for a second time, Valentine’s Day or not.
Located near the South Side of Chicago on South State Street, adjacent to Chinatown, Reggie’s Rock Club is one of Chicago’s fairly popular rock music venues. It is a rock concert venue that both allows audiences of individuals who are 17 years and older as well as shows for all ages. Most of the music showcased at this venue is alternative or harder rock music, but more recently has been the hit venue in Chicago for the metal and hardcore rock genres I was searching for. With its downward sloping floor that allows for great views of the bands onstage and 80-person balcony, this venue was surely created to keep fans coming back for more.
Before arriving at 2109 South State Street I had in mind what I should be expecting. I had been to several concerts in my lifetime, some of which included harder rock and even metal shows. I knew the music would be blasting from the speakers, the fans would be throwing their bodies everywhere as they moshed to the music and the alcohol would be flowing from the tap at the bar as if it were water flowing from the famous Victoria Falls waterfall in Africa. And all of this was true for this encounter.
Upon arrival to the venue we gathered along in the long line that stretched halfway down the block. Most of the fans in the queue wore some variation of tight, holey skinny jeans, tight band t-shirts, a bandana around their dyed black and side swept, long-haired heads and some brand of chunky skater shoes or Vans brand flats. Now I am not one who is quick to generalize, but my description here is accurate; at least 90% of the gathered fans wore something along the lines of this. In the music world a person who shows up to concerts (regardless of who is performing) wearing tight skinny jeans and shirts and has that stereotypically “emo” or “hardcore” hairstyle is considered to be a “scene” kid. This means that they are not really there because the music is all that great; they are only there because they want others to see them there – they want to look “cool” by going to a concert. However, I should not generalize in saying all of these young fans were scene kids. I am sure at least some of those hundreds of people were there because they really love bands like The Sleeping or Scary Kids Scaring Kids.
The line-up of the four bands went in order starting at 6 o’clock (shows always start at least an hour after the doors open…no clue why bands cannot be ready by that time) and ending after 11; the band order was Rosaline, Eli, The Sleeping and Scary Kids Scaring Kids. Though my main focus in attending this show was to see and fully experience The Sleeping live in concert, it is important to take a minute to understand how the other bands in the line-up compliment them. Rosaline was more of a lighter “screamo” genre, and Eli was just plain hard rock, while Scary Kids Scaring Kids was post-hardcore and harder “screamo”. I felt that by steadily progressing from lighter rock with a little bit of screaming to ending with very hard rock music combined with harsh screaming and bellowing growls, the fans were given time to easier adjust to the vast difference between silence and loud metal music, as well as to get more and more pumped up about the louder, harsher music that lay ahead.
After listening to The Sleeping’s music on iTunes and really hearing and understanding their lyrics, this concert meant a lot more to me. In the past when attending similar shows, I had really struggled with connecting to the music and with the artists who created it. However, since I closely paid attention to the lyrics and what they were saying, I felt much more connected to The Sleeping’s band members as people and better understood and appreciated the messages they were trying to convey with their music.
With this, in the past it was difficult for me to just simply attend concerts similar to this. That is because at metal or hardcore rock concerts, a mosh pit is generally formed. In mosh pits, fans either move around together in a circular motion – a “circle pit” – pushing and shoving one another, or swing their arms and legs around (often hitting each other) while doing something called windmill dancing or two-stepping. While doing any of these types of “dancing/moshing”, many individuals get hurt – breaking legs, getting black eyes or getting serious bruises – something that I really do not want to do while I am at a concert. When I go to shows I am there to experience music, not get beat up by reckless teenage boys.
However, since I really wanted to encounter this band to the fullest, I figured I had to at least stand on the outside of the mosh pit, which I did. Terrified I would get my nose broken or ribs bruised, I braced myself at the outer, left hand edge of the mosh pit, shoving person after sweaty person as they hurled their swinging bodies into me. I stayed here for the entirety of The Sleeping’s set and luckily I emerged unharmed.
Looking back on things, I probably had too many preconceived notions and judgments about metal/hardcore rock concerts. Before I went to this concert I felt that metal/hardcore rock concerts were dangerous, scary and difficult to listen to. However, I am really glad that I decided to just let go of my worries and fully experience the concert as if I were experiencing it for the first time. Since I was totally open to the experience, I was allowed to understand it without having any judgmental or close-minded ideas before really encountering it.
Surprisingly enough, I really enjoyed this experience. Because I was open to do anything and really let the situation take me wherever it led me, I learned to appreciate the experience for what it was. I truly feel that experiences like this are crucial in the process of learning to appreciate things we do not understand or connect with. This concert was exhilarating to me and I absolutely plan on taking more opportunities in the future to experience other art and cultural events in this way.
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