Heavy Metal

Fire lights up the stage. I feel the heat from where I stand. He screams and we follow his example. Few people are actually sitting down. Most of us play our fake instruments and sing the words we remember. We've found a place where we can all just be heavy metal maniacs without prejudice or spite. These are the only parts of the concert that I can put into words.

As you might know I love music. I like music of almost every genre. My only enemy is country music, which is welcome to leave the face of the earth forever in my opinion. Recently I had the privilege to go to a rock concert for one of my favorite bands, Judas Priest. The name may intimidate you but I assure you they are pure of heart. They're one of those bands that get sewed because teenagers get the wrong idea from their music and kill themselves. I've always liked Judas Priest and I was way excited to go to their concert. This is supposedly the last time they will be touring and they didn't disappoint. Since the concert itself is impossible to put into words, I instead will educate you in the ways of a heavy metal concert. Let's start at the beginning then skip around to wherever I feel like.

He runs his hands lightly up my legs and pats around for the drugs and weaponry. I always feel like they will find some secret pocket I didn't know about that has plastic explosive or marijuana in it. I breath a sigh of relief as he waves me through. I am siphoned up the stairs and then decide to look around at my surroundings. People of every description mill excitedly about like children waiting for their birthday.

Now, I want to clarify one thing. Some people say that hard rock fans are scary looking people.....those people are correct. Men with gauges, tattoos, and hair that is inhabited by rats are all over the place. Worse than the men though, are the women. Their hair is scary looking and they're all a little chubby. Now, don't get me wrong. These kind of people are only about half of the entire concerts population.

I can hear from The center of the dome that Thin Lizzy has started their set. I didn't come to see Thin Lizzy so I don't think I need to talk too much about them. One thing I did like was when one of the guitarists threw his open water bottle into the crowd. What makes this even funny is when a man in front of the stage catches it and just holds it awkwardly with an expression that says he didn't come for the water bottles. I imagine a man standing next to him who screams, "Oh, come on!" and I snicker to myself.

Before we entered the dome to watch that happen though, I notice the ice cream stand. I crack up a few seconds after I see it and can't help but think of vendors yelling, "You can't spell Judas Priest without ice cream!" My imagination goes crazy a couple times in this concert so bear with me. Then, after imagining the vendors, I think of thousands of screaming fans thrashing their heads while holding churros, cotton candy, and ice cream. This thought stayed with me most of the night and into the morning afterward.

Now, back to Thin Lizzy. They sound OK but nobody knows any of their songs besides "The Boys Are Back in Town." They didn't stick in my mind. I really want to talk about somebody named Lady Starlight. I noticed her at the far right end of the stage and after a moment I realize what she was doing. She had large turn tables and vinyls records in a large bag. She wore tight black leather with full length sleeves and had long black hair. She was the woman who did the music between the opening bands. She would pull out a record, rock to it for a minute, then change it out. She was fun to watch because you could tell she loved what she did. At one point she started playing some Ozzy and pulled out a rubber bat which she began to viciously chew on. If you don't know Ozzy you wouldn't understand, but it was funny for my dad and me. Not to mention that she was pretty good looking too. In the words of Wayne and Garth, "Schwing!"

Next came Black Label Society. They are a scary, low bass, kind of dark rock band who would scare you if you ever saw them in a dark alleyway. They played for about an hour and all their songs were good but nothing they did was funny enough for me to remember. Lady Starlight returned to her post and we all sat up a little bit. A large curtain was pulled over the stage with the enormous word Epitaph written on it. That was the name of Judas Priest's final tour and my dad and I pointed with wonder at the curtain. Every so often a thick bass note would overpower Lady Starlight's jams and a loud excited scream would follow from the audience. This happened every couple minutes and the screams would get progressively louder each time. Like distant thunder that grows ever closer I thought to myself.

I notice from over my ridiculously salty pretzel that Lady Starlight has started to frantically pack her gear. I look around at the audience seating and notice that the flow has slowed and most people are now sitting. After a couple minutes the bass notes begin again but it is accompanied by the rest of the instruments. It takes a moment for the audience to realize what is happening but suddenly everybody is on their feet and a low boom of cheers has started. The lights dim and I see lights turn on behind the great fabric screen. The instruments rise in volume and the cheers follow suit. I begin to recognize the song and my heart beat speeds up. In the few moments before the concert began, I realized that this dome was like a shield from the outside world. All the people who were criticized because of how they looked were welcome in this sphere of rock. We screamed and yelled and begged for them to appear together in a loud symphony of voices. Before I could think on this subject any longer the curtain dropped from it's hooks and the song began. There was a sound of thunder, and it's still ringing in my ears.