Me and Julian

So, as promised, my story about The Strokes concert last night...

Have you ever been to a concert where the lead singer of a fairly major band seeks to touch an audience member even when the audience member makes no attempt to touch the singer? What about if the audience member is in the 7th row?

I don't know how frequent such a thing is but last night it happened... to me. My girlfriend and I were seated in the 7th row of the floor area. The floor seating is divided this way: 6 rows up front, wide horizontal aisle, then the rest of the seats. Down the middle is another wide aisle running vertically. I was seated right on that corner, front and center.

And I do mean seated. I wasn't familiar with many Strokes songs. And they play extremely loud. And all of the songs sounded the same to me. And I was/am a little sick. So, after the first song I took a seat and I believe I was the only person on the floor sitting. But hey, I came to listen to music, not stand so long my feet hurt.

Towards the end of the concert, Julian, the lead singer, jumped onto the floor in that middle aisle I described earlier (I can't believe this is perceived to be so rock and roll anymore... Michael Buble did the same for crying out loud). The crowd went bonkers and people began rushing towards him. Fortunately security held them back. At this point he is almost to the + where the aisles cross. I am seated (at this point my girlfriend was too) about 5 feet from him. His mic cord gets caught and he can't walk out any farther so he just continues to sing away. Finally a stage guy releases the stuck cord and Julian proceeds out into the audience. He makes the turn right in front of us (now 3 feet away) and stops walking, stares right at us, and smiles a strange smile. We still hadn't gotten up (why would we? we didn't really care to touch him or anything) and I'm not sure what kind of a smile it was. It could have been:

1) Look at these dorks just sitting there. What losers!
2) How dare they sit there while I am rocking out here!
3) Don't they want me?
4) I'm so stoned I have no clue where I am.

Perhaps it was a mix of all four.

He continues his rock and roll cliche by climbing into the seats. Security gaurds are losing their minds trying to stay with him and stage guys are trying to keep the mic cord elevated. At this point we get up to watch the spectacle... perhaps he'll fall or perhaps one of the 50 or so shirtless guys in the audience will do something stupid (why were they shirtless?). Finally he makes it back to the center aisle and begins the trek back to the stage. If you remember where I was located you know our paths are about to cross again.

Though he is surrounded by security, when he gets next to me he seems to recognize me from earlier. He stops in his tracks (still singing) and gets all bug-eyed. He looks at me with some crazy look. All this time I have made no motion to touch him, dance, or anything. I'm not sure if I was smiling or not. Anyway, this happens:

So, what's happening is this... he stops and looks me straight in the eye. He cracks a strange smile and then reaches out and pats me on the shoulder three times. He then continues back up to the stage and moves on with the show. I have no idea why he would pat me on the shoulder but it was hilarious.

Fortunately a friend I was with caught the lead singer in the act. That's him holding the mic and me on the right with what appears to be a gigantic cartoon head (I hope that's the camera phone perspective and not real life... geez!). You can sort of make out his buggy eyes and you can see his hand coming in for a pat.

What's funny is that the couple we were with (sitting to our right) had no idea it happened. We turned and told them and then the guy starts looking at his phone. He says, "I think I got a photo of it!" Sure enough, he did. That's what you see above.

I see lots of concerts (speaking of which, I've got Train tonight) and I've never seen anything like this happen. Everyone around us thought it was hilarious.

I'll never wash that shirt again... oh Julian!!

Comments

[Robert]

That is a really bizarre story.

I did, actually, once, see a quite-embaressing moment where a singer reached out and no one reached back. I saw Smashmouth at the 930 Club, and the lead singer, whoever that is, reached out but no one showed the slightest interest in reaching back. U2/Bono, Smashmouth is not. It made me cringe, but then again I already felt bad because their show was pretty ugly to start.

(I admit, I like Smashmouth's CDs. They are horrible live, however).

[wwc]

Thanks God for cameraphones! It looks like he's trying to karate-chop you.

[elliott]

that photo is priceless!! The story would almost be too much to beleive without it!

[andrew]

Haha, that's funny stuff. Maybe he was amused that you weren't rocking out or something? I dunno. It looks like you're smiling in the photo though

[Brock]

Maybe you should sell the shirt on Ebay with a copy of the photo.

[J.T. Kirkland]

Andrew,

Maybe I was smiling and don't want to admit it... I'll say the evidence isn't clear enough to convict me.

Brock,

Do you think I could get anything for it? It's my favorite shirt... I'd hate to part with it!

[wwc]

The bald (security?) guy looks so calm, almost loving.

I love the internet.

[megadork]

hey jackass, julian does that. its his thing. and by the way, what the fuck you doing sitting int he 6th row or whatever when you could care less about the strokes?

[J.T. Kirkland]

With fans like "megadork" the Strokes clearly don't need me! I'm particularly impressed with the coherent comment left by mega. Julian does what? Didn't I say he did "that," whatever "that" is? Yes, Julian did "it" therefore he also does "it."

What is "his thing"? Coming out into the crowd? Looking slightly possessed? Patting people on the shoulder? Regardless, if all of these "things" are his, are they no one else's?

Why was I sitting in the 6th row? Well, my tickets were for the 6th row and I thought it was the appropriate place for me. The location to which the ticket directed me was a space that had an empty chair. Seeing as chairs are made for sitting, I sat.

Now, what I think you are really asking, in such an elegant fashion, is why did I attend the concert if I "could care less about the strokes"? I think you meant "couldN'T care less" but that's ok, I get the drift. I attended the show because I had free tickets and good seats. I frequently go to free concerts just for the experience of the show. Had I not gone to this show I would not have had such a unique experience. And it makes for a funny story.

Thanks, megadork, for stopping by.

[bridgetsue]

hey JT got any free tickets to pearl jam?