I went down to Summerfest last night to check out Jack's Mannequin. (An aside: we WALKED to Summerfest from my apartment, which was magical. No traffic. No parking. Blissful.)

First of all, I will say that Jack's Mannequin (the band of former Something Corporate frontman, FYI, for the musical savvy) was fantastic. But by the time it ended at 11:30 p.m., and I'd been standing, then sitting, then standing, then leaning on the bleachers for a couple hours, I was READY TO GO.

I was tired. Cold. My back ached. The drunk kids and high schoolers with cigarettes were on my last nerve. And then I stopped myself. What the hell is my problem? When did I get so... boring? Old?

I remember saying to myself last night, "Gosh, 10 p.m. is really late. I wish the band started sooner. I wonder how the cats are?"

I mean, honest to God.

We strolled into Summerfest shortly after 6:30 p.m., and planted our asses on the bleachers first thing. We figured the crowd was still thin so we might as well take advantage of the close seats.

The opening bands were good (one of them being Verona Grove! Hello, former fellow Fox Valley-ers!), but I found myself checking my watch and losing interest within a half hour.

I think my problem is two-fold. A) I'm too boring for these sorts of shenanigans anymore, and 2) I'm just not a stander. I hate standing. I hate standing and waiting, standing and watching, standing and listening.

If I could sit at a concert, I'd be golden. Because even if I was bored out of my mind, at least I was comfortable.

I have a problem with concerts if I'm not 156 percent obsessed with the band. Unless I can scream along with every lyric, it's just not happening for me. I get bored, I check my watch, I yawn, slouch my shoulders.

And I will tell you, there are very, very few concerts that will not suck my soul dry, and I've already experienced two this year - Jason Mraz and My Chemical Romance. The third would be Paramore.

And lucky for ME, they're playing tonight at Summerfest. So I will be there. But perhaps I'll bring along my geriatric shoes and a quilt.

krittabug