I also understand not wanting to have your hair or clothes smelling like cigarettes, but there are certain places where that is just a part of the...

Last Friday, we smokers took our last drags inside our favorite eating and drinking establishments.While this issue is a dead horse that has been beaten down in almost every possible way, there is one point about the smoking ban that really bothers me, and that is the effect on the smoking concert-goer.

While DeKalb has, and soon all of Illinois and eventually the entire free world will decide that smokers are the cause of society’s problems, we have been and will be slowly pushed out of the public sphere.This is not a problem. We can take it outside. Smoking in the middle of winter might be a struggle, but it will be a definite issue when the fall concert season starts. There are literally hundreds of killer bands playing not only in Chicago, but also in DeKalb’s premier concert venues. However, for smokers, the rules have changed. Concerts have now become an endurance test of sorts.

Everybody can acknowledge the level of commitment shown by a fan that arrives early enough to park themselves on the stage in the hopes of being at face level with their band of preference.However, these kids are going to have to hold out on a cigarette until the show is over, because the second they leave, dozens of fans are going to try to wedge themselves into their coveted spot. This is a problem for shows that feature three or more bands, where the performances can run up to four or five hours, depending on the amount of bands and their set changes.

I certainly understand not wanting smoke blown in your face. I also understand not wanting to have your hair or clothes smelling like cigarettes, but there are certain places where that is just a part of the experience. To me, concerts have always been one of those places.The thought of some tiny, smoke filled bar just takes me back to some of my favorite musical experiences.

Now, when I go to a show, my experiences are strikingly different: sitting outside the venue smoking a cigarette after a set, and having to rush back in with the crowd to catch the encore. Remember Dennis Leary’s comedy show called “No Cure For Cancer”? Leary would have been thrown out of the venue today for chain smoking on stage.

One potentially positive thing about this ban is the chance that some venues would reconsider their no re-entry policy, however, this is (as mentioned earlier) at the expense of the smoker. The days of catching an entire show are now gone for us smokers. We have to skip the end of some sets so that we can be done smoking for the beginning of the next band.

Also, this may be a bad idea for venues that happen to be located in some of the seedier areas of both the city and the suburbs. Having a bunch of 18-year-olds standing defenseless in front of some club is not necessarily the best idea when that club is in a potentially violent area,

Also, does a crowd of smokers ever put their cigarettes in their proper receptacles? I say they don’t, and if my intuition is right, the outside of these venues will become full cigarette gardens.I have the feeling that possible side effects were not necessarily important factors in the decision to tell smokers to take it outside. So, concert-goers that also happen to be smokers, prepare for an interesting shift in your concert going experience. Gone are the days of just lighting up and not having a worry in the world. Your lungs are the newest battleground, and we’re losing airspace.

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