Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — I went out Friday night. In public. With other real humans.

It was weird … and pretty great, I must admit.

I was doing a story for my day job about local venues and restaurants reopening. I was offered tours and free drinks (declined, sadly). I talked to owners and managers, one of whom surprised me by thanking me for writing about his band back in the 1930s.

I saw dueling Lamborghinis race up and down the street before pulling up in front of the Broadway Club. Such fancy machines apparently come standard with their own parking spaces in front of pretty much anywhere they go. They also come with handmade, finely crafted beautiful people in the front seats.

I guess the pandemic is over … at least among the beautiful.

I think they were Lamborghinis. I don’t know a Lamborghini from a Chevy Nova, so I asked. Whatever it was, it looked like something that was supposed to impress me. The vibe was so good, I couldn’t really care either way.

Of course, I also faced alcohol breath blown in my face, gibberish I couldn’t understand, and being socially shell-shocked at some of the noisier places. There were a lot of people to choose from for those searching for fresh germs, and no one seemed shy about touching.

But people were behaving. They were happy. There was an end-of-the-school-year vibe everywhere I went (and not just because it’s June). It felt like there was a real reason for everyone to celebrate.

I also noticed the crowds got older as we moved south through Walnut Creek. That may or may not have to do with it being the closest part of town to Rossmoor, a seniors community.

I pitied a few drunks–which I can do, since I wasn’t one of them, including a guy throwing up in front of a club (sadly, not on a Lamborghini). He was around the corner from another guy urinating (also not on a Lamborghini) on a wall, to the awkward sound of a nearby cover band possibly not knowing the difference between Green Day and Green Jell-O.

No one noticed but sober music writers. Even they didn’t care, because seeing a community having a good time again felt so good.

There was still plenty of the same old. I saw non-Lamborghini-owning guys (I’m guessing) heaving themselves at women looking back at them like they were rodents. I saw people who spent way too much on outfits to not be accepting a major award. I saw some sort of party monster truck looking like a bad outtake from Disneyland’s Main Street Electrical Parade go up and down Walnut Creek’s Main Street 30 or 40 times.

I saw people screaming their throats dry because … I don’t really know. They were alive? That is a good enough reason. Finally, people feel alive enough to go out and act stupid again.

I also saw thousands of people without masks. Social distancing Friday night seemed about as old of a concept as network television. This was only four days before the state lifts its COVID-19 restrictions, but the public is clearly already there.

I asked a couple of the official-looking people whether they worried about the maskless. They said the right things, like their employees were vaccinated and it was a long year and they’re just glad to still have a business, etc.

Honestly, they just looked so happy to have places full of rowdy people spending money again, they could say all the right things, but truth is truth. Masks were barely an option for at least half of the non-working people I saw.

It was a celebration. Finally. And as much as the cynic know-it-all in me wants to admonish everyone to keep it that way, it just felt too good. Here’s hoping it stays that way.

Follow music critic Tony Hicks at Twitter.com/TonyBaloney1967.