Last Night’s Show [Extended Version]: Saves the Day

A few weeks ago, Bryan and I spent a couple of days in Boulder, CO visiting our friends, Brad and Meg. While there, we attended a 15-year-reunion show of one of Bryan’s favorite bands from back in the day: Saves the Day. They reunited to play their 1999 album, Through Being Cool. 

If you’re not familiar, you can catch up here:

I’d heard of Saves the Day, but in 1999 I was still pretty deep into the Top 40 scene, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the show. I figured I’d fit in ok if I dressed like Emo Jillian, so I wore an entirely black outfit and a disillusioned scowl. And I’m pretty sure that I managed to blend, because not only did no one call me “ma’am,” but I participated in my first mosh pit!

*Note that anyone who has actually been in a mosh pit would tell you that it wasn’t so much of a mosh pit as it was just a crowd that pushed and shoved and bumped around every now and then. Bryan was nice enough to call it a “baby mosh pit” as to not quell my excitement. But whatever. You guys! A mosh pit! 

The really interesting thing about the show was that the crowd was a strange mix of two groups: (1) mid-20 to -30 somethings, reminiscing about their days in high school and (2) boys and girls who are actually still in high school. Seriously, some of those kids probably weren’t even born in 1999. (Most of Group 2 was there to see the headliner, Say Anything.)

Being an astute observer of social dynamics, I noticed a few things about the concertgoers that night. Allow me to present:

The Differences Between 30-Year-Olds and 16-Year-Olds at a Saves The Day Concert

Thankfully, any insecurities I had about my age or my lack of familiarity with the band were fleeting, because the show was so fun! It was great to be in a room full of so much energy, and it was fun to see Bryan’s excitement, too. I jumped around, sang the random lyrics I remembered from trying to cram-memorize the album days before the show, and left feeling fabulous (and a little sweaty.)

And then my ears rang for the next two days straight.