Am I too old for this, or just out of practice?

So emmalyon and I have been heading to Golden Gate Park for the Outside Lands festival (I've been posting a few pictures at my Wordpress site the last few days), and man am I exhausted! Given that I haven't gone to a rock show since 2004's Curiosa Festival, I'm definitely out of practice. Not that I'm complaining about "the kids on my lawn" (at least not at a serious level--it's fun to complain about hearing Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" on the PA system and state that most of the kids in the crowd weren't even born when it came out), nor am I complaining about the noise (I worked in a loud warehouse for 4.5 years, I'm used to it). I guess it's more that I don't have nearly as much stamina and patience for this kind of all-day thing as I used to.

But there's also the fact that I'm definitely a solitary music fan and a serious one at that, so I'm more accustomed to sitting in Spare Oom listening to my mp3s and streamed stations rather than in an enormous and rambunctious crowd. I'm also more about listening to the band and enjoying the music, and the inherent douchery of some of the crowd does get on my nerves. I certainly don't mind the dancing, the bouncing around and the screaming for more. But I get irritated by the moron nearby whose plan is mainly to get completely shitfaced and/or stoned. Don't get me wrong--I don't care if you want to alter your consciousness for the show, but I just don't get why. Why would you want to go see one of your favorite bands and spend the entire performance in an alcoholic and/or medicated haze, and are you going to even remember it when you come back down? [Of course, this is the basis of the time-honored joke, "if you remember being at Woodstock, you weren't there", but I digress.] Suffice it to say, I'm pretty sure I must have gotten a secondary high this weekend from all the toking going on around us. Maybe it's just me, but I get irritated when the crowd is paying more attention to their altered consciousness than the performance.

I also mentioned to Emm that, ten years or so ago, I would have stayed for the entire thing, regardless of how late it was, because I just did not want to miss my favorite bands. Last night I passed up staying until late to see Sigur Ros, one of my favorite newer bands, because they were going on late, it was getting colder, and I was dead tired. Added to the fact that Sigur Ros getting out the same time as Metallica was going to cause a clusterfuck of an exodus from the park that I wasn't in the mood for.

That's not to say I'm hating the experience, mind you. Douchery aside, I loved seeing Fitz and the Tantrums, Beck (who played three of my favorite tracks from Sea Change, much to my intense delight!), and getting my ass kicked by Foo Fighters. Seeing Animal Kingdom and The Be Good Tanyas up close was quite enjoyable. I was extremely impressed by how smoothly the staff and security are running the show, and despite the occasional slip-up and annoyance, I would definitely go again next year. We were even thinking about checking out the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival when it comes around as well. Despite the annoyances, it's been a hell of a fun weekend.