Now, you are probably thinking…omg cringe! What was she thinking? And yes, your concerns are valid because I never thought my dad would cause more trouble at a concert than when I went with 20-year-old boys.
We were very on time because my dad was worried about traffic but this was actually a plus because we were right up the front. He bought me a drink and was chuffed at the prospect of us having a daughter and father’s day out. We started chatting with a group of college students, similar age to me. They were lovely and when the opening acts came on, the academics and the blossoms. My dad bopped his head to the beat of the music while standing as straight as a stick. I chuckled and roared so he could hear me to “loosen those hips”. He hesitantly shimmied with resentment. I didn’t push, he’s in his sixties, and it’s impressive he’s even standing.
After what felt like hours of waiting, the killers came on and blew up the stage. They were magical and dad perked up as he mouthed the words to all their songs but then something triggered him. I wish I could say he was drunk when he did this, but he doesn’t drink. Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of ‘The Killers’, is famously known for bringing fans up onto the stage who are musical and allowing them to play with him for a song. So yes, there were many young, ambitious, mainly boys holding up signs screaming to be the chosen one. A ginger curly lad who had put no effort into his sign as he wrote with a marker on a pizza box with greasy stains on the back of it. He had no shame and held it up as high as he could, whilst shoving it into my dad’s face.
Dad got very agitated and decided to ask the boy to politely put his sign down. This boy was not kind and swore at my dad and then decided to childishly wave his sign all around the place. We told the group we met what was going on and we all decided to start chanting, “Put it down”. Then the crowd joined in and then Brandon Flower brought someone else up on stage to calm everyone down. My dad started a row and a chant that led the concert to a halt. I couldn’t tell if I was embarrassed or proud. The rest of the concert went well, ‘Read my Mind’ came on which is dad’s favourite (thank god they played it, otherwise I wouldn’t have heard the end of it). But when they played ‘Mr Brightside’, more trouble came. Two old men tried to start a mosh pit around my dad, he started panicking and began to push the men back with full force. I stood frozen out of shock, not sure how to retaliate when one of the boys we were hanging out with, who honestly had a little crush on him, went to defend his honour and pushed the men away and told them to dance somewhere else. Fair play to that boy, I can’t remember his name but a few weeks ago I coincidently saw him at another gig. To my surprise, he remembered me and said, “Hey are you the girl whose father is a photographer?”. My dad was delighted to hear that I saw his knight in shining armour again.
And when we were leaving if he hadn’t caused enough trouble already, the barrier to get out of the venue was connected using tape which was tied to a tree. As you can imagine, thousands of people pushing against the barrier were causing the tree to shake excessively, almost toppling us. He was not impressed and is a stickler for rules and safety and to my embarrassment had a row with the guards for not preserving the area and our safety.
Some advice, don’t bring your dad to a concert. Even if you know they will buy you the ticket and all your drinks for the night, it is not worth the trouble. My dad asked me if I would go to Harry Styles with him. What do you think my answer was?