If you are an avid dubstep follower, Datsik’s new Ninja Nation tour is probably on your agenda for the next few months. Still, if you’re a bass enthusiast, (and already been in the game for a while) you also already know the deal when attending an all ages’ show. Don’t get me wrong, music is definitely ageless and timeless, and Datsik is the kind of DJ that attracts all sorts of crowds, but you cant stop yourself from both wondering and reminiscing when, at 23, you find yourself attending an all ages show on a Saturday night.
Being 23 at Datsik reassured what I’ve already known for a while: Blink-182 got one thing right - nobody likes you when you’re 23. The age of the in between; you’re definitely not old enough to know everything you need about life yet (or anything at all for that matter), but you’re, absolutely, not a kid anymore. Being 23 is weird and tricky; it is full of responsibilities and real life errands, but you still daily feel the taste of being young, wild and free. It constantly requires you to be mature and rational but you’re also still allowed to make some (many) stupid decisions and regret them the next morning once in a while.
At 23, for the first time in my life, I found myself sitting at a dubstep show. Not because Datsik wasn’t good enough to make me dance or wasn’t throwing his usual bangers; but simply because, conveniently, my friends and I found stools waiting for us on the upstairs 21-section of the Electric Factory in Philly. Although I enjoyed the entire show, including Datsik’s peculiar song selection that included the original version of Oasis’s Wonderwall (yes, you read this right, original version), I didn’t stand up once. I cherished my little stool like it was part of my body; as I head banged and observed the crowd, like the real 23 year old I am. People watching at it’s finest, I couldn’t help but to reminisce about my own wildstyle freshman days as I watched the 16 year old girls run around in their rave attires and kandi bracelets.
Being 23 at Datsik brought me all the way back. Not wearing nearly enough clothes for the freezing weather outside, making new best friends in the bathroom, trading kandi with my new best friends in the bathroom and not worrying about a damn thing while I was being squeezed in the middle of the crowd, which from the upstairs of the 21-section, looked more like an anthill. As I enjoyed Datsik’s new Asian-inspired stage and simultaneously had flashbacks of myself rocking a tutu at that same venue many years ago, I’ve had one of the best epiphanies so far: growing up is hard, but it’s both rewarding and necessary.
When you find yourself, at 23, on a Saturday night, watching 16 year old rave chicks grind on some soon-to-be frat bros to dubstep, you realize the beauty of being able to look back and laugh at your own past. More than laughing, you realize how important it is to reminisce and grasp how much you changed throughout the years, and somehow, the same music you used to listen continues to be so relatable and enjoyable. You think of the many shows you attended, the people you met, the ones that are still in your life and the ones that are long gone. You remember the good times you had dancing the night away or that one night things didn't go that well for you but you learned your lesson. You think of that one set you would do anything to go back to, and the many more that are still to come. You understand how much your transitions, mistakes and achievements shaped you as person, and still, the music is still such a crucial part of your essence. And if you’re 23 and you're not able to see all of that, then well...you’re probably still grinding on some frat bros to dubstep.
