Yesterday was insane gentle readers. I am functioning on about 3 hours of sleep. The whole day was exhausting, annoying, incredible, crazy, and many more adjectives. Let's start at the top. We woke up, went down to the lobby and had breakfast. We had coupons for the breakfast buffet so that was fine. We headed out around 9:45 and got to the park where this festival was being held at a little after 10. The parking lot was mildly empty at this point and I thought things would be cool. I forgot about the entire camping section which was packed. The doors were supposed to be open at 10, but as we walked up this dirt trail to the entrance, it was obvious they hadn't opened yet. We were behind about 500 people. They opened the doors at 10:30 and we filed our way in. We had VIP badges which got us through the entrance much faster which was nice. The place and layout were HUGE. Five stages in total, multiple food and beverage areas, merch everywhere, and the VIP lounge. We scouted out who was on what stage at what time, put a plan together and went exploring.
First up was merchandise. We both got a t-shirt and then we found the lounge. That was nice. Separate bathrooms, food trucks, and bar. Best part of the whole day was that lounge. Around 11:15 we went to see the first band. Deth Rogen, a local skater thrash band. They were cute. It was a huge deal for them to be the opening band and you could tell. Their music leaves a bit to be desired, but they had fun, we had fun, it was fun. We were right at the rail for them. From there we went and had some food and checked out all the booths. The next band we wanted to see was on the same stage at 3:20. We went back around 1 and suffered through a band on the next stage over while jockeying for position for the later band. As a result, we made it to the rail and saw Highly Suspect and Failure from the rail. Finally it was 3:20 and Eagles of Death Metal came on. THEY WERE AWESOME. Such a great performance.
Here's where it goes downhill. Our next stop was STP at a different stage. We had some time so we made it about 10-15 people back from the rail. STP comes out and both the kid and I were confused. Um, who is this singer? WTF is going on? Turns out the lead singer was kicked out last year and neither of us knew it. We had been so looking forward to them but were so disappointed. The worst part was we were close enough we ended up on the edge of the mosh pit and got the shit beat out of both of us. I almost got into multiple fights protecting her. It's also not like we could move. We had thousands of people around and behind us. It was scary and painful. When they were done we managed to get back up to the rail for Jane's Addiction. We then secured our spot for TWO HOURS. Two hours of not moving or giving any ground.
JA put on a GREAT show. Their performance was wonderful. The crowd? Fuck them. Once more I spent more time defending the kid and trying not to get the shit kicked out of me than enjoying the show. Also we kept hearing how it took 2-3 HOURS to get out of the parking lot Saturday night. Um, fuck that. We decided we would leave right after JA and skip Deftones and Faith No More. A little sad, but I couldn't take that crowd any more. I was done. All day in the sun with violent angry assholes was enough for me. We managed to get on the road at about 8:15, stop for gas, check in for my flight, and then drive for 2 hours. We arrived at our friends house around 10:40, talked for a while (too long) and I fell asleep on their couch around midnight. They have a leather couch. Remind me never to buy a leather couch. Every time I moved I stuck to it. Horrible. I tossed and turned and woke up constantly.
Today I am off to our conference center, then I fly home around 8pm. Land at 10:15, and will be home by 11pm. Another night of little sleep.
I am too old for this shit. Takeaways from the weekend? No more going to shows without seating areas and assigned seats. No more turnaround trips. Too old and too tired.
Now to see if I can hear anything.
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