13 August 2007

How to find sober people at concerts

Balloons
Short answer: Look for yellow balloons.

Long answer: I read a post on Rex H.'s blog, What is your Deepest Fear?, called The Concert, in which he said:

I knew there would be booze and dope all around me but just figured I could handle it.... It took every darn second of praying my ass off to get through it. So the lesson learned is concerts sober are cool but bring a sober friend along for support!
I left a comment and actually remembered to check with my Deadhead sponsee. In front of the sound mixer is the correct location, but reliably so only for the Grateful Dead and only at festivals. A better bet, for any jam band, according to my sponsee, is to look for a table with yellow balloons. This will be staffed with sober people. At Grateful Dead performances these folks are known as Wharf Rats. Their website even includes meeting lists (although personally I wouldn't call these AA meetings, or NA meetings or any kind of "A" meetings, due to their affiliation with something other than than these recovery organizations).

I hope someone finds this information useful.

6 comments:

Shannon said...

I didnt know that... cool
Oh 17 down is 17 lines down, then 17 lines up, and whalah, there is the sentence... :)

Shadow said...

yellow balloons... so few worthwhile artist come to sa, much less to my town, so i guess i'll be okay...

molly said...

interesting post.. I went to see The Police in concert in New Orleans a few months ago. Can you say TRIGGER?!!! It was the 2nd time I'd seen them in my life (1st time I was 12 :)

They are much better sober!!! BIG GRIN :)

An Irish Friend of Bill said...

Hey nice to meet you ? Martin! and thanks for the nice comment when you popped by. It will be nice getting to know you.

The Maven said...

I've attended several concerts as a clean and sober teen and adult. And yes, I've always brought along someone who's also sober (like my recovering addict husband, for example).

Best concert ever? Coldplay last year. I didn't smell a whiff of dope or booze. It was most excellent. And I would pick that stuff up, too, being newly pregnant at the time. It's amazing how heightened one's senses are during pregnancy. I couldn't go near half the restaurants around because of the smell of beer. Bad on most days, HORRIBLE for the entire nine months. Ick, ick, ick.

Have a wonderful 24 hours :)

sharonsjourney said...

It is very helpful, thanks!