Flashback: being 15

Last night mom went to a power metal concert. Yep. Mom, at a concert. A power metal concert. I wonder if anyone will even believe this post.

To set the record straight: it was NOT mom's idea, so fear not, she hasn't totally lost it (yet). The ticket was a present from her students at the famous surprise party. About a week before, one student came during the break and asked her whether she "knew band x". Of course she replied that she didn't. Then the student asked whether she'd entertain the idea to go to a concert with them. In her enthusiasm, mom said 'yes'.

Shortly afterwards she started worrying. She knew her students' preference to metal and wondered what she'd gotten herself into. Rightfully so.

So yesterday, after school, she hurried home, took me on a ridiculously short walk, and left again. The two students and one student's father picked her up and drove to Sofia. Mom noticed that there was old school rock and metal playing in the car, so she got hope. She also thought that the father would be joining them, but she was wrong. He dropped them off at the concert venue and disappeared, only to come back to pick them up at the end.

What followed was something that is supposedly typical for many 15-year-olds, and as such, very atypical for mom :) It turned out that the students were going to meet some friends (girls), which solved the mystery in mom's head about the early departure. Well, the meeting took a while, because the girls managed to find the boys at around 6:30pm. Until then, the three of them just wondered around Sofia.

You'd think that there was a happy ending of boys meeting girls. You'd be wrong. The boys insisted that the girls join them at the concert. The girls didn't have money. The boys offered to buy the tickets (at 25 leva, not a small price to pay for a date...). The girls hesitated. Mom, having been in a similar position, was wondering whether the money is just an excuse for the girls' hesitations. So as soon as she had a moment alone with them she asked them, "woman to woman" (wow). They said no, it's not an excuse, it's really the money issue. So mom urged them to accept the gift. And they did. So the boys went happily to buy the tickets.

The adventures were not over, however. The next obstacle was the girls' parents, who were not happy with the idea. So there was a lot of worrying, a lot of back and forth on the phone, a lot of pleading. But in the end, success!

7pm: the happy group of 5 is waiting to get in. Finally, they are let in, after the usual body search. They settle nicely on the side seats of the indoor stadium (a very nice surprise for mom, who had resigned to the idea that she'd spend the next couple of hours standing).

And then there was waiting. Quite a bit of waiting. People found various ways to kill time. Most people were smoking. Some were playing cards (!?)
mom's group decided to paint their nails black. Mom got her mandatory touch of metal as well.


At last, around 8:40pm, the concert started. Mom's fears came true. She had expected something loud, but maybe not power-metal-loud. The weird thing is that she liked it. Maybe not "she-would-do-it-again-tomorrow" liked it, but liked it nevertheless. The singer was Tarja, a famous soprano who combines opera with power metal. Very interesting combination, and it actually sounds pretty good when NOT in the context of a concert, where all the instruments and the noise of the crowd blur Tarja's wonderful voice. It is worth to note that the drummer is Mike Terrana. No comments here, just watch the video.

All in all, it was a great 'cultural' experience, as mom likes to call it. If nothing else, hanging out with 15-year-olds in a non-school context is an experience in itself. And the concert was not bad either. The only real downside was that the whole thing didn't do much for her recovery from the cold, so now here we go again, her dozing on the couch and me begging for a walk. Good thing I have this blog to keep me busy...