The Digital Generation

A bearded man wearing a mask of death wildly played a spiff on his guitar. The soloist roared into the microphone, sounding like a wounded rhinoceros. The bassist swung his head round and round, his long hair making fractals in the air. The drummer as if in a trance and gripped by fever and delirium, beat on the drums as if the apocalypse had arrived. Back-up singers wailed like banshees as they assaulted the eardrums of the audience. Some who were dressed like robots or samurai warriors came up the stage and pirouetted with spastic, jerky movements, then shrieking, convulsing, jumping up and down, they danced as they brandished their weapons of choice.

The audience, hundreds of them crammed into an auditorium in an atmosphere of collective enthusiasm and uninhibited expression of emotions, were all very young, wearing wigs of garish colors, clad in anime and cosplay costumes with webs of glittery fabric crafted with so much creativity and forethought. They then paraded on the stage for the best costume contest. Afterwards they joined the audience in a dance with synchronous rhythmic movements that invited corresponding undulations in others. The atmosphere was pervaded with an effervescence that generated a sense of communal solidarity.