2001-08-03 - 7:15 p.m.

New Order

On Tuesday Redwood took me, one of our co-workers, and Alexandra to the Area: One festival in Mountain View (at the Shoreline). It is hard to believe it, but this was my first trip to Shoreline, but certainly a good one.

The four of us were going mostly to see New Order and Moby. Actually I've probably heard very little Moby except for what is played in clubs or with TV commericals. Many other artists were playing for what was about a 7 hour music festival.

We had lawn tickets, so naturally Alexandra brought a big blanket for all of us to sit on. Unfortunately several of our little party were also bringing just about everything else imaginable. My extra item was a leather jacket ... silly head, it was just to hot for that jacket. So after making several trips from the first security guard (who first warned us that we might want to bring less in by pointing to Alexandra's parisol) we finally got in and found a great spot center stage, mid-way up the lawn.

Some French group was playing ... I can pronounce their name, but damned if I can spell it write. Rhinoscere or something like that. Anyway I was actually impressed.

While the next group was playing, Alexandra and I went to grab some sodas only to find a few of the San Francisco RivetKids. I'm glad they made it ... to many goths just don't go out enough (although this show was super expensive so I understand why). While I had fun talking with them, I didn't appreciate their snotty "lawn seats" suck attitude.

Lawn Seating

True, you can't see shit from the lawn. But you really can hear everything fine. But for most of these shows it just isn't worth the extra $10 and up to get seated in a zoo. I noticed plenty of seated people didn't dance or get up for the show. That isn't a sin, as it would be silly for me to think that people all show their appreciation for music the same way as I do. But a large factor in making or breaking a live show for me, isn't the musicians, but the company I keep.

Now for New Order, most of the audience sat down. In fact, the majority of the people standing were wearing mostly black. All the bright pink, orange, and green freaks sat right down and stayed that way.

What I liked about New Order was they weren't rock stars. No fancy effects. No slim (which I actually find unattractive) models pretending to sing. And they even didn't give a fuck about how much young people love to smoke, when they said, "Smoking really is bad for you." They added something to that, but it wasn't important enough to me to remember. I was more interested at watching the looks on people's faces. It was as if they suddenly heard their grandmothers talking and it did piss them off. Oh well.

Lawn Butts

New Order was not spectacular, but certainly worth seeing. Redwood and I carved several mud holes in the grass near our blanket. Redwood's apparently looks like a butt! :) *ahem* I had better explain that. The pattern Redwood carved out looked as if a giant stuck his butt down in that spot. hehehe (He'll kill me later, I'm sure.)

My holes were just muddy little messes.

Moby

Now pass some time, and finally comes on. He had the same sincerity that New Order had, though I suspect that this one audience member he had come up on stage to play his guitar was a roadie ... it was just too staged.

My short review for Moby is: (1) Incredible Light show, (2) Fun Music to dance to (techno / rave stuff especially), and (3) his vocalist was fabulous. I really appreciate that he found somebody who could sing and not just some skinny chick in order to impress the frat boys and the like.

Driving

Redwood is a saint. He drove us there and back. I was already sick ... I managed to catch a cold sometime in the last week, so I slept a good part of the way home. I really appreciate him doing that.

Depeche Mode

This show was a bit stressful for me. Originally Redwood and I agreed we'd get four tickets and see if some of our friends wanted to go. Basically it came down to the fact that I was pretty sick (yeah I hide it well) and was put in a position to take care of people. I could say more, but I really rather not.

With one extra ticket still left hours before the show, I thought Spring might want to go. I was so glad when Spring called me back and was interested in going. That woman can do things in a hurry. She got from San Fransicso to Davis in 1.5 hours during rush hour!

I just don't think people who could have driven should complain. There is a very thin line between a "carpool" and just having a caufuer. So all the backseat driving really bugged me. Still does. Opinions like "that was uncool" is really out of line when you have your own car and could have gone in it.

Eventually we got to the Sacramento Valley Ampitheatre with only getting lost once, only swerving while 3 women were screaming in my ear once (Alexandra doesn't scream), and only running over 4 parking lot attendants.

Somehow, once I was seated on the lawn (which is nicer in Sacto than at Shoreline) I was comfortable again. I didn't have to do anything, just sit back and enjoy. Perfect.

Depeche Mode was just OK. Nothing amazing. But I do feel like they've sold out. About half of the songs I heard (we walked in late) were from Violator. That is cool, as I don't care for Exciter anyways.

I did not appreciate that their backup vocalists sucked. They probably hired them because they were skinny, but they just could not sing. In fact, they couldn't even dance really. It was just very silly.

Aside from a bit of drama (and I don't feel that it was all coming from me) I did have a good time. Spring was really sweet too, she forced me to call in sick, and then prevented me from going to work the next day.

Now I'm still sick, but I feel emotionally pretty damn happy to have friends like her and Redwood around. Alexandra was fun to hang out with too, she is easy, and I'm aware that she herself was in a bad mood from having to drive all the way up her earlier too.

I realized this week that I just don't like organizing things for people if I feel like they are just taking advantage of me. I like friendships were people do things for each other and treat them with respect. And I don't have the patience for grumpy people when I'm sick either. And yeah, Spring is right ... I'm a work-a-holic, and impossible to keep still (even when sick). I just don't know how to rest.

-=-

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