“No Crowdsurfing or Moshing"

Holy shit.
Oh, the depravity. The humanity.
Dorothy, we ain’t in fucking Kansas no mo.
We’re in the mosh pit.
At Saturday’s Social Distortion show at the Senator Theater in downtown Chico.
(The ticket clearly states, “No Crowdsurfing or Moshing.”)
Fuck that.
I lasted in the pit for 38 minutes (and wasn’t knocked down once) and completely sweat through my black T-shirt.
It was good.
Strike that.
It was great.
Mike Ness looked like the Ness of old, menacing and wild (he’s a year older than me) and the band was tight. They played for two sweat-soaked hours.
Thanks to Dah-Veed and his lovely wife, we were fortified with elk burgers and potato salad before the show (and remember kiddies, if you’re going to drink and mosh, it’s best to put a base layer of foodstuffs in the belly).
The Senator is an old dive theater that’s been converted into a live music venue. It was an all-ages show, meaning you had to go upstairs to get a bracelet (remember hand stamps?) and a beer (the sign said Bud or Pale Ale $4; we had to laugh – people were actually buying Bud, the fucks) and survey the seating arrangements.
“Hey, let’s go down to the front row, the view should be pretty good,” Dah-Veed said.
(But drank more beers first.)
And ended up on the other side of the railing, in what was the old orchestra pit.
The band roared out.
The moshing started.
Oh, to be (of a large frame) and young again.
(The Meat-Eating Robot plowed into the crown, not to be seen again for quite some time.)
It was a compact, huge-energy show, not a lot of talking between songs, and the band wailed through stuff from 1983’s Mommy’s Little Monster through 2004’s Sex, Love and Rock ‘N Roll.
All the good shit.
(OK, I was a wee bit disappointed that Ness didn’t unleash “The Creeps” and “Telling Them.”)
For the encore, Social D rang up “Ring of Fire” and “Story of My Life” (made famous on the “Reality Bites” soundtrack).
Ohhhhhh, good times, I tell you.
(And how's this for good omen shit - when I woke up on Saturday and fired up Sirius punk channel, Social D was singing "Ball and Chain;" it was totally Happy Fun Day.)

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take multiple Ibuprophens and lie quietly on the couch for a bit.