Let’s see how far we’ve come

‘What do people wear to a gig?’. It’s not necessarily a common question, but it’s one that I’ve been hearing a lot lately from an excited Sarah. You see, we were building up to seeing Matchbox Twenty in what was to be Sarah’s first ‘proper’ gig. You know, with a band and all that.

At first it seemed like such a nonsensical question. I mean, people are still people, and people wear clothes. That is unless they’re part of some Northern European holiday club. Or are a female fully-paid-up member  of the ‘people watched by Heat’ club, and they’re on holiday and have an album or novel to publicise.

Then I started to worry.

I have an impressive cv of ‘have-seens’, and would have at one time counted myself as a frequent gig-goer. I mean, I’ve seen Greenday, Pink Floyd, the Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, the Smashing Pumkins, Cliff Richard, Dr Hook… Hang on, I’ve gone a bit off-course there. Where was I? Ah yes, um, Paul Weller, Jools Holland, Neil Young and Pearl Jam.

But that was a little while ago, and what if things are different? Suddenly I had an image of arriving at a gig looking like Dr Greg House and all ‘the kids’ thinking I was in IT or worse… advertising.

Then it dawned on me. I’m old. To quote Friends, ‘So what if I’m 29 and just want a nice cup of coffee and to sit on a comfy chair?’.

So there was some agonising. And then some more agonising. To be honest I can’t remember the last time I wore a T-shirt to do anything other than go cycling or decorate. I’ve never been a fan of denim. That doesn’t leave much of the gig-goer’s wardrobe at my disposal. And eventually a flashback to my teen years became the compromise with a black t-shirt under a black shirt.

And as MB20 walked onstage to the God-like echoes of Jonny Cash I realised something – everyone was 30 or so, and dressed similarly. That’s the thing when you see a band who were around a the height of grunge – their fanbase was also around at the height of grunge. And as the lights went down and the stage lit-up with the image of an astronaut followed by a charismatic Rob Thomas I realised I was amongst 1,000 people all looking slightly uncomfortable in their t-shirt and shirt combos.