SAILE – FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, the singer-songwriter, SAILE, talks about his first concert ever. You can check out the feature, after the break.

I’m pretty sure my first concert I ever attended was Ben Folds Five at Tufts University. My dad took my friend Josey and me to the show. To be honest, I don’t remember much, except my dad explaining that that smell in the air was marijuana, haha! It was all downhill from there.

The first REAL concert experience I had was a Papa Roach concert when I was in the 8th grade.

Quick backstory:

I grew up on hip-hop until about 6th grade when I heard Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” (I’m not kidding). It was a mixture of that song, Eve 6, and Third Eye Blind that helped me make the jump into rock music. Blink, Sum 41, Linkin Park, and others quickly swallowed me up. Within a year or so, I had picked up bass and was learning how to play my favorite songs.

For my 13th birthday, my dad got me tickets to see Papa Roach at the Worcester Palladium in Massachusetts. I was stoked; however, all of my good friends were still living in the hip-hop world. I remember calling and inviting them. One by one they all passed on the invitation. My sixth or seventh pick was Joe Bran, a skinny red-head who played guitar and dressed like Kurt Cobain. He gladly accepted the invitation – this was much more his world than mine.

I remember getting inside the venue and smelling the grunge – the old booze, cigarettes, and weed. We watched the openers, who killed, from the balcony as the kids started flowing in. Anyone remember Die Trying?

By the time Papa Roach took the stage, the room was packed. Joe and I made our way down to the floor, leaving my Dad upstairs to watch his tiny son and friend disappear into the crowd. Within moments we witnessed a girl take off her top and throw her shirt on stage. Our teenage minds were blown.

Moments later, a few people sailed over our heads on the crowd’s arms. My first glimpse of crowd surfing! I wanted in.

I walked up to the first big guy I saw, tapped him on the shoulder and told him I wanted to go up. Without hesitation, the dude tossed me up and I was riding towards the stage. I remember looking up and seeing my dad looking down from the balcony, half smiling and half in horror. Someone tried to grab one of my shoes off my feet. I responded with a swift kick and made it to the security barricade.

I got back to Joe who was now ready for his turn. The same guy took pleasure in throwing skinny Joe up on top of the crowd. I watched from a little ways back as he was carried towards the stage, until all of a sudden he was out of sight. Joe got dropped. Security rushed in and carried Joe out, who was in tears at this point.

Tisk tisk, Joe. You don’t cry at the rock show. Not ever.

Luckily he brushed it off within a few minutes and we were back it. I think I took 3-4 rides up to the stage by the end of the show. I left the Worcester Palladium that night with both shoes, a giant smile on my face, and a little angsty fire within me that has somehow not burned out.

This new project SAILE falls way closer to Ben Folds Five sonically than Papa Roach. But it puts the biggest smile on my face knowing that Papa Roach are still putting out music and touring. If I ever end up at a Papa Roach concert again, I will 100% go tap the first big guy I see on the shoulder and ask to take a ride.

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