Dak and I went on a real date tonight! We went to the Trampled by Turtles concert at the Palace Theater, a venue neither of us had been to before.

The Palace Theater feels like a nice venue: it has various levels so that people can have good sight lines and it’s a nice size. I really liked that they had left what looked like some of the original decor and moldings in place – the old theater feel was nostalgic. However, from where we stood, the crowd noise was pretty loud, almost like it was echoing. We were standing near the back, under the balcony, and there was a little arch up in the ceiling, so I wonder if the sound was bouncing off that just right to make it feel extra loud. The sound quality was not especially good. I had trouble hearing what was said into the microphones and a lot of the instrumentation seemed to just blend together, so it wasn’t as crisp and enjoyable. Dak agreed; he guessed that the sound might be better up in the balcony. I wonder if it would have been better if we were out in front rather than under the balcony.

The other thing I was definitely surprised by was my own nervousness about the crowd size and exits. For some reason, the venue reminded me of the Bataclan theater in Paris, and for the first time I’ve ever done so at a concert, I looked to make sure I knew where the exits were. I could have been set off by the security at the front – they were doing pat-downs and everything on people on the way in, and it seemed really extreme compared to other venues. Once it started to get crowded, I felt more anxiety than I had felt before at concerts like this.

When Dak and I first got there, it wasn’t as crowded and we walked around and checked out the layout and the venue, since we hadn’t been there. At first, we were standing down closer to the front, and there were hand-bars in the way of the exit. To get out from the middle, there were chokepoints where people would likely jam up trying to leave. We stood by the back on the stairs, which was nice because we could see over the tall guys in front of us, but I also felt more safe because we were just yards from an exit.

It’s pretty weird to admit this. It kind of feels paranoid. Maybe I didn’t need to be worried or anxious. Still, what kind of world is this that it even comes to mind, going to a concert where it’s supposed to be joyful?

It ended up joyful, though. The concert was fun, the energy was good, and overall people were pretty nice to one another, even though it was crowded. It was a good night.