During the change over from Gojira to In Flames, the crowd started to chant in anticipation. For as bad of a rap that In Flames has gotten recently, the concert goers didn't seem to pay much mind. When I turned to look at R, there was a guy standing next to her. I had noticed him during the Gojira set; he looked young and looked like he was right up against her. I only recalled him as he had joined in our conversation about the guitar that was being used during Gojira's set.
My son was looking forward to seeing a band that he has played many times on Guitar Hero III. Tired during the change over, he sat on the stoop by the rails and rested his head for a few minutes. I took the Momma Bear stance and stood over him protecting him in case anyone tried to fly into that spot at the last minute.
R was in the mood for a drink, but didn't get her wrist band. Our friend Jacques from Belgium offered to get her a drink with his wrist band. He asked if I wanted one as well. When I have my son with me and I am driving, I refuse to drink. But the thought of a beer toyed in my head. I weighed my options and declined. He asked if Joey Sky wanted anything to drink, and my son declined as well.
A few minutes later, he returned and handed R her drink. I could smell the Jack Daniels from where I was and was glad I had declined anything. She sipped on her drink as the 3 of us chatted. After finishing his coke, our friend excused himself for a smoke.
R and I talked about what a cool guy he was, "And he smells sooo good!" she commented. I had to agree. He held our spots, gave us insider information and even got us drinks (or offered to in the least). When we turned back to the stage in anticipation, our friend approached from the back of the venue. "How is it that they don't allow smoking in here, but they won't let people out to have one? That's bullshit..." R and I agreed and mentioned we had just been talking about the lack of control on the underage drinking at that venue.
You see, most show I go to have a separate area for those 21 and over. And you can't bring drinks in or out of that area. Our friend agreed that that was odd as well.
The dimming lights and the noise of the people packed into the venue interrupted our conversation. I turned around to see In Flames coming out on stage. The crowd went wild... Hands were thrown in the air and started clapping in unison. Joey Sky remained seated, which I thought was a little sad.
I watched as Anders Fridén took the stage. He is the former singer of Dark Tranquillity. (Who is another band that performs flawlessly live, even if I did see them with Mikael Stanne. How I ended up calling Mikael on the phone is a story for a different day.) In Flames performed wonderfully live. I could hear Jacques behind me singing word for word. Since he was on key I didn't mind.
A few songs in Joey Sky stood up and starting throwing the horns. Between throwing the horns and banging his head, he asked, "Can we go home now?" I knew he was tired and could tell he was coming down with a cold. I wanted to stay until the end, but also wanted to look at merch. I knew that since the headliner was on, there would be no lines at the merch table and also realized that with 1300 other people trying to get out of the venue, it would be a night mare.
Sadly, it was time to go. I turned to Jacques and told him it was nice meeting him. I made sure he had my email address for when he travelled in the states again. He shook my hand and told my son, "Make sure you only listen to good music. No rap, no country..." My son nodded his head in agreement. I told him to take care and turned to R to tell her that we were going to head to the merch table. She decided to join along.
Joey Sky found an In Flames shirt he wanted and I saw the Gojira table. Checking the cash I had in my pocket, I noticed we could only buy one shirt... but then salvation- The In Flames table had a credit card machine! I told Joey Sky he could pick one shirt and as I paid for that one, I asked the guy at the merch table which Gojira shirt would look the hottest on me. "The blue one" he said. I bought it as we chatted about the tour. After that, we decided to call it a night.
In the parking lot, R made a comment about her "boyfriend" as we passed a car with a "parent" waiting. The drive home was uneventful except for the light dusting of snow. We talked about the concert, the people and R's Underage Make A Wish Boyfriend as he kept coughing on her all night.
After an hour I dropped her off at the hotel and headed home. The farther south I went the harder it snowed. It wasn't a blizzard by any means, but it was distracting, especially with my very dim "brights". The way they were situated it made it worse. I couldn't see the road well and the flurries were blurring the rest of my vision. With my one regular beam, I had no other choice but to go back to the dim light just to see the road. (As a disclaimer, the snow was NOT bad at all to drive in it was a matter of my lights acting wonky while driving).
With just two miles left to getting home, I passed a small strip mall. Even at 2 am, I was surprised when I passed a car in the parking lot. And then it dawned on me, the only reason the car would be there for. D'OH! Of course, the cherries went on. I flipped my blinker and pulled over. I prayed Joey Sky didn't wake up as I pulled out my license and registration.
"Where you coming from tonight?"
"Worchester, Ma."
"Oh yeah? What was going on up there tonight?"
"A concert..."
"Been drinking at all?"
"Not a drop." I was so glad I kept to my rule of no drinking if I'm driving, especially with my son in the car.
"Good. Do you know why I pulled you over?"
"No."
"Well you were driving way too slow. You need to speed it up."
"Uh, oh, really?" I said as I started blankly out my window. I bit my tongue before I said admitted I may have been speeding.
"I'm just teasing, I pulled you over because your headlight is out. Did you know that? Also, you have two break lights out and your license plate light out. Do you have any warrants for your arrest out? I'm going to run your license and I'll be right back."
-MetalRose
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