Issue date: 11/30/01 Section: Opinion

Have you ever just wanted to release your most primitive emotions? Exorcise all the anger and fear and joy you've ever felt by screaming or pushing someone or even getting naked? I think that at some point every person longs to be able to act on their impulses without having to give thought to what is socially acceptable. And luckily enough, there is an experience within our culture where such freedom is not only allowed, but highly encouraged. Of course, I'm talking about a concert. Now this doesn't apply to some Celion Dion or Destiny's Child "event" where the costume changes take up more time than the sappy ballads. And actually I don't even mean a classical music recital or country shin dig, although both can be fun. I'm talking about a good ole fashion painfully loud, frighteningly intense, wake-up-with-bruises-the-next-morning rock concert. It may be cliché, but rock and roll is all about rebellion, and I've never been to a good rock show where there aren't at least a handful of felonies being committed. Such abandonment is potentially dangerous, but perhaps it actually makes our society safer to have a place where for just a little while reason and courtesy can be discarded in the name of pure sensation.

Now you can attend all the rock concerts you want, but if you're stuck in a row of chairs you'll never really know what I'm talking about. The key to really living through a concert is the pit. The pit is that wonderful area that is always too small, always smells badly, and is filled with people crazy enough to shell out extra money to basically get killed. If you're unfamiliar with the pit and not quite sure if you've ever been in one, just check for these signs. Have you been pushed to the ground by a group of teenage boys determined to prove there manhood by moshing? Have you seen a crowd surfer reach a spot in the audience where no one cares and fly head-first into the concrete? Are there lots of topless, tattooed women sitting on their boyfriend's shoulders? Can you smell pot? The answers to all these questions should be yes. For concerts are naturally hot spots for violence, sex and drugs.

While I can't claim to have taken part directly in any of this madness, just being in such an atmosphere is one of the most exciting feelings I've ever known. The chaos is so amazingly different from the everyday lives we lead of obeying government laws and society regulations. Perhaps some of the activities that go on at rock shows are pretty dumb, and others are outright illegal, but all the negativity disappears as you look at the person next to you and realize they're yelling out the lyrics as you, and that the word and music you love so much has meant something to them also. See, for all their crude and vulgar ritual, rock concerts are really about connecting with people on a level that goes deeper than the artificial politeness we're expected to convey.

Besides, if anyone gets to out of hand, there are always sweaty three hundred pound guys with SECURITY shirts to let them know where the exit is.

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