(click for larger image, photo taken by Mikael Vojinovic for www.virginfest.com)A portly, rubicund older man in a pleasant state of innebriation sits with his friends in front of my and Amy's spot which has remained unclaimed after our bathroom break during The Killers. As I started to lay my trusty Ikea mat he turns away from his dissertation about the kids today having no idea about the next act, to remark on how I came prepared.
He says, "Do you know which of the band is going on next?"
"The Who?" I say as he searches my expression for a second. I laugh as I catch up on to the joke.
"You're the first one all day who got it. Tried it on of those kids over there. They just looked at me like I was crazy."
The Who comes on playing I Can't Explain and from everyone's reaction I realize the definition of APE SHIT. There is just something overwhelming about seeing Pete Townshend doing the windmill several feet away in real life being magnified ten times twice on the two jumbotrons against a backdrop montage of the band young and hungry in the era that spawned them and a revolution.
The iconic strains of Baba O'Riley emanate the fading summer air of September amidst the cheers of the kids of the Baby Boom and their kids of the alphabet generation, the X, Y, & Zs and some of their kids of a generation that has yet to find itself a name or alphanumeric.
My friend Amy turns to me and says, "Thank you so much for asking me to come. Seriously, thank you."
As the music pauses for the chorus, three generations or so sing the immortal words en masse:
Teenage wasteland
It's only teenage wasteland
Teenage wasteland
Oh, oh
Teenage wasteland
They're all wasted!
My life within a span of a few lines, seems to suddenly make sense.
As the night gets deeper, faces in the crowd turn into silhuoettes against a bright rock stage. A hammered young man of my generation howls happy expletives to his friend and spilling some of his bear while at it, "Dude, I've fuckin' seen the fuckin' Who live man. I can fuckin' die happy!!"
I smile and look forward to seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Life is beautiful.
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