My First Concert Ended in Tears
I went to my first concert when I was 8 years old and the lasting imprint it had on my life will stay with me forever. In 2008, the Christian band MercyMe bought their I Can Only Imagine Tour to Colorado Springs. With a large fake flower holding back my wild curls, and a gold sequenced vest, I took the Broadmoor Arena steps two at a time. Hand in hand, my mom and I weave through the crowd to our seats front and center for the show. I am beaning and jumpy with excitement, flipping my seat up and down as we wait. As the lights fall, I scream. Silent seconds past, before the stage explodes. The lights flash white and blinding and an earsplitting sound blasts towards me. I freeze in shock, with hands curled close and my fingers jammed into my ears, this is not the soft gentle sounds of MercyMe I was expecting. Unknown to my mother and I, the opening act for MercyMe was the Christian heavy metal band known as Skillet. As the electric guitar deepens and a deep dark voice cries, “I Feel like a Monster!” I burst into tears. It is too loud, too intense, too chaotic. We are in the loudest seats in the arena and the sound is deafening. My mom quickly takes charge and guides me into the now empty halls around the stadium. My heart is still pounding and the sound is still too loud. So we push through the large medal doors into the cool night air. In this time before reentry was band, we take seats on cold concrete steps outside the Arena. My mom’s arm is around me, her apologies whispered into my hair. The heavy metal music plays as soft background music to our stargazing. The two of us searching the sky as the muffled music continues, we are following the bears and their hunter in the galaxy above us. We sit their long enough for my tears to turn to salt and my blood to turn steady. When the music fades to silence we stand and make our way back to our seats. Making it back just in time for the deep voice of Bart Millard and the flowing piano of the song we came for. That night has stayed tucked in my heart as one of the greatest moments of my life. Little did I know, that while that night started in tears, it ended in a spark being ignited for live music.
