As I walk towards the theatre, I notice the lengthy sidewalk is filled with a line of more than a hundred people. It snakes down the street for about half a mile. Waiting anxiously, I am freezing every inch of my body off as the air begins to grow still and colder by the minute. The nauseating sidewalk fills with the taste of cigarette smoke and random garbage spreads across the concrete. Empty bottles of 5-Hour energy drinks scatter the ground like decorations. I spot a grungy couple standing on the sidewalk and notice they are wearing dark, baggy clothes, fishnet stockings, and have frizzled dreadlocks hanging like ropes from their heads that I already assume smell horrible. I cling to my boyfriend afraid of the diverse surroundings. As I perceive all the variations of the human kind waiting restlessly in line for the same concert as I am, I start to wonder what kind of night this will turn out to be. We are soon to find out that it was the most memorable and bizarre night of our life.
Walking to the balcony of the Victorian themed theatre, my boyfriend, his cousin, and I decide to sit in a clean row all by ourselves. As I look below us on the general admission floor I see all kinds of idiotic people crowd surfing and dancing like untamed beasts. The vivid neon glow sticks that people are wearing scatter about everywhere. The first DJ on stage is playing his beats so loud and obnoxious that my ears are beginning to go internally numb. Ragged people of all ages pack together like sardines on the floor eager for the main event of the concert to start.
As it starts to get closer to the final show, more anxious people fill the seats around us. The thick aromas ranging from sweat to musty cigarette smoke pervade my lungs. The mixture makes my empty stomach cringe and my nose run. As more people get closer together like a horde of animals, the distinct smells of marijuana and its sweetness lingers in the theatre as well the pungent fumes of alcohol. I can literally taste the assorted scents that pack the whole place. Everyone around me smokes and drinks illegally and legally. I start to feel uncomfortable knowing I do not belong in this kind of scene, but I am just here for the concert. Those surrounding me are like mindless, robotic zombies. No one really knows what is going on besides dancing uncontrollably to the music. They don’t care if they bump into me or spill their drinks foolishly. Thrashing themselves around to the music is what they are here for and their mindset is on the ear-splitting music that throbs in my ears and vibrates my heart.
The exotic looking lady to the left of me is on ecstasy and I am sure of it. Her womanly body is over-heating like an oven and the stringy, black hair that hangs off her scalp is simultaneously dripping sweat down her already-steaming body. People around try to revitalize her shaky and merely unconscious self with cold bottles of water, but she seems to get worse every second. At times she gazes into my eyes in a malicious way, licks her lips like a hungered animal and flares her nostrils. The once beautiful woman that had entered the seats was now a mindless zombie out of control just like the rest of them.
Trying to get my attention off the drugged woman, I somehow make out that the final show is about to start. Screams shrill through the air and it becomes as dark as night. The final DJ, called Deadmau5, has his signature mouse head on. Its digital exterior flickers different lights on and off and has the features of a mouse’s face. The stage’s back-drop is filled with different electronic designs that move in sync with the bumping rhythm of the music. The numerous shades of purple, white, and green lights blind my eyes. The thunderous bass gets louder and the whole room seems to pulsate in rhythm with the beat as if it is alive. I attempt to dance to the pounding music and the continuous lights. Jumping up and down and clapping my hands in tune with the music seems to be what everyone else was doing, too, so I don’t feel so out of place.
My back is drenched with sweat and the perspiration trickles down my spine one vertebra at a time. I seem to get into a care-free state of mind and begin to blur out my surroundings. Closing my worn-out eyes and feeling the striking beat shake every bone in my body starts to feel enjoyable. Feeling completely free and mindless, I realize I don’t need all the threatening drugs and alcohol to make my concert experience worthy at the moment, and gone out of my mind the next day, because I am having a good time with just a natural high.
As I check my phone for the first time, it shows it’s already past midnight. My dry throat feels like sandpaper and the inside of my ears are internally dead from all the loud noise. Sweat is now dried to my sticky skin and my eyes are red and itchy. My once good-looking hair is now in a frizzy mess on top of my aching head. I make the signal that I am ready to leave, for my energy level is gradually sinking.
Staggering out of the pounding theatre, a gust of chilly wind brushes against my warm body and leaves me with a cool sensation. The littered sidewalk where my journey began is now quiet and vacant, besides the overload of trash sprinkled along it. The air is still and even colder before, but it feels refreshing. As I can still make out the shrieks and cries of the fans inside and the hammering beat of the never-ending music, I grin and think exactly what I will say tomorrow at school when my friends ask me, “What did you do last night?”