My first concert alone. Would have never expected to undergo this experience solitary, but turned out there were many others like me on the ground. Far more than the solitary individuals I see in movie halls.
And as the night went by, people began to have a lot of fun. It's just ironical that I can't get high these days to enjoy things like this that I always wanted to experience.
Anyway, I bought the concert tickets through resale on the day of the concert itself, and paid €110, which was nearly the cost of the front row if purchased on time, but couldn't manage to decide earlier, as is the case with most things in my life.
Thereafter made the long 2 hour trip from Rotterdam to Goffert Park, Nijmegen to watch the show, and had sufficient time to grab a Vietnamese Gyoka and move ahead to a spot where there weren't any tall Dutch in front of me, allowing clear LOS of the stage.
What I didn't know was that I was right at the epicenter of a moshpit that only grew bigger with every song, which included women and kids too. I entered it a couple of times from the side, but not whole heartedly, and only towards the end did I give in, only to fall twice in quick succession, realizing that it was the reason I didn't enter earlier.
However, the way moshpit works here, people pick you up with a smile the second you fall, so everyone is out to help and actually have a fun time.
I was completely enjoying myself. My favourite, Estranged, played right at the start, and simply watching Slash and Axl together was a high.
But the crescendo was at the end when AC/DC guitarist, Angus Young jammed with the rest, which was followed by Sweet Child Of Mine that Axl wore a white leather jacket for. Then Slash performs a solo of Floyd's Wish You Were Here. Then Axl takes it higher with a classic November Rain on his piano, and follows it up with a dedication to Chris Cornell with Black Hole Sun, and finally there was Knocking On Heavens Door.
It was high after high, and by this time, the concert was done for me. Band took a break but clearly there was an encore on the cards. I started to walk back though as the last 2 hour train was 22:55 and the ones later would take 4 hours. But by the time I waded through the crowd, I was late. So I decided to have a beer, which as usual I couldn't finish, so then had fries with curry sauce that tasted terrible, and made it to the station among people partying so much that at one stage, a girl even holds my arm saying Hoi. I was too embarrassed and just smiled and said Hoi in return and she let me be.
Then followed the long journey that ended up taking 5 hours, coz I met Diletta at Utrecht and we decided to take an Uber that never showed up, causing us to miss the 1:10 train and take the next one at 2:17.
Finally made it home by 4:30 and could barely sleep after that. But can't deny that the effort was worth it. Head banging to the last part of November Rain was the highlight of highlights at the concert for me.
