People are squished together like sardines in a can, trying to get as close as they can to the stage. Everyone is singing along to “Runaway Car”, and clapping to the beat. Just as singer Mat Kearney starts to sing again from a pause in the song, he takes the hand of an audience member and jumps down from the stage right in front of me.
As soon as I found out Kearney was coming to perform at Rams Head Live! in Baltimore, I was stoked. When I first heard his single “Nothing Left to Lose” back in 2006 at the ripe age of 12, I was hooked. His acoustic sound infused with bits of hip-hop left me wanting more, and when I found out he was coming to Baltimore, I knew that I needed a ticket.
When the day of the concert finally came, I had one lofty goal: I wanted to touch Kearney at the concert. Of course all of my friends that attended the concert with me thought that idea was ludicrous. However, I was dead set on my mission.
My friends and I arrived at Rams Head Live! at 5:30, an hour and half before the doors even opened, to be greeted by papers covering the doors saying: “Mat Kearney Sold Out!” Great. I slowly began to realize that my goal might not be achieved. We opened the doors, walked to the waiting area to see only a few group of people waiting.
At 7:00 it was time to go inside the hall. As soon as we entered the hall we bolted to the stage, where we staked out our spots, only to wait about another hour before the opener would even begin to sing her set.
After the opening act sang, it was time for Kearney to take the stage. Everyone in the room was just as restless as me, talking amongst themselves, and barely listening to the back ground music on the radio.
Then, the lights went off and a roar of applause wafted through the audience as Kearney took the stage. He started to sing, and I was enraptured with his music.
While he was singing his song “Runaway Car,” he started to go around and shake the hands of the fans surrounding the stage. I immediately hurled my hand out in order to achieve my goal. Instead, I got something better.
Kearney took the hand of the guy next to me and jumped off the stage, into the audience, and right in front of me. I was thunderstruck. All of the wheels stopped turning in my head. A celebrity was within inches of me singing, and I was just standing there like an open mouthed idiot. When I regained my senses, I immediately thought of only one thing:
“Touch him.”
I just threw my hand out in hopes to get him to shake my hand but instead, he put his arm around me and continued to sing. I didn’t know what to do but put my arm around him too. As he sang with his arm around me, for the best 8 seconds of my life, I took in the moment.
He felt just like any other person. His hand was hot on my shoulder, and you could see the droplets of sweat on his forehead from the lights on the stage. It was like getting a hug from your brother after a six hour run. Borderline gross, but this was different. This guy was a celebrity. A person who has millions of people admire them, and he was basically hugging me while singing to hundreds of fans who wanted to be in my place.
As he removed himself from my death grip and proceeded through the audience, I felt just like certain lyrics from his song “Runaway Car”. I felt like “I might have been standing on top of the world.”
Maggie Cassidy can be reached for comment at [email protected]