The Indiana Drones – FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, the pop rock artist, The Indiana Drones, talks about the story of his first experience with live music. You can check out the story, after the break.

The first show I saw was Sum 41 in Windsor Ontario at a place called The Roxy. I was in grade 10 and obsessed with the band and their album Underclass Hero.

My dad brought me, my brother and our friend from school, Mike. I remember so vividly waiting in line outside in the snow. I had no idea what to expect but I was giddy in anticipation of seeing my favourite band come to life in real-time. It felt a lot like Christmas. When we walked into the club there was a local opening group onstage. Behind them I could see a drum set on a riser covered with a black sheet as well as large dormant Marshall cabinets towering on either side, teasingly waiting their turn. I had a pit in my stomach.

I thought in detail about what backstage must be like. Surely there were red velvet dressing rooms, string lights, a buffet line, and a few stray celebrities who flew in just to hang out… A couple of years later my band did an opening set at the same venue. I was shocked to learn that the elusive backstage I had fantasized about was in reality a single door that led out into the alley. Anyway, the tension continued to build as me and Mike shoved our way into the pit. The first time I’d experience the now old familiar “floor of a concert smell”. Typically consisting of body odor and beer combine with a variety of perfumes and the occasional whiff of pot smoke.

When Sum 41 came on it didn’t feel real. The energy was insane. The band and the crowd transported somewhere else where nothing else existed. It felt like that ordinary brick building in our ordinary town in my ordinary world became extraordinary. It was like what I’d imagine a religious experience to be. All I wanted to do from that show on was make other people feel the way I felt that night. I wanna know what it’s like to hold a crowd in your hand, to make a building erupt and to move people emotionally and physically with music that you’ve created out of nothing.

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