A little background about me. I’m a white guy, 40 years old, I’m a couple inches under six feet tall and I have a little extra padding around my waist. I’m working it off slowly, but it’s difficult once you get past your mid-thirties. So if you’re already skinny, keep it that way. If you’re a little bigger like me, then work it out/off as soon as you can, because it’ll never get easier. That day, I was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a Stone Sour shirt, and my “Been there, done that” vest over the shirt. It’s a vest with about twenty-five different patches on it, all bands I’ve seen, and mostly rock/metal outfits like Godsmack, Avatar, Slipknot, Volbeat, and Skillet.

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It was the first week of June, and I was headed off to the In The End concert. They’re a tribute band for Linkin Park. I got my motorcycle parked and locked up, because downtown San Diego is hardly the best place to leave something laying around that’s easy to steal. The block-long walk to the House of Blues was easy enough to handle, a scan of my phone and a metal detector later, and I was descending into the place that makes me the most comfortable and happiest I ever get: The pit of a concert venue.

I’d been to the House of Blues at least four or five times before, seeing bands like The Pretty Reckless, Theory of a Deadman, Corey Taylor, and Powerman 5000, so I knew my way around the place. The stage is in front, the bar in the back, a sound booth in the middle for coordination. To the right of the stage is the merch table, and to the right of that is a lounge-type place where you can sit down if you need to.

I’d gotten to the place a little later than I would have liked, so I couldn’t quite make my way up to the barrier. So I went to check out the merch table. After getting a peek at what was there, I decided to buy a lapel pin and a patch, so I hopped in line. A couple of attractive ladies were standing to one side, and about ten seconds after I got in line, they got in behind me. I offered to let them ahead of me, since they were technically there first, but they laughed and declined, saying that they hadn’t actually been in line, they were just kind of looking at the moment. So I didn’t push the issue.

The merch line wasn’t moving very fast, so I was looking over the crowd to see if I knew anyone. I figured it wasn’t too likely that one of the dozen or so people I’m actually friends with would be there, but you never know! I finally got to the table, bought my two items, and headed into the crowd to work myself a little closer to the stage. If you’ve never been to a House of Blues, they’re fairly small places, and even from the back, you can see decently well. That said, I got about twenty feet from the barrier when I settled in.

Glancing at my watch, I knew I had a solid twenty minutes before the opening act came up, a band called “Nuclearia.” They ended up being a pretty solid band, but we’re not quite there yet. A few minutes after I had picked my spot, those same two girls from before ended up a few feet away to my right. One of them was just a few inches shorter than me, and the other was a few inches shorter than her, so they were probably about 5’5 and 5’2, if I had to guess. Now, I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t imagine what it would be like to have a chance to be alone with those girls, as I’m a typical guy and have a pretty vivid imagination, but like a gentleman, I said nothing about it or to them, aside from the kind of casual greeting you give someone you saw not too long before.

The taller one was in a dark top and a black skirt that was probably a few inches shorter than I would have allowed my daughter to go out in, had I had one, and the shorter one had a denim jacket on over a dark shirt with long pants. I could now see that both of them were gorgeous. As much as I’d like to say they were both perfect tens, that’s just not true of anyone outside of movies, TV, and magazines. But they were definitely a solid 8 or 9, while I, at best, even with my Rollie Fingers-style moustache and six-inch rocker-style chin beard, am a 6. To add to it all, they both had a tanned complexion that indicated a Hispanic or similar ethnic background, though I didn’t hear any hint of accent in their voices that helped me figure out anything further.

They greeted me back, of course, and that was it for a few minutes. Then I noticed they were kind of looking me over, and one of the two pointed at me. I glanced down and realized that they were talking about the vest, which they confirmed almost instantly. I laughed and turned, showing them the two dozen patches I had on. They recognized most of the bands, apparently, and asked me about a few of the others. I explained what the vest was, and how the patches were all bands I had personally seen. I also told them that I was missing another two dozen or so, as I just hadn’t had the time to go hunting for more of the bands I hadn’t gotten onto the garment yet.

We had a pretty solid discussion about a few of them, telling them that Volbeat and Avatar were two of my current favorite groups, then I showed them the two Linkin Park patches I had on the back, and told them about when I went to see LP in 2009, which was unfortunately the only LP show I had the good luck to get to before Chester… Well, you know what happened to Chester.

But that was why we were there! We were at that show to pay tribute to an awesome human being and a rock and roll legend. We talked about LP’s music and what it meant to us, and that was when I learned that this was to be the shorter one’s first rock show ever. I welcomed her to the world of rock concerts, and told her that I’d been to five or six shows a year since 2018, not counting 2020 or 2021 when COVID fully kicked in. She excused herself for a few minutes after talking with her companion, so I turned my attention back to the stage.

There was an empty space in front of me up until then, when another couple of taller guys came in and slid into it, partially blocking my vision and certainly blocking that of the ladies. The guys just as quickly moved away, and I gestured to the space, offering to let the girls have it before someone else did. They gratefully accepted and took their places in front of me with a flash of smiles and thanks. We talked a little more, where I asked what their favorite songs were. The taller one said she wanted to hear Breaking the Habit more than anything else, and One More Light. We mutually agreed, though, that they probably wouldn’t play that one. I mentioned that my favorites would be Faint and Somewhere I Belong.

That was it for a few minutes. We still had some time before the opener started, and I could see them leaning into each other, and one putting their arm around the other.