Getting My Teeny-bopper On
Twenty-four years ago, my best friend Nicki and I talked my parents into taking us to the Budweiser Fresh Fest. It was the first - yeah, I said it, - FIRST multi-act hip hop concert. Or rap as we used to say in the dark ages.
LL Cool J was on the ticket, Whodini, probably a few others and Run DMC headlined.
The Fresh Fest was a huge deal. So my parents reluctantly obliged.
Brave troopers that they were, they sat in the nose bleed seats getting contact from all the Mary Jane being smoked, while Nicki and I got our groove on, on the floor. There were no floor seats, just a big open floor where they let people come down and break dance. ::snicker::
It was a long night of very loud music, raucous teens, and quite a few suspect thugs who were openly inebriated swaying unsteadily to the thumping bass.
My parents vowed never again and kept to that vow.
Fast forward to last Friday. I'm pretty certain that when they purchased tickets for Princess A and her two cousins to attend the Chris Brown concert - payback was on their minds. The concert was in Virginia on a Friday right around peak rush hour.
The beltway on a Friday?! I'm thinking, pack a bag and prepare for the worst.
Seriously, Chris Brown had already been in Baltimore and DC , over the holidays, much closer venues. But they purchased tickets for Virginia!
I smelled a conspiracy.
My mother "claimed" she'd gladly take the girls herself but lo and behold she had to work that night. Literally, it's the only Friday she's ever had to work. Hmm...
I was dreading it. Not the concert (I love Chris Breezy) but the whole beltway on a Friday thing was really getting me down. I had visions of my parents giggling gleefully congratulating themselves for finally making me pay.
But the thing was, we had an absolute ball!
There was no traffic - guess everyone took off for the MLK weekend. It only took us an hour to get there and the Patriot Center only holds 10,000 people so it was the perfect venue, not too big, not too small.
It was the hubster's first time taking Princess A to a concert, my third. He'd been mentally preparing for the scream fest but still seemed slightly jolted when the girls in the audience screamed at pretty much anything.
Every now and then, you find yourself in a situation that makes you feel your age. Makes you fully aware that you're no spring chicken. But surprisingly this wasn't one of those times.
There were lots of dads there with their daughters, which tickled me to death. As my two previous concerts with Princess A had been pretty much exclusively female - moms and daughters.
Chris Brown, being a teen himself, drew both the older teen girls and the elementary set. I saw a large population of 7-8 year olds. So it was a very tame, family-type atmosphere.
Although I couldn't understand a word The Shop Boys said and only vaguely recognized Soulja Boy's other singles, the energy of the crowd was fun and comfortable. By the time Bow Wow came out, you could tell everyone was ready to get into it.
Although, it's official, Bow Wow needs to move on to a more mature ticket. He was the only one of the night who cursed and the lyrics to his current singles are suggestive, walking the line of R-rated. It was no raunch fest, but in comparison to everyone else...well, let's just say I wondered about the eight year olds in the crowd.
Still, I'm not sure who was more excited when he brought out Omarion, me or the girls. Not that I'm a huge O fan, but I'm obsessed with the duo's single, Hey Baby. I was disappointed that O had his rows in, instead of sporting the shaggy 'fro he has in the video.
I'm not against shaking my thing to pop music. And Princess A isn't really the type to get embarrassed about me singing aloud or dancing in public. But I stayed seated, observing the 'adults shouldn't have more fun than the kids' rule as I danced in my chair.
It was more fun watching the girls dance and bop as they whipped out their phones to capture fuzzy photos, anyway. When we compared photos later, mine looked like professional grade compared to their shots.
Lady T, at fourteen, the oldest of our little teen trio, sat next to me. I think my arm and leg may require medical attention from her grabbing me excitedly. But that added to the fun. There's nothing like pure enjoyment on a kid's face.
When Breezy hit the stage, the house was packed and the girls (mine and all the others) were screaming at even the slightest provocation. He didn't disappoint. He danced his buns off and kept the girls in a lather. So it was a huge treat when he performed two numbers right in front of our seats (we were in the back of the arena facing the stage) on this round platform that revolved and went up and down.
I thought my girls were going to lose their minds.
He wasn't close enough to touch, but if eyeballs were stomachs and Chris Brown was a meal, they got their fill. And I got the camera phone pics of a shirtless Breezy to prove it.
By the way, I'm not sure I've seen that much testerone spewing, adolescent sexuality since...well, since Scream Tour Five when Pretty Ricky gyrated and humped their way through a performance. For the next three hours, all Princess A could talk about were the "pelvic thrusts" or "PT" as they became affectionately referred to as the night wore on.
I reminded her that the PTs were probably not the concert highlight her grandmother wanted to hear about.
But that's how close we were to the action, at that point.
Three hours, three hoarse and thirsty girls later, the night was done. And the hubster and I agreed it was one of the better concerts we'd attended in a while. Pretty sad!
Our last concert was the R. Kelly/Jay-Z tour at the same exact arena of the original Fresh Fest. And if you can believe this, they still smoke Mary Jane in the nosebleed seats. The concert was rote, our seats bad and all I could think about was, where in the heck were the emergency exits when you're that friggin' high up.
Yes, that is a sign that I'm getting old(er). But on Friday, there was no sign of that worry wart, I was getting my teen thing on.
