Fest Foot
That’s what I am calling the soreness in my feet and legs after two days straight of music festivals. Those of you that do this thing all the time are probably scratching your heads and calling me a wimp right now but let me say in my defense, this is my first time ever doing back to back concert duty.
Saturday I went to BFD for the first time. It was awesome! Great weather, a variety of food vendors, a good number of bathrooms, not too spread out and lots of artists to check out. I mention the support stuff first because I personally cannot enjoy an outdoor music event without it in good supply.
Sunday I let my time in Texas show by heading over to see the country extravaganza at AT&T Park headlined by Kenny Chesney. I admit I wasn’t the biggest Kenny Chesney fan that ever lived before going (I mean I liked him but that doesn’t necessarily translate into me buying a concert ticket) but I heard his is one of the top 5 concerts to see so I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I was not disappointed. The pre-party with the Lost Trailers and Clay Walker was great too!
After a weekend of outdoor music activity, here is part of my personal concert etiquette guide:
1. Forget the flips flops. Sure it seems like a good comfortable gesture that morning but by the time you get home that night after walking up and down and potentially through garbage and broken beer bottles your feet are going to be black with crud. Not good, especially if they are cut. Sneakers, Uggs, Docs, Vans even platform sandals are a better choice.
2. People with light skin tones (and you know who you are and it doesn’t matter what race you are) SUNBLOCK! There is nothing cool or tough about hot, lobster red skin. Not only is it painful for you to have but it is painful for the rest of us to look at and if I am the friend that has to leave early with you because of it, I am mad. I’m not talking about the person who genuinely is caught out. I’m talking about the habitual burn victims. You know you crisp up like a KFC drumstick so when someone offers you sunblock take it and use it!
3. It is not necessary to cut through a crowd like a linebacker. If for some reason you need to get by, to travel faster or in the opposite direction of the masses an “excuse-me” followed by a gentle tap on the shoulder or back is usually all it takes to get people to give you the passage you need and generally the people around them will do the same. If you act like a linebacker you can expect to get tackled or at the very least some now-necessary roughness.
4. My ticket price does not include you dancing on a chair in front of me. Sure you’re a big fan, considering ticket prices if we’re at the concert we’re all big fans. Therefore, just like you I would like to see the show not your flab-u-ous backside fighting to keep a beat. You can do your groovin’ standing on the floor/ground just like the rest of us.
I’ve got a few more of these but these are the main ones. I’m not trying to be a buzzkill but trust me if you follow these guidelines you can avoid serious disease and bodily injury and still enjoy the show. As a matter of fact you can probably meet and party with some other pretty cool people and expand your concert/festival experience which makes the ticket price seem pretty reasonable. Okay, who am I kidding? Some ticket prices will never be reasonable but at least you won’t get thrown out before the show’s over.