…to go to a concert? Well that depends on how old you feel really. At the Amjad Sabri concert, you could have felt too young, but more than half the people at the qawwali had no problem with that. At Rock Karachi ‘13, Karavan was bleeding nostalgia by playing Rakh Aas and Aagay hi Aagay, but if you think about it those songs are only about a decade old and judging by the way the audience was bumping, hardly anyone felt that too long ago to jump and dance to. And many times a mature audience is the need of the hour — who else could help explain nahin tera nasheman qasr-i-sultani ki gumbad par, after all, Khudi is a very pertinent topic in the life of the thinker, but Allama Iqbal is no longer penning his thoughts, and Ali Azmat can be a hard person to have a conversation with (philiosophical thoughts, however, are best debated after a concert, especially if you are trying to not seem too old).

But there are times when you probably shouldn’t be at a concert: if you can’t stand for longer than 30 minutes without complaining about random things such as the smell, the tickets, the crowd, etc; or if everyone at the concert knows you as their friend’s mom/dad. But remember: concerts might have a minimum age limit, but never a maximum; and if the crowd you’re going with is cool with you, you should be cool with being at that concert.

So, if the next time you’re at an Abida Parveen concert or watching Bumbu Sauce break it down, don’t feel left out, just drown yourself in the music — everyone’s welcome here. — S.S.