My parents are cooler than me

I don't know about you all, but I grew up listening to stories from my parents about this concert, and that festival, and so and so's live act, and yadda yadda yadda. I didn't think anything of it when our weekend's included watching illegal concert tapes that they recorded and I would occasionally have to cover my eyes but NEVER my ears. My parent's weren't hippies - more like stoners, I'd say. I recently found out that they grew weed behind the basement fridge where I would keep my Kool-Aid Bursts.

So, I mean, they are definitely cooler than me. They're repertoire of concerts is incredible: Queen, the Stones, Dylan, it goes on. This made me feel the need to re-evaluate my list of concerts to compare and see myself as a rad-hipster as well. So please enjoy the following list of my top 5 concert experiences:

5. Sitting three rows from Interpol at quite possibly the coolest venue (Benedum Center) for an avant-garde band.

4. Taking my shoes off and moshing in a cloud of dust while the lead singer of Gogol Bordello was passed around above the audience balancing himself on a large drum.

3. Walking 3 blocks from my house to see Tom Gabel of Against Me! rock out perfectly. I mean this guy has been scream-rocking for over a decade and his voice sounds amazing, also.... HE PLAYED AN OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW SONG! Gotta love a guy who can go from punk to folk without skipping a beat (reminds me of my Craigger)

2. MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ MMJ + MS = #2
The above equation sums up my second favorite concert experience. Standing in line for 20 minutes to watch My Morning Jacket play for 3+ hours (about 30 songs)! This band is what unbelievable concerts are made of, every song sounded incredible, we were right by the beer stand, they played all of our favorites, and Matt Salopek was there!!

1. Best concert ever (well, so far). June 2007, Manchester Tennesse, me, Craig, and Sting. Seeing The Police at Bonnaroo was definitely #1. From the beginning it was chaos: when Craig and I threw a backpack of IC Light over a wall in front of police and SWAT so that we could drink, shoving our way into the front third of the 300,000 people who were there, watching Craig relieve a little message in a bottle for Sting, oh and did I mention we were so ***happy to be there*** that I was halucinating cavemen in the crowd?!

Take that, Mom and Dad.