It's 70 'bay area' freeway miles from where I live, which means anywhere from an hour and a half (best time ~ and Saturday mornings are good) to three hours (for a week-night evening show). And then of course, once you arrive, there's another 15-30 minutes of stop and go into the parking lot, and a goodly walk to the gates.
Shoreline has 6,500 seats, which by itself would be a really nice sized arena. But then there's the lawn. I can't look at it without thinking: Testament to Greed. The lawn "seats" 15,500 more. That's a BIG lawn. When you're at the top of it, you're about a mile from the stage, and all you can see are these teeny tiny little figures down there. So you end up watching one of the two big screens hung above the lawn. Here is one of them (photo taken at about 2pm):
Don't get me wrong, the lawn is a perfectly lovely place to hang out for an afternoon, which is what we did, because... the bands at the other stages (4 stages total, tons of bands, all-day festival) involved *standing in a parking lot* to see them. Standing in a parking lot. In the sun. Not my idea of a good time.
So after watching Anberlin, we (my sister and I ~ the kids had long since ditched us) headed for the lawn. It was kind of a long afternoon, just hanging out, tho, because the main stage wasn't going to be used until 6pm (when the other stages would close). But we had a couple lemonades and rum, chatted with the people around us, napped (or tried to), and wandered around a bit, but mostly just waited.
But then.... about 5 o'clock, the smaller stages started shutting down and *everyone* started heading to the lawn. Well, our little spot was increasingly hard to defend, but the girls in front of us were so funny, stopping people from walking across our blankets. It was a sold out show ~ so was basically a lost cause at that point. And while the lawn may be a perfectly nice place from which to watch a concert that's *not* sold out... well, that was not our experience. So this is what it looked like at about 5:00. Everyone is still sitting down, but still pouring in, too... I was *amazed* at how many people were there.
The first group was the Dead Confederates. Nice, mellow sound. I liked them a lot. Next up, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I had one of their albums a few years ago, but it just didn't hold my attention, so I sold it. They're the same live. Just didn't keep my attention. But were okay, and played a couple songs I knew.
So now it's about dark and 311 comes on. Fun band. High energy... a little too high, in fact, because it was while they were on that the mosh pits started springing up... unfortunately, right next to us. Twice. So we're grabbing our stuff and getting out of the way. Second time, some asshole gave me a good push, and I instinctively grabbed the person next to me's arm to keep from falling down ~ she was very nice about it ~ but I wanted to kick that guy. Good thing the blueshirts (security) showed up and the moshers wandered away. All I need is to get beat up in a mosh pit! lol After that, we decided to gain a little elevation.
So we headed up the hill ~ the kids had been hanging at the rail as close to the stage as they could get the whole time, coming back to sit with us between acts ~ and we had our "after the show meeting space" all mapped out, because I told them we might move at any time, so that was all good. We were free to move around as we pleased without worrying about them, nor them, us.
The Offspring was the final group, and I love them. They were great!! Played all my favorite songs and were really good. By then, tho, we were pretty much at the top of the lawn... so the figures on stage were about 1/2 inch tall. We centered ourselves in front of one of the screens, and watched it there.
I LOVE live music. The energy and the spontaneity. But watching a "live" show on a big screen.... just loses something in translation. And always leaves me begging the question: Why am I out here getting sunburned and beat up when I'm watching the show on what is essentially a big TV?
But to be honest, I can answer that.... I was there for my kids. One hadn't been to his first concert yet, and he was really into a lot of the bands that were playing. And... I'd already been to two other concerts with the other kid, so I figured one all-day concert equals two regular concerts ~ hey, I'm a mother of twins... *everything* has to equal up at the end of the day!
The other kid got to go because tickets were 4/ $100, and mainly just went along to see the Offspring, but the one who was pushing for it all along had the best time. He got to see all of the bands he likes ~ Anberlin, The Limousines, Alkaline Trio, and Taking Back Sunday~ and all four of the "headliners", too. And... he got to meet his favorite band, Taking Back Sunday, and got an autographed poster. He was stoked.
So an all-day (and into the night) concert... sunshine and a nice lawn to sit on for *most* of the day.... even with all the "down sides"... I still love it. And lets face it... it doesn't appear that I will *ever* outgrow concerts!
