LipstickStains

This was my first time going to a show alone, and I was terrified. So terrified, in fact, that minutes before leaving my house I was contemplating not even attending.

Even still, there was quite a lot that drew me to this show. The first being the great cause for the event. A portion of proceeds from the show went to suicide prevention, a cause close to my heart. In the end, we raised over $1,400 for the foundation.

The second biggest draw was all the amazing bands set to perform. All of the performers were absolutely amazing and had such a beautiful way of interacting with the crowd. I’d be lying to say Selfish Means wasn’t my biggest draw to attend, up to this point, I had yet to see them live and I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without attending one of their shows. Getting to hear and see songs live that I’ve screamed in my car was, frankly, emotional. I found myself tearing up at their performance of “No Strife” and now listening to their songs post-show, everything is even more powerful than it already was.

I ultimately wanted to challenge myself. I went to this show, again, completely alone, with the intention of making friends when I got there. This is very outside my character, I’m usually rather shy and stick to what I know, but this evening I focused on pushing myself very far outside my comfort zone.

I did make friends there, two girls, a few years younger than me. They were very sweet and happily took me under their wing. We spent the evening mostly together, though towards the end of the evening we split off a bit.

This, while very scary, was still incredibly fun. I talked to more new people in this one evening than I had probably the whole previous week and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had convinced myself it would be. Sure, there were sometimes when I had felt like maybe I had said or done something “wrong”, but ultimately, the night went absolutely pleasantly and I won’t allow myself to dwell on the few “down” moments.

This event was safe, and fun, and a fantastic introduction to the scene; not only because of all of the familiar people in the crowd but also the bill was stacked with NCHC must know bands.

The only issues I had from the whole evening were not from bands or performances, but with the venue itself.

The show was held at Backtable, in Greensboro. This is a coffee shop/bar event space. A very cool place to explore both inside and outside. I spent a lot of my first hour here walking around snapping pictures of the location.

The first less than pleasant aspect of the experience was the staff I interacted with. While everyone else was perfectly lovely the person taking my order seemed to be…disgusted, put simply.

I figured, naturally, that this was a barista who didn’t want to be interacting with a bunch of punks. I didn’t take it too personally and moved on with my evening. But, I learned that this was far from the first hardcore show held at this location so I was surprised that someone would be so rude to a customer base they’ve surly encountered before.

All that being said, it is also entirely possible I did do something to rub them the wrong way. Perhaps I had a weird tone or facial expression due to the nerves, maybe they didn’t like my tits being out, maybe they had their own shit going on; whatever the case, I figured there’s nothing I could do about it other than move on.

The next biggest issue I observed was having rugs in the pit. Despite being taped down, by the end of the evening the rugs were severely lifting and causing moshers to trip and slide. Luckily no one was injured but this did seem like a great recipe for a broken bone.

I loved this venues vast outdoor space. The area to sit outside was huge with lots of seating options between chairs, tables, steps, and cement slabs. Everyone hanging out outside in between performances added so much of a community feel. It goes to show that the venue is so very important in creating a shows environment.

Over all, this show was electric, energy packed, fun, and friendly. What a wonderful way to introduce kids to the NCHC scene and show the generation before us, that the kids are alright.