Press "Against Me!" against me!!!!

Saturday night was date number two with Marathon Man. I had tickets for the punk/rock band ‘Against Me!’. They are my new favorite band….mostly in part to their sound and my carnal lust for the tatted up lead singer. Here is what the paper said:
“Metromix Picks for Saturday, MUSIC: Against Me! Their new record ‘New Wave’ has a groove and swagger not heard since the heyday of the Clash. Oh, and being the best live punk in the world certainly doesn’t hurt their cause.” Yeah, I am totally smitten. At one point during the concert, I told Marathon Man that I would drop him so fast if the lead singer (Tom) pointed to me and said to meet him backstage.

I should backup….Since the venue was close to my apartment, M-Man came over for some pre-drinking. Yeah, I am THAT cheap and not ashamed to have a drink or two before forking over my hard earned dollars for shitty domestic beer. Well he came over with a bottle of tequila, and I was completely unprepared. I am too old to take shots anymore, so I shouted from the kitchen, “okay the mixer options are water, apple juice, milk, and more beer.” I did have some frozen fruit that I used to make a very sad margarita blend…that is if a margarita consists of peaches, strawberries, and apple juice. Oh and I forgot to add the alcohol at first, so we downed the initial horrible batch for nothing other than one of our daily fruit servings.

We headed over to the concert a bit buzzed and had the following conversation with the doorman/bouncer:
Big beefy bouncer (BBB): Are you two drinking tonight?
Me: Well yeah, a little beforehand. Is that a problem?
BBB: No, are you going to be drinking tonight?
Me: I mean, we didn’t bring any with us if that is what you are asking….but could we have?
BBB: No, do you want to drink HERE ‘cause you need to get a bracelet over there!
Obviously, M-Man is cracking up at my apparent confusion.

Okay a quick word about the venue, Terminal 5. It is over in an old Hell’s Kitchen warehouse and boy is it HUGE! The main floor is about three or four basket ball courts and there are two levels of balconies that surround/overhang the main floor. I guess the architectural term would be atrium like. Anyway, we were able to carve out an against the railing front row standing room only spot right along the stage (the layout put us about 20-30 feet from the band with a completely unobstructed). Yeah, a rocking spot and hopefully close enough that Tom Gabel (the singer) would notice me and immediately propose.

Since the show was all ages, there were plenty of minors about. Thankfully they all stayed to the main floor, and the adults kept company with the bar on the upper levels. Yeah, I remember a time when I liked to get crazy at concerts. You know, stage surge, crowd surf (well I never surfed, but liked to pass people around), and of course dodging the mosh pit. Looking down at the hundreds of kiddies smashing into each other, throwing punches, dropping surfing bodies, pressing up against the stage barriers…..I think, man I am too old for that shit. I was pretty amused at the rowdy crowd who would wrestle off the shoes, hats, and/or shirts from crowd surfers and then chuck them across the room…what assholes.

I knew it was going to be a great show when the lights dimmed and a roadie stepped up on stage. The crowd went momentarily quiet, but then let out a huge roar when the roadie ripped down a plain black backdrop curtain to reveal the band’s giant logo. Yeah, I went pretty nuts too. The band then rushed on stage right into their first song. They played their asses off and DID NOT STOP! Seriously, they went from one song right into another without stopping to take a breather, switching equipment, or boring the crowd with mindless insight into their songs. Yeah, 90+ solid minutes of music. They ebbed the crowd’s energy like a symphony inserting the roaring, moshing, and pumping their fists in the air after a mellow medley (okay these guys are not mellow by any means…I just want to describe how it was to gather your energy during one song and then follow it up immediately with a rebel yell). Can you tell I’m a huge fan?

Anyway, M-Man and I snuck around to the tour bus after the show to try and catch the guys (okay, I actually was there to jump on Tom). No dice since both of us didn’t feel like standing around in the cold for another hour or so for them to emerge. I did send a short but sweet email to the band (yeah, sue me for being a stalker), congratulating them on a great show and asking them to come back to NYC soon. Well a few days ago I got a response…..from Tom! Oh yeah! He basically said thanks and would let me know when they are touring next (you know the standard impersonal email). My college friend Darci (and also Against Me! Fan) says she fully expects a proposal the next time he comes into town. Mmmmmnnn, this close to getting a notebook and writing Lindsay + Tom all over it….just kidding, or am I? Something about the tall, skinny, bad boy types....