I am getting too old for mosh pits

I have always enjoyed concerts. There is just something cool about live music. Even a Neil Diamond show with my parents while I was in high school was fun (that was hard to admit). This past Monday night, Mike and I attended the Breaking Benjamin show at the Verizon Theater. We had a good time, but we realized a few things as well.
The evening started off great. We had dinner at Chuy's, the home of excellent mexican food and margaritas. Our table was next to a group of 8 people all dressed in dark business suits. I did not really pay any attention to them when we sat down. When they got up to leave, two of them came over to the table to say hello. We attended the academy together and they are now homicide investigators. I had not seen them since the academy, over 10 years ago. Mike was glad to realize that they were all officers since he had noticed them wearing pistols.
We left and headed downtown for the concert. We parked at my station and walked a few blocks to the venue. Inside we noticed a long line at the merchandise table. They were selling a few cool t-shirts, but they wanted $30 for them. I did not want a concert T that badly. Mike and I had decided a little late to attend the concert. All of the floor tickets were sold out and they only had 8 seats left upstairs and none of the seats were next to each other. I ordered tickets for two of those seats and figured that we would enjoy the concert from the standing room only floor area. We walked up to the entrance to the floor area and were told that we had to sit in our seats upstairs. Suck. So, we went around to the other floor entrance and with a little "persuasion" were allowed into the floor area.
The banner behind the stage said Sick Puppies. We deduced that they were the opening act. Mike had downloaded a couple of their songs, but I was not familiar with their music. The house lights dimmed and a band came out and played a few songs. I thought they were the Sick Puppies, until the lead singer said, "We are Adelitas Way." Okay, I guess there will be three bands playing tonight. Before every song thereafter, the lead singer said, "We are Adelitas Way." He wanted us to remember the name of his band. During the set, the drummer did lots of one-handed twirls with his drum sticks while playing. I told Mike that I needed to learn how to do that so that I could look cool while playing Rock Band.
Next up, the Sick Puppies from Australia. They consisted of a lead singer / guitarist, a drummer, and a female on bass guitar. The female had two tone hair, black and blonde. She also had an incredible amount of energy. I am not sure if she was just really into the music or on meth, but she got an "A" for effort. The lead singer announced the last song of the set, and it was a song that I recognized. Even better, it was a song that I really liked with one of the best lines of lyrics. "Don't cry like a bitch when you feel the pain." Absolute poetry.
The name of that song is "You're Going Down." As soon as they started playing that song, a mosh pit formed right next to where Mike and I were standing. Two sickly thin white dudes decided to start slamming into each other. Back in the day, I enjoyed mosh pits. I did not jump in and slam around too much, but I loved being right on the edge of the pit. On the edge you get to hit dudes as they run at you. They come towards you and you push/hit/elbow/slam them back into the middle of the pit. What is not to like about that? As fate would have it, here I was right on the edge of the pit again. The adrenaline started flowing and I was ready.
Then a medium sized dude in the pit moshed our way and slammed into the guy in front of me. Just blindsided him. It looked like Sergio Kindle vs Taylor Potts (UT vs Tech). However, the guy that got blindsided was not pleased. He jumped up and went after the other guy. They ended up in a tangle on the beer covered floor. It was at that point that I realized that I am getting too old for this stuff. With a wife, kids, and a career, it is not really worth getting into a fight in a mosh pit. But, right after that little melee, I did get in one good shot. One of the little guys that started the pit jumped my way. I deposited him Urlacher style to the other side of the pit. At least my last shot in a pit was a good one.
Breaking Benjamin came out a short time later. They had great energy and played a great set. The lead singer kept saying how much they enjoyed playing in Houston, right after saying that they had not been in town since 2001. How much do you really like something that you only do once every 8 years? They ended their set, and strangely enough, did not come back out for an encore. I have only been to one other show where there was not an encore. And just like after that show, I felt a little cheated. Oh well, they still put on a great show. On the walk back to the car, after the thrill of the live show started to wear off, Mike and I started to complain. We did not mind the walk, but our backs were killing us. Our ears were ringing, our heads hurt, and our legs were sore. From a concert! Getting older is not for sissies.

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