Kegelapan

I had arrived rather early for The Darkness. It was approximately an hour before the doors were due to be opened, and the only reason I had to arrive at such a time was because I didn't actually have a ticket with me, and had to pick it up from the Box Office. After queueing for a grand total of 120 seconds, I had my ticket in hand and looked around wonderingly, realising that I had lots of time to kill. Lots of time.

I decided to join the queue that was snaking its way past the entrance, and stood there with nothing else to do but observe people. There was a curious mixture of relatively elderly folks, along with kids who made me feel rather old. I guess they, like me, were trying to catch a brief glimpse into the past. Looking up, I caught a poster announcing the fact that Ash would be one of the opening acts. Another band I liked.

I'm not sure about others, but I have this nasty feeling that most bands these days just aren't as good as they were once upon a time. The new bands, I mean. Being brought up as a teenager in the 90s, I just missed the explosion of grunge, and was able to bear witness to the birth of hiphop and punk rock. I'll always have a fondness for the alternative bands I first listened to back in secondary school eg The Smashing Pumpkins, the Counting Crows, Green Day. My auditory repertoire wasn't exactly varied at the time, but looking back, I can't say the rock bands these days are 'up there' with the rest. My favourite songs at the moment seem to be from bands who've existed in the 20th century. Either the music just ain't as good, or I'm becoming an old man. Just imagine when I'm 60 years old... I'll be saying things like 'Back when I was a wee lad, they knew how to play music...koff koff...'

Anyways, Ash started off their performance with a ritual involving a fire-spewing guitar. Idol worship at its best! I guess I became all nostalgic when they started playing songs like 'Girl from Mars', 'Kung Fu' and 'Oh Yeah', which were all in their '1977' album which was released back when I was in form 4. I think. And that naturally made me think back about those days and the silly things I used to get myself into with my buddies. Friends who're still the best anyone could ask for. In my humble opinion, of course.

Its always nice to discover that the opening act consists of another band I like. One that springs to mind was the Sum 41 concert in 2nd year, which had American Hi-Fi and The Mighty Might Bosstones - all of whom I were fans of. Naturally, I had a good time and didn't mind the fact that I had to get on a 6-hour bus trip back to Newcastle after that!

When The Darkness came on, everyone went berserk. They were in their trademark glam-rock outfit, and I was close to the stage, allowing myself a glimpse of Justin's remarkably disjointed teeth. But he's got a great sense of humour, and the siblings are great at the guitars. I particularly loved the guitar solos, and the playful attempts at other bands' songs e.g. Aerosmith's 'Love in an Elevator' and Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. They easily had the crowd (including yours truly) eating out of their hands. I've lost count of the number of constume changes that Justin had, but each was more ridiculous than the next and somehow, it just fit in with the whole act there were displaying. I have to say I regret not bringing a camera along 'cause I was awfully close to the stage. Left it in Mocque's car, and my mobile's battery had gone dead. So that was that.

I love the atmosphere in a rock concert...there's nothing quite like watching a band you like perform right in front of you, getting yourself lost (both physically and mentally) in a crowd and just soaking in the whole intensity of the experience. At that point in time, everybody's there for the music, everybody's equal and the same, and everybody is just plainly in ecstasy. The only concerts that I had really let myself go were during the performances of Incubus, Linkin Park, Sum 41 and Foo Fighters, and those were rather memorable.

The show ended with christmas trees and a santa being put up, and the band playing 'Christmas Time'. I had quite enjoyed myself, and was both partially deaf and mute for the next 24 hours. However, I kept on thinking back to the Hoobastank concert which I went to in Malaysia with my sweetie and knew that I didn't enjoy this concert as much as I enjoyed that concert. I guess I realised that as happy as I am, I'm only truly happy when the experience is shared with her and it just made me miss her all the more! Yeah, yeah...I know...jiwang! =P