<<Rant warning>>
LOL...and I'm only 47. Last night, I took my family to see U2 in Detroit. Besides the usual ridiculously inflated ticket prices (having to buy on StubHub because nothing good is ever available on Ticketmaster), concert traffic, jacked up parking prices, long security lines, lousy concert sound, etc. -- I was actually having a great time. Until the drunk broad next to me punched me in the face, that is.
About 2/3 of the way through the show, the girls next to me got up from their seats. Immediately, a drunk middle-aged couple poured into the seats. Rude, obnoxious, annoying. This broad's style of dancing was to flail her arms like she was drowning. Lovely, I'm glad I paid hundreds for these seats. A couple songs later, she pulls out her cigarettes and starts to light up. I'm not having it. I tap her on the shoulder and said "that's not happening here...take it outside." She told me to f*off and lit up anyway. 49,999 other people in the stadium got the memo that Ford Field is a no-smoking venue, just like every other stadium in the USA. Not her, she's special. I turned around and got the attention of the usher, who immediately realized what was going on. Security arrived a couple minutes later and removed them from the seats. Zero tolerance, apparently. On the way out, the drunk chick told me to f*off again and back-handed me across the face. I guess I deserved it. Problem solved.
Maybe I'm a little too uptight? Probably because I seem to run into these idiots at every show I go to. Last year, we went to see the sold-out Steely Dan at the Hollywood Bowl. We got to our seats to find this meathead and his drunk friends in our seats. He wasn't about to move, and caused a huge scene before the ushers sorted everything out...disrupting the show for a good 15 minutes. Before he left, he got in my face like a drill sergeant and called me every name in the book in front of my 15 yr old daughter. Am I wrong for just wanting to sit in the seats I paid for? There were no other open seats...it was sold out.
Primus show a few months ago. We are sitting in the balcony with the 500 or so other people...all sitting...every last one...except for the guy right in front of me. I get it, it's a rock concert. People get excited and want to stand. I sat patiently staring at this guys back for a couple songs until I got tired of the people behind me asking to get the guy to sit down. When I tapped him on the shoulder, he told me to f*off and continued to stand. All by himself. Despite the fact that there was an acre of space to stand on the floor and mezzanine. An usher arrived eventually and moved the guy back to the cheap seat he actually paid for.
It's just getting to the point that it's just not worth the hassle and aggravation. Oh, and get off my lawn!
