So we embarked on our first concert together in over ten years. This concert meant more to me than I can ever put into words. It was us, going back to our old ways, albeit a bit older and wiser.
You should know a few things about Lauren: she's the one who taught me about music. She's the one who taught me to be carefree. She taught me to always talk to the band, get to the front, and crowd-surf. And her mom taught me to never get on the tour bus, thanks Lor. These were the essentials of my teenage existence. And she was always the one being crushed right next to me at the front of the stage.
It wasn't until we got to this cracked-out venue that I remembered those things. Its like I stored all those memories away, abandoned them and left them for dead. It was probably a mix between the stale beer smell, the busted building, and all the teenagers dying to get to the front, that those memories came flooding back. I was once one of these girls. A girl just learning who she was, inspired the music.
Lauren and I first met Fall Out Boy first when they were an opening act for Allister, which by the way, where are they now?! It was at good ole Peabody's in Cleveland, on the small stage. Excited for the main show we eagerly stood in front ready to bear through whatever kind of music they were going to play. When they came out, truth be told, we didn't think much; just another opening act. But when they started playing, we were immediately captured. Looking back on the moment now, it was a defining moment of my life. A moment when new music takes hold of you and never lets you go. When you realize everything you knew about 'popular' bands is a lie and you're confronted with finding this hidden gem that no one else knows about. Thats what Fall Out Boy was to us. A band made of 4 guys just trying to make it with a hell of a live show and music so pure that you couldn't help but listen.
After that show, we waited for Lauren's mom to get us... literally the last people at Peabody's. Well us and the band. Our first interaction with them went a little something like this:
Lauren to Patrick: You spat on me
Patrick to Lauren: Yeah, I saw that.
And there you have it, our friendship formed.
As the months grew to years, we continued to follow their shows in the Cleveland area. Eating dinner with them, dropping off care packages from Lor, shopping in Coventry, and of course having my dad threaten Pete. Their shows were amazing, the times we shared among my favorite.
But time moves on and so does talent. I'm sure you know the ending to this story: FOB got big (and rightfully so) and Lauren and I got older. We graduated, both went off to college, I got married, she moved, I moved and here we are today.
During last week's Chicago show, I couldn't help but imagine us, as we were when we were 14. My how we've changed. But through it all, we had two constants, 1) each other 2) Fall Out Boy (and the grand scheme of music). I wish I could tell you I crowd surfed and Lauren knocked over Pete's mic. But we didn't. We just basked in the music. We left those tasks up to the girls finding themselves in the music to do just that. We already know who we are.
We waited outside to hopefully rekindle a friendship. Based not on popularity, not on a famous band, but on those memories we once shared 10 years ago. That pure music that intoxicated us from the onset.
I can however tell you we got to take a picture with Patrick and he said he remembered us. It was a genuine, or so we like to believe, remembrance. Maybe he's sitting somewhere right now remembering those times too.
Since the show, I can't stop these memories from flooding in and it makes me genuinely happy. So, even though my friend is gone, the show is over and I'm back to my adult life, I can smile that we got to experience all those things together once. And I can only hope the girls from that show will grow up to do that same.
....and I know I should be home.
(don't kill me Lauren)
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