Sounds of Joy

Most of the concerts that I attend require the audience’s participation—most by moshing. However, the best concert I ever went to had me standing still and singing really loud and out of key to every song. It was absolutely phenomenal; everyone I know that has seen Dashboard Confessional says the same thing, and half of them do not even like the band itself. But, one of the songs by them that always strikes a memory for me is Hands Down. It is one of those songs that is played repeatedly on the radio, because it is amazing, so that the listeners almost begin to hate it. It was listed as one of the best make-out songs on Fuse for crying out loud! It is on more than one album by this band as well, but it never fails to make me think of that concert.

There was a girl who was standing beside me; we were both right up against the bars separating us from the band. She had black hair, I believe, but she did not know any of the songs that Dashboard was playing. They were playing a nice selection of songs too, old and new. I was almost furious with her for being that close to something amazing and not even knowing why she was there. But when Dashboard left the stage she turned to the guy beside her, with tears in her eyes, and asked whether or not they would play her favorite song. He told her they would (he had seen Dashboard previously in Dallas) play it as an encore, and basically just told her not to worry. So needless to say, when Dashboard came back on I was not surprised, but I was enchanted when they began to play Hands Down. The girl sang to every word with her eyes closed and a huge smile on her face. It always reminds me of the pure joy that good music can bring.