Slung - FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, Vlad Matveikov, bassist for the alternative rock band, Slung, talks about the story of his first experience with live music. You can check out the story below:

My first ever gig (without my parents) was at the ripe age of 13, with my friend Nathan. We went to see Soulfly.

I hadn’t actually listened to all that much Soulfly before that gig—my knowledge of heavy music was much more basic, and my three favorite bands were Limp Bizkit, Deftones, and System of a Down because they were all over MTV, and all my friends listened to them.

My favorite TV shows were Jackass and Viva La Bam. My prized possession was a worn-down Metallica T-shirt and a new silver chain my parents gave me for my last birthday.

I spiked my hair up with cheap-ass hair gel.

As unflattering as all of that might sound/read like now, I was actually at my peak—so happy. Life was simple and rad to 13-year-old me.

Anyways.

Our parents dropped us off at the venue, and after the opening band, we started pushing to the front. FK YEAH.**

I could feel the anticipation rise, and as Soulfly went on stage and started singing "F**k all the politics, back to the primitive”—words that meant very little to me at the time—I was in absolute heaven for about 30 to 60 seconds. But as the mosh pit intensified, my friend Nathan just passed out and dropped to the ground.

I panicked.

I tried to pick him up.

I had never really fully picked up anyone who had passed out before, and the realization of just how heavy a human body is was shocking to me.

The crowd that took us less than a minute to push through forward took an eternity (about 5 to 10 minutes) of pushing back towards the empty part of the venue, dragging Nathan alongside me.

Right as we got to the back of the room, Nathan came to, and we watched the rest of the show from the safe, mosh-pit-less position we were at.

10/10 Metal.

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