As the midday sun beat down on my bare legs, I thought to myself, why does it seem different this time? I have been to hundreds of concerts in my time, yet somehow this seemed all together different. Gone were the droves of incessant “tough guy” types that accompany nearly every show I’ve ever been to. You know the type: stone faces and bad attitudes. Their appearance tends to vary from scene to scene and year to year. They may be dressed, head to toe, in black attire at one show, scowling and toying with their latest piercing, or perhaps they are clad in sagging pants and bling bling at another. I scanned the sea of multi-coloured blankets and coolers, searching for one of the loathed posers. After several minutes I went back to sipping my lukewarm water and playing with the grass, giving up my search, as all I could see around me were cheerful people with smiles. Smiles!
Perhaps the positive mood of the concert was due to the highly anticipated vibe of the show; Ben Harper and Jack Johnson hadn’t played a show in Salt Lake City in years. Or it could have been the open cooler policy of Deer Valley, resulting in the free flow of alcohol amongst the concertgoers. Quite possibly both. The air was saturated with the overwhelming sense of a high school graduation: 2 parts freedom, 1 part excitement, 1 part alcohol and a dash of cannabis.
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FYI: Despite the timestamp of this article, it was written in 2003.