Stop off at a drugstore and get a box of those spongy ear plugs. Make your children wear them.
I’ve been going to shows since I was 14 years old. I have about 60% hearing loss in both ears because I never wore ear plugs until I was about 35.
True story:
I went to Lollapallooza last year in Chicago. I was walking through the kiddy stage area while some kiddy band was playing. I spot this toddler in her stroller, eyes clamped shut, fingers in her hears. She looked like she was in pain. I stopped and dug my stash of clean, new earplugs out of my pocket and handed two of them to the dad (standing right next to her). I asked if he wanted them for his daughter. He looked at me, blinked, and then looked down at his kid, finger still in her ears. “Are your ears hurting you baby?” “Yes, Daddy.” He took the earplugs from me and thanked me. “How did you know?” I said, “Well, she looked like she was in pain and she had her fingers stuck in her ears. I don’t want her to be as deaf as I am when she gets to be my age.”
Hearing damage is cumulative. There’s no getting it back. Protect yourselves, please. Trust me, you will still be able to hear every word.
And yeah, don’t let the kids anywhere near the stage on the floor during the main acts. Okay, maybe the 16 year-old, if it’s a boy and he’s a fighter, but otherwise… no. Too young for moshing (do kids even still do that?).
As for the timetable, the one thing I’ve learned about concerts is: the show is never on time. Never. There will be a line already at 6:00. But it doesn’t matter. Because you all have assigned seats. If the show “starts” at 7:00, it’ll be more like 7:30. Figure about 45 minutes in between acts to tear down and set up equipment. The opening acts will play about 30-45 minutes, depending on how much material they have. Unless it’s really important for you to see the first band, I’d probably make it my mission just to catch Rise Against and FF. If you showed up by 8:00, you’d be good to go.
I’ll guess your evening will look a bit like this:
6:00 doors open. Hipsters congregate.
7:20 Mariachi el Bronx plays. Until about 7:50
7:50-8:30 Tear down Mariachi el Bronx set, Set up Rise Against set
8:30 Rise Against. Give or take about ten minutes on that one. They will play a little longer, being more well known and having more material to pull from. I’ll guess 45-60 minutes.
9:20-9:50 Give or take. Tear down Rise Against set, Set up Foo Fighters set.
10:00 Foo Fighters will go on. I haven’t seen 'em but I’ll guess you’ll get a good 90-minute show, maybe 2 hours. You should be outta there by 11, 11:30.
Know this: You will walk a couple miles to and from wherever you park. Figure this into your timetable. It could take 20-30 minutes from the point where you turn into the arena to the point where you actually get a space. Then another 20-30 minutes to walk. The later you arrive, the sooner you get outta there at the end. When do you want your wait to be: A long walk going in, but zoom right out afterwards? Or a short walk going in, but sit in the car for 45 minutes waiting for the parking lot to clear enough so you can get out?
Also, however you listen to music in the car (CD, MP3, whatever), bring with you at least the two most recent albums for each band playing. You can get all geared up beforehand and, if you’re still wanting more (and FF will probably leave you wanting more), you’ll have something to listen to in the parking lot for the post-concert traffic jam.
