Since the first NBT in 2001, there have been dozens of memorable moments that have been experienced by tens of thousands of music fans. Then there are moments that are personal, brief moments that mean nothing to the masses but everything to the individual. Like 2008, Dave King from Flogging Molly, pulling a couple of Guinness out of his own personal cooler, one for him and one for me. Then we toasted right before I walked up to bring them on stage. And then there are even more personal moments like one I shared with Gerard Way, the front-man of My Chemical Romance’s.

97X and My Chem came on the scene about the same time and we have done a lot with them over the years. And every time they came through they’d be more and more popular. Well, by the time NBT 6 rolled around, they were big enough for their people to make sure there was no one on stage for their set. So the only people stage left, right before they went on, were me, Gerard, and his body guard. Body guard?! They had definitely “made it”.

I wasn’t going to bother him but, right as I realized it was him, he looked over with that “Hey, I know this guy” look on his face. I took a few steps toward him and his bodyguard took a few steps towards me. After Gerard gave him that “He’s cool” look, he said, “I almost didn’t recognize you. You’ve lost a lot of weight. You look great.” He too had lost some weight since the last time I had seen him, so I repaid the compliment. We started talking. Come to find out, we were both coming out of long-term relationships and were both in a phase of “getting back to me”.

So there we were; a rock star and a radio personality at one of the biggest concerts of the year. Were we talking about sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll? No. We were complimenting each other’s weight loss and talking about relationships. It looked less like a scene from a 1987 Motley Crew video and more like a scene from Sex and the City. And I was very ok with that!

Every year, thousands walk away from Next Big Thing with memories that will last somewhere between a long time and forever. As for me, whether it’s having an Irish beer with the Irish lead singer of the coolest Irish band in the world or exchanging “skinny-jeans” compliments with Gerard Way, all that I can hope for is that I have at least ONE memory of Next Big Thing 11, because I seem to be missing a few from last year.

-Fisher