The time when I almost beat someone up...

A post I found in my drafts, from a really long time ago. Finished but forgotten, until now.
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...and also almost got lit on fire by a guy who thought he'd light up a smoke. No big deal.

April 11, 2011. The day I went to the concert of my dreams. Arcade Fire came to the UVU events center and as soon as tickets went on sale I snatched one up. I had been anxiously anticipating this since they announced they were coming in February. I was excited. Now, when you pack in several hundred more people just as excited as me into the floor area, things can get a little crazy. I got there with my sister and we thought we might try to find the rest of the group we had bought tickets with. It took all of the opening act and much of the time between sets to do this. And it was difficult. We decided to follow in the wake of a really pushy strong guy who was plowing through the crowd and just pretended not to hear all the dirty things people were saying about us and getting mad that we didn't even know him. Interestingly, we all were looking for the same crowd, so in the end that was OK. We were about seven feet from the front when everyone started getting grumpy around us. It was a literal sea of people with currents and waves.. When someone moved, everyone else had to move. So, of course, the people in the very front got mad about being crowded and pushed, so they pushed back. It was hard to even stand.

The music started and it was amazing, aside from being packed like sardines. This guy in front of us was dancing all wild, which is fine.. I understand getting into the music and the moment, but there just wasn't room for that. He was dancing like he had a 2 foot safety zone when in reality it was more like negative 6 inches safety zone. He kept smacking me in the chest and after about a song and a half it was getting old. Hey, it's a SENSITIVE ZONE. Then he stepped on my foot and broke my toenail. It became clear to me that if I was going to enjoy this experience, I needed to do something about him. So, I pushed him real hard in the back and said, "DO YOU MIND!??!?!?" He looked at me with equal parts upset, bewilderment, and angry, and then went back to his ways. I had to use every bit of my strength to not to get in his face again. So, we decided to move and in turn, avoided dishing out the fist.

Moving to the back was challenging, though. We had to elbow our way through the crowds, and as we moved back, others moved forward to take up the space we left behind. I was leading the way, and when we were almost to a part of the venue that actually still had non- BO oxygen in it, I just about walked into an open flame. The guy was too busy lighting up to notice that I had bumped into him. Going to concerts has taught me a few things, one of them being some people (and if it's the Del Mar Racetrack, just about everyone-- that place is a little too scary for me now) will probably get stoned. The thing that blew my mind about this guy was that he was the only one doing it, and that it was an indoor show. Real smart, duuuude.

Despite the insanity, I had the chance to listen to some amazing music. Local Natives opened for Arcade Fire, and I loved their set. Lots of energy, and the sound of their music was great. Arcade Fire did not fail to impress and delivered their songs with their quirky awesomeness. There were a couple of songs that I imagined would be super awesome live, and sure enough they were. Wake Up, Rebellion, and Ready to Start were right on target.

Once it was all done, I drove a bunch of the friends home. One of the guys in the back seat kept going on and on and on about this "crazy smell" he caught a whiff of in the arena. Oh, if only he knew...

Arcade Fire. The show was great... I just wish the fans could have been a little nicer.

[RACHEL]