🎶I won't do what they tell me! 🎶
Although I'm probably a part of the establishment (and pretty much always have been),
that line is still my anthem, my mantra.
I can't believe it has been 19 years!! This remains one of my most memorable concert experiences.
I worked at JB's restaurant in Spanish Fork at the time, and was a student at BYU. I was excited for an opportunity to go crash around in mosh pits with some great music by one of my new favorite bands. It was only in the week leading up to the show that one of my regulars at the restaurant showed me a newspaper article predicting mayhem and violence at the Rodeo grounds, and asked what I thought of the whole thing. I can't remember how he described it, but I remember there was some assumption that they were violent and obscene in a more...derogatory or misogynistic way--like they were being related to some other bands of the day that are slipping my mind at the moment. I laughed, cute little 20-year-old BYU Me, and said, "No, no, no, they're not like that AT ALL. They're political activists." I was able to reassure several concerned customers throughout that week, but still had no idea what was in store for us when we arrived at the venue on show night! There was triple the usual security, with separate lines for male and female so that we could be extensively searched (I know, in post-9/11 days, this is not so striking, but in those days, for a small-venue concert, this was waaaaay over-the-top). My best friend was deprived of her sentimental carabineer (from her first climb) because they insisted it was a weapon, and we both moved forward into the arena feeling utterly violated after the groping hands of middle-aged cops had made a thorough inventory of all our nooks and crannies. That remained the worst thing that happened that evening. The music was fierece, the crowd was jovial in our angst - we were laughing at the authorities who thought we were such a threat. What I find interesting is that their fear created the very environment they were seeking to squelch: subversion. That moment was one of many that, for me, began to open the door to the outside world, to open my eyes to the fact that a life of fear and suppression is no way to live.
Click here to read a great take on the facts of the case:
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