Am I getting to old for this?

It's been a little over 24 hours since I saw Snow Patrol at The Pageant here in St. Louis, and I'm a little worried because my left ear is still ringing. It was a great concert, but I left feeling a bit like an old fart.

My wife is a huge Snow Patrol fan, having discovered them a few years back when they debuted in the U.S. with their album Final Straw. Of course, her enthusiasm shot up into the stratosphere when their music was prominently featured on her favorite television show of the moment, Grey's Anatomy. I think they're a pretty awesome band myself, so we staked out some prime space close to the stage on the floor, and passed on the amenities of seats and booze in the "21 and over" section towards the back. Nope, instead we huddled with the young folk--14 and 15 year old girls puffing on cigarettes trying to look cool, adolescent boys with that bad "I'm going through puberty" B.O., college kids talking to who knows whom on their cellphones.

The opening acts, Silverspun Pickups and OK Go, were great. Really got the crowd going. But in the midst of it all, I kept catching myself being like some grumpy old man. The music was too loud. These kids were annoying me and invading my personal space (which apparently my wife was thinking, too, when she shoved back some girl trying to squeeze her way into space behind us that wasn't there). My back was hurting from standing there so long. Why does it take so long to set up between bands? I'd look up in the balcony seats and see crowds of middle aged adults, thinking to myself, "Boy, I should be up there. It would be nice to sit down, order a beer from the cocktail waitress, and watch the show where the speakers weren't dead-on aimed at me."

Oddly, the space around me thinned out a bit after OK Go, and I ended up really enjoying my vantage point when Snow Patrol came on. But now my ear is still ringing, my back is sore, and I'm still annoyed that kids are smoking (in public, no less). Yup. I'm turning into middle-aged man, and I'm still in my early 30's.

Interesting tidbit I learned from Wikipedia: Apparently, Snow Patrol came up with their band name while eluding the police in Telluride, CO after being caught trying to cut down a Christmas tree and hiding out in a cave for a few hours. Sounds like something we would have done in our younger days. Scratch that--something YOU guys would have done. I would have been at home while you guys did this, then scratching my head the following day trying to figure out how you guys always seem to get in trouble when I'm not around. ;-)