They all thought I was crazy. But there I was, standing in the pouring rain with a bottle of mudslide in one hand and my camera in the other, patiently waiting by the band's bus for over 2 hours. But I briefly saw Dirk's face through the window and I watched Jose hop on the bus, so if they (and any other members on the bus) wanted to get from the bus to the venue, they were going to have to get through me! Eventually Jose and Dirk appeared and came to meet the 9 poor souls out there braving the storm to meet them, and they were super nice. (pictures will be up in the gallery as soon as I develop them)
Now it was time to hit the pit.
We arrived on the floor just a few minutes before Hoobastank started playing, and I think I may very well have been the first unfortunate person to fall down. Well, me and about 3 other people. This big sweaty fat guy with bitch-tits in front of me came stampeding backward and a few of us went down (imagine the domino effect). No one was hurt, but people thought I was because I didn't get up right away... My shoe had come off! I had one leg out behind me holding onto my precious shoe with just a single toe, determined not to spend the evening barefoot and my shoe being thrown at the band. So while my friend was trying to pull me up and some girl was screaming to get up, and everyone clearing away from me thinking I was injured, I finally managed to grab my shoe and secure my foot back inside it. Whew! That was our cue to go smoke a bowl.
So during intermission, we farted around for a while and found some FREE earplugs at the first aid station. The t-shirt people were trying to charge $2 per pair! I knew better, so I went and got some free ones and made sure to wave them in the face of the little ogre who tried to convince me that earplugs were never free. We headed toward the back of the floor when Incubus came out, and my friend wanted to spend the evening there as he was too drunk and high to deal with the insanity and chaos of the front. But I couldn't do it... so we went our separate ways and I claimed a few inches of territory right in front of Mike. I had a blast! There were some injuries nearby though.... 2 women right next to me got in a fist fight and I was unfortunate enough to have caught a stray punch in the face. Luckily, this chick was weak and it didn't hurt... otherwise I'd have joined in that fight and beat some ass! But these two were so riled up that it took 5 big guys on each of the women to tear them apart. Then, only moments later, I watched a girl get kicked above the eye by a crowd surfer... she looked pretty hurt, but toughed it out. Then some guy passed me, half limping and half being carried by a friend, and soon after, 3 people dragged an unconsious woman past me! Craziness! (I even saw some guy leaving the show on crutches... that's gotta suck)
But I managed to survive the show unscathed and one more Incubus memory richer. They played INCREDIBLE last night. The sound was mixed much better than the SJ show and no band members or instruments were injured. I got right up in front and took a roll of photos, but have no idea how they will come out... I'll see them at 5 this afternoon though! The setlist was basically the same as the previous shows on this tour, but I did have to laugh hysterically when they did a full rendition of Madonna's 'Like A Virgin'. (In SJ they started to do it and then were like "just kidding" and stopped) It was indeed a strange spectacle to see the thousands of fans out there at an INCUBUS concert singing along to old-school Madonna. Very weird indeed. But the band appeared to be having a good time, as they always seem to in San Francisco. (let's hear it for SF! The coolest people in the country!) And the energy of the whole place collectively was amazing, definite positive vibes all around! *sigh* I'm sad to see that the Northern California leg of the tour is over, but who knows, they may just go right back on tour when they're finished with this one! (that's what they did after the release of Make Yourself - toured for about 2 years straight before heading back into the studio!) So who knows.....
See you on the next tour...