As Lady T would say, "Chris Brown I love youuuuuuuu....woaw!!!"
LL Cool J was on the ticket, Whodini, probably a few others and Run DMC headlined.
The Fresh Fest was a huge deal. So my parents reluctantly obliged.
Brave troopers that they were, they sat in the nose bleed seats getting contact from all the Mary Jane being smoked, while Nicki and I got our groove on, on the floor. There were no floor seats, just a big open floor where they let people come down and break dance. ::snicker::
It was a long night of very loud music, raucous teens, and quite a few suspect thugs who were openly inebriated swaying unsteadily to the thumping bass.
My parents vowed never again and kept to that vow.
Fast forward to last Friday. I'm pretty certain that when they purchased tickets for Princess A and her two cousins to attend the Chris Brown concert - payback was on their minds. The concert was in Virginia on a Friday right around peak rush hour.
The beltway on a Friday?! I'm thinking, pack a bag and prepare for the worst.
Seriously, Chris Brown had already been in Baltimore and DC , over the holidays, much closer venues. But they purchased tickets for Virginia!
I smelled a conspiracy.
My mother "claimed" she'd gladly take the girls herself but lo and behold she had to work that night. Literally, it's the only Friday she's ever had to work. Hmm...
I was dreading it. Not the concert (I love Chris Breezy) but the whole beltway on a Friday thing was really getting me down. I had visions of my parents giggling gleefully congratulating themselves for finally making me pay.
But the thing was, we had an absolute ball!
There was no traffic - guess everyone took off for the MLK weekend. It only took us an hour to get there and the Patriot Center only holds 10,000 people so it was the perfect venue, not too big, not too small.
It was the hubster's first time taking Princess A to a concert, my third. He'd been mentally preparing for the scream fest but still seemed slightly jolted when the girls in the audience screamed at pretty much anything.
Every now and then, you find yourself in a situation that makes you feel your age. Makes you fully aware that you're no spring chicken. But surprisingly this wasn't one of those times.
There were lots of dads there with their daughters, which tickled me to death. As my two previous concerts with Princess A had been pretty much exclusively female - moms and daughters.
Chris Brown, being a teen himself, drew both the older teen girls and the elementary set. I saw a large population of 7-8 year olds. So it was a very tame, family-type atmosphere.
Although I couldn't understand a word The Shop Boys said and only vaguely recognized Soulja Boy's other singles, the energy of the crowd was fun and comfortable. By the time Bow Wow came out, you could tell everyone was ready to get into it.
Although, it's official, Bow Wow needs to move on to a more mature ticket. He was the only one of the night who cursed and the lyrics to his current singles are suggestive, walking the line of R-rated. It was no raunch fest, but in comparison to everyone else...well, let's just say I wondered about the eight year olds in the crowd.
Still, I'm not sure who was more excited when he brought out Omarion, me or the girls. Not that I'm a huge O fan, but I'm obsessed with the duo's single, Hey Baby. I was disappointed that O had his rows in, instead of sporting the shaggy 'fro he has in the video.
I'm not against shaking my thing to pop music. And Princess A isn't really the type to get embarrassed about me singing aloud or dancing in public. But I stayed seated, observing the 'adults shouldn't have more fun than the kids' rule as I danced in my chair.
It was more fun watching the girls dance and bop as they whipped out their phones to capture fuzzy photos, anyway. When we compared photos later, mine looked like professional grade compared to their shots.
Lady T, at fourteen, the oldest of our little teen trio, sat next to me. I think my arm and leg may require medical attention from her grabbing me excitedly. But that added to the fun. There's nothing like pure enjoyment on a kid's face.
When Breezy hit the stage, the house was packed and the girls (mine and all the others) were screaming at even the slightest provocation. He didn't disappoint. He danced his buns off and kept the girls in a lather. So it was a huge treat when he performed two numbers right in front of our seats (we were in the back of the arena facing the stage) on this round platform that revolved and went up and down.
I thought my girls were going to lose their minds.
He wasn't close enough to touch, but if eyeballs were stomachs and Chris Brown was a meal, they got their fill. And I got the camera phone pics of a shirtless Breezy to prove it.
By the way, I'm not sure I've seen that much testerone spewing, adolescent sexuality since...well, since Scream Tour Five when Pretty Ricky gyrated and humped their way through a performance. For the next three hours, all Princess A could talk about were the "pelvic thrusts" or "PT" as they became affectionately referred to as the night wore on.
I reminded her that the PTs were probably not the concert highlight her grandmother wanted to hear about.
But that's how close we were to the action, at that point.
Three hours, three hoarse and thirsty girls later, the night was done. And the hubster and I agreed it was one of the better concerts we'd attended in a while. Pretty sad!
Our last concert was the R. Kelly/Jay-Z tour at the same exact arena of the original Fresh Fest. And if you can believe this, they still smoke Mary Jane in the nosebleed seats. The concert was rote, our seats bad and all I could think about was, where in the heck were the emergency exits when you're that friggin' high up.
Yes, that is a sign that I'm getting old(er). But on Friday, there was no sign of that worry wart, I was getting my teen thing on.
As Lady T would say, "Chris Brown I love youuuuuuuu....woaw!!!"
posted by Paula at 7:28 PM
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