Concerts

Technically, I've been going to concerts since I was a baby.

Then again, that statement is really misleading.

When I was actually a baby my parents would take me to rock concerts quite often. (Don't worry! I was equipped with earplugs and never went near the mosh pits.)

Since then though, I hadn't been to a concert, with the exception of a few school band concerts where, I assure you, there was no moshing.

In the past three weeks though, I've been to two different concerts.

On February 5th, I went to see Flogging Molly at the Fillmore. It was awesome! Even though I ended up going an hour and a half after it started, I still got there when the first opening act was playing.

The first musician was David Hause, who had excellent crowd manners. The following band was Skinny Lister, who, I must admit, I've become pretty smitten with since then. I love their music, and hearing it live for the first time was excellent.

Finally, when Flogging Molly actually got to the stage, I found out that I actually liked Skinny Lister more than them, but it was still a great concert. I ended up in the mosh pit a couple of times and got to crowd surf.

The weirdest part about the concert was probably the mosh pit. It's just such a weird tradition. It was particularly strange at the Flogging Molly concert because the mosh pit was so polite. As soon as anyone fell, or if someone needed to down the rest of their beer, the pit rushed to get them to their feet again or to protect them from extra sloshing. The politeness seemed so contrasting to what the mosh pit was at it's heart when people were violently throwing themselves around, and purposely, at each other.

Weirdness of the mosh pit aside, it was a great concert.

The second concert I went to was to see Pentatonix at the Fillmore. It was FANTASTIC. I've always kind of liked a cappella, but when I first heard Pentatonix on youtube a while back, I never imagined that I'd get to see them in concert.

One of the awesome things about seeing an a cappella group live is that it makes it more real. With technology and lip synching and autotune and all of this fancy stuff, an a cappella group on youtube, especially one that sounds as good as Pentatonix, almost might seem suspicious. But truth be told, they are great.

The other really nice thing about the concert was because they are such a small group that got started off not too long ago, is that the concert was pretty relaxed (aside from the screaming girls of course). Two of the members, Avi Kaplan and Kevin Olusola, got to show some of their insane musical talents.

Avi, an incredible bass, not only sang Misty Mountains from the Hobbit (fangirl freakout!), but also showed his ability to sing overtones, which is singing two notes at the same time. Let me say that again. Two notes, were produced by him alone, AT THE SAME TIME. It was awesome.

Then Kevin, the beatbox for the group, showed his talent for cello beatboxing, which honestly sounded so cool, I thought that it had to have been recorded. But no.

Over all, one of the things I liked about both concerts was how accepting the crowds were. People were polite (well, most people were) and even in the tight vicinities, helped each other. Also, so many different people and ages all came together over one band. It was lovely.