So a friend of mine recently did a live video while playing an Anti-Flag song, of course that ended with me jumping on youtube to listen to Anti Flag, which I haven't done in so, so long.
And the flood gates of memories opened.
Anti-Flag was my first real concert. I was 16 or 17, and I was already angry at the president, at the problems of the world that seemed so obvious and so simply fixed to me, and so incredibly ambitious that my friends and I (and people like us) could change everything. Anti Flag was doing a release tour for The Terror State. It was fall when my friends and I piled into Jen's car (pretty sure it was hers, either that or Suzi's) and started the journey to Philadelphia. I remember stopping at the King of Prussia mall before the concert and it felt like such an amusing juxtaposition of events to me. At some point we pulled over because I saw a muffler sitting on the side of the road and I had to have it.
Honestly I think remember almost everything about the day, better than I remember what happened to me yesterday. I remember getting to the venue (the First Unitarian Church) way early and being in love with all of the punks kids hanging out front, it was what I wanted to see every day for always. A tall, kid approached us slightly awkwardly (in a very charming kind of way though) as Michelle was taking pictures of everyone and everything and I was bouncing off the walls with excitement to be there. He asked if Michelle wanted to take his picture as well (an image I own to this day), introduced himself as Erik (with a k), and stuck around to talk to us, at some point offering me his coat because I looked cold. We ended up walking around a little while before the concert, including going to a little hole in the wall pizza place to use the bathroom where he bought a 8 ball bouncy ball from a quarter machine (I still have that too). We explained one of our weirder in-jokes to him, he introduced us to the friends he went to the concert with and we all queued up to go inside, talking about books (a fellow Salinger fan!). When we got inside the room was packed, the opening bands played (Thought Riot, Paint it Black, and Pipedown) and were all just great, I don't think I had heard any of them before that night, and I think Suzi ended up getting a Thought Riot shirt/cd? At some point some kid got shoved into the mosh pit and his backpack spilled open, with a bunch of stuff flying everywhere, and everyone stopped and handed it back to him so he could shove it back in* and I was in love with the feeling of unity the punk community exhibited. (*this may have happened at the Unseen concert, same venue, similar crowd, but I am pretty sure it was Anti Flag).
I had the most surreal moment when I was walking around between bands and saw Jen talking to some guy, only to get closer and realize it was Justin Sane. Of course she was, that's Jen, coolest girl in any room. I remember asking him to prom, because of course I did, it was actually something Jen and I had joked about before the concert, he politely and passively declined. They played and it was....the single best concert I have been to. Everyone was so full of passion and hope and anger and we screamed along to songs we had never heard before, and even louder to songs we knew, and shared sweat, with zero cares given, I stood right up front with Erik and felt like no night could ever be more perfect. After they played I hung around and ended up talking to almost all the people in Anti-Flag, they signed the shorts I was wearing and I remember joking with Justin Sane that it was a shame he couldn't go with me and he whispered in my ear that he was sad about it because I was cute, it is probably a good thing it was dark because I have no doubt I turned 10 shades of pink. I also recall Pat Thetic being so damn excited that I asked for a hug (drummers never get enough love).
We got our free cds ($10 show with a free copy of their newest release? I love you Anti-Flag) and spilled out into the night, soaked through with sweat. Erik and I parted ways, for what I hoped wouldn't be the last time, after he gave me the bouncy ball he had bought earlier. [It wasn't the last time, I saw him twice more, including once at the Unitarian Church again, this time to see The Unseen, to this day I think he is probably the single sweetest guy I have ever met, and a perfect gentleman, and I hope he doesn't get too awfully embarrassed if he reads this]. We called all of our parents to let them know that we wouldn't be coming home that night (too damn late for that drive and we were all exhausted), crashed at Jen's grandma's house and went home the next day. I had to go to school, I think everyone else's parents just let them skip and sleep. I was so excited to wear my new shirt that I didn't care, the back said "Bullets can't silence ideas" and all the clever kids I went to school with had to dispute the point. Damn, I loved that album, by their next one I was already becoming less angry and more jaded, but listening to it again now I can still feel that burning passion to effect change and end injustice that I had then.
