Concert Mayhem

One of my absolute favorite places to be is at a concert. I have been to many concerts in my life time (scroll to the bottom to find the list of artists I have seen). When I go to a concert, I like to be fully submerged in the chaos. Granted, you won’t find me throwing my body purposely into someone elses (a mosh pit).

A little over a week ago, I sustained an injury from attending a concert submerged in the chaos. Tonight (as I am laying here with my foot still not healed), I was recalling some of the crazy things I have been apart of, or seen, at the concerts I have been to. I thought it would be fun to share those stories.

Year 2001 (going into 6th grade)

My cousin was a professional dancer. He got us tickets and backstage passes to this huge concert in Kansas; The Total Request Live Tour. It was my very first concert and we were going to see Destiny’s Child, Jessica Simpson, Eve, Nelly, Dream, and 3LW. I remember meeting Destiny’s Child and Dream.

The one thing that stands out more than anything else though, was when Nelly was on stage. He was singing the song “Ride wit me” and they had these guns shooting out money. Real freaking money! The crowd was going insane! I remember having to step back so that people wouldn’t trample us. By the end of the concert, I did find some money on the ground. I think it was like $10.

Year 2004 (Freshman in high school)

My really good friend got me a ticket to go see Slipknot with her and some other people. I was so excited! My first high school thing that didn’t include my parents, or a chaperone. Sadly, we did not get pit tickets so we were in the stands. Let me tell you, people are crazy! We were not on floor seats, we were up an entire tier. People were jumping over the side of the railing trying to sneak into the pit area. Of course, many of them were caught and escorted out. One man threw himself off the side and broke his leg and most likely had a concussion. Knowing what I know now about concerts, it is probably a good thing my 14 year old self wasn’t in the pit at a Slipknot concert. Which P.S. they were amazing!!!! I still remember the drummer, Joey Jordison, being elevated with his entire drum set and being turned so that he was facing the floor (we could see the top of the drums). I have never seen anything like that, ever.

Year 2016

Rob Zombie was headlining this concert at the Westfair Amphitheater in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Loving Rob Zombie as much as I do, I knew I had to be as close as possible to the stage. Let me make clear, this was not the first time I was in the pits at a concert (I almost always am unless its assigned seats). The crowd was so intense this night. I was on the outside ring of the moshpit trying to just keep my feet on the ground as there was no room for moving around unless you were partaking in the mosh festivities. Somehow, at one point, literally the entire pit crowd was leaning over. I felt like we were in a magic trick and we were levitating horizontally above the ground. It was the craziest thing. That concert, I had a crowd surfing girl land on top of me. Her crotch (fully clothed) met my face. People had shoes flying eveywhere. I remember one pelting me in the back of the head. Another crowd surfer, hit the back of my head and made my glasses fall off. Unfortunately, there was no saving those glasses or at least trying to find them until maybe later. I couldn’t see much after that (yes, my eyes are wicked bad). I missed all the naked girls on stage and all the flashers in the audience. Yet, I still fully participated in rocking out the entire time and loved every second of it. I have seen Rob Zombie 3 times now and always remember how I felt that first time.

Year 2018

We had gotten free tickets to see Stone Sour at Westfair Amphitheater. I was so excited because I love Corey Taylor! Plus, who can say no to free!? I was in the pits, as usual, doing the usual rocking out things. Unfortunately, before we left the house, I forgot to change my shoes and wound up wearing ballet flats to the concert. Big mistake. I was basically at the front of the pit line, with maybe 2 people ahead of me. From Ashes To New was playing and of course people jump at concerts in the pit so I was not surprised when this guy smashed the f#$k out of my foot. I honestly thought it was broken. I didn’t want to lose my spot or miss out on anything so I stayed there. I just didn’t get to jump much after that. After their set was over, we went to go to the bathroom. It hurt to walk. I figured it had to be broken, but what could I do? I was not about to leave and miss seeing Corey Taylor. We went back down to the pits and got back to where we were before. I did wind up having to back up more halfway through the set because it felt like my foot was swelling, but I managed to stay for the whole show. Long story short, I don’t think it is broken. My tendon may have some issues, but I think it is just severely bruised. It has gone down quite a bit on the pain scale, so I am dealing. It is the first time I have had an injury from a concert though. Which, I think is pretty good considering I have been to a lot.

Have you had an injury from a concert? Let me know in the comments!

As promised here is a list of the artists I have seen live (hopefully I can remember all of them)

Destiny’s Child

Eve

Jessica Simpson

Nelly

Dream

3LW

Ludacris

Missy Elliott

Chingy

Mike Jones

Slipknot

Lamb of God

Shadows Fall

Breaking Benjamin

Three Days Grace

Shamans Harvest

Thousand Foot Crutch

Soil

Disturbed

10 Years

Coheed and Cambria

Chevelle

311

Atreyu

Clutch

Otep

Parkway Drive

Grasshopper Takeover

Pop Evil

Ded

Halestorm

Emphatic

Avenged Sevenfold

Escape The Fate

Sevendust

Sick Puppies

Shim

From Ashes to New

Gemini Syndrome

Stone Sour

Rob Zombie

Shinedown

Five Finger Death Punch

Incubus

Fuel

Hinder

The Exies

Buckcherry

Kenny Chesney

Hell Yeah

Venaculas

Papa Roach

Nickelback

Imagine Dragons

Alice Cooper

Godsmack

Arson City

Hollywood Undead

Staind

In This Moment

Screaming For Silence

Creed

Skillet

My Darkest Days

Skid Row

And that is all I can remember for now…

-Jenn