Bruised arms and legs. A sore body. My neck, I can’t move.

All of what that makes me feel truly alive. It’s been five month since the last tour. I  was filled with anticipation and a need to let all the anxiousness out.

The Rise Record’s Tour made their 17th stop in Sacramento Dec. 5 with bands Alive Like Me, Defeat the Low, Secrets, and Dance Gavin Dance. But what was most intriguing of the concert was a local band from Stockton, Wolf & Bear, had the opportunity to perform alongside the rest of the well-known bands. Seeing local people from your own town being able to accomplish such high goals, and witness it, is an amazing thing. It shows how much they grow as people, and a band as a whole. There are tons of people who will constantly bash local bands for doing what they do because they’re not “professionals” and they’re just “kids who won’t make it anywhere”. But where do all these other professional bands start out?

Locally. In their own hometown.

These people can make it in the real world. And so far, they have been proving to those who’ve told them otherwise.

Aside from being able to support one of my favorite local bands, seeing Dance Gavin Dance for the first time since I’ve listened to them in 2008, checks off one of the many other bands I long to see live. Before getting to the show I knew I would have a good time, and would enjoy the music. But once I got into the crowd, surrounded with the other hundreds of people there with the same purpose as me, once the music started, I couldn’t even begin to describe how much of a difference it was to actually be there in person opposed to downloaded playlists and Youtube videos. The crowd went wild. It was more intense than expected, and that is what made it that much better.

It’s not always necessarily the music that creates a show, but it’s the crowd. The jumping, singing, screaming, crowd surfers, and intensity of each person trying to make their way to the front. It was a challenge to get there, but I made it.

Looking directly up at  both vocalists Tillian Pearson and Jon Mess, singing along to each song, moving with the crowd. It was another experience worth remembering.