Blogapalooza: Surf and eating turf

08.07.2006: "I am far too large and awkward to be crowd surfing." That is first thing that went through my head as a thousand hands held me atop the crowd at Lollapalooza. For some reason it seemed like a good idea at the time, and don't get me wrong it was great fun. I just feel bad for the four people who may have been incidentally drop kicked as I was tossed around like a rag doll. If it makes them feel better I was dropped on my head... twice. \n \nDrop kicking aside, the third and final day of Lollapalooza lived up to my lofty expectations. Affording me an opportunity to see a few bands I had never had the opportunity to make it to in the past. Ben Kweller put on an excellent show. It was good enough that I may have to pick up his upcoming album. \n \nHowever I would say that the smallest name that made the biggest impact for me was Andrew Bird. I got to see about 30 minutes of his show at Bonnaroo, and once again, due to running around from stage to stage I only caught 30 minutes of his performance this time around as well. On the upside, because of some lax security I was able to watch those 30 minutes from back stage. I would highly suggest that anyone check him out. He is an amazingly versatile and talented musician that really puts on an excellent show. \n \nBest of the day was probably Matisyahu who proved once and for all that Hasidim can indeed rock. I think it is safe to say that I have never seen a crowd get so into a traditional Jewish song, well at least not since the last time I saw Phish play Avenu Malkenu. For some reason all day long at the AT&T stage people were crowd surfing, but it was definitely never more prevalent than at the Matisyahu show. At times there were upwards of 15 bodies floating about with the security guards frantically trying to get them all down safely as they reached the front en masse. From my vantage point behind the stage, I could see some of the more unsucessful cases get flung headfirst into angry security guards who would then either escort them back out to the crowd or out of the venue all together based more or less on their own whims from what I could gather. Thankfully, most of the people who went up, came down in relatively good shape except for one very unfortunate girl who was carried out on a stretcher in a neck brace. \n \nI got deep backstage for Wilco and decided to attempt to try and make it to the wings of the actual stage itself for the show. This entailed waiting in a rather long line in the hopes of being one of the 80 people allowed on stage for the show. Unfortunately, Beetle Bob made it, but I missed the cut. If you are unfamiliar with Beetle Bob (as I was until yesterday) he is the apoplectic dancer and generally creepy old man who I saw on stage at The Subways show. So who is he? A promoter? A rock legend perhaps? Nope, he is just some guy from St. Louis that most bands let back stage. I saw him after the show was over as well. He was walking out of the venue with the rest of the festival goers who didn't get the same kind of unmitigated access that he did for no other reason than just being some strange old dude. \n \nBut I digress. The downside to my Wilco experience was that I didn't make it to the stage, the upside would be that I did get to meet the lead singer Jeff Tweedy. As he and the rest of the band arrived backstage he waved and began coming directly over to me. So I of course waved right back and said "Hey man, how's it going?" Turns out he was friends with the people directly behind me and we had an awkward moment where the two of us just kind of stared at each other, him trying to figure out if he knew me, and me trying not to keel over laughing as I realized my mistake. \n \nAfter getting turned down from getting onto the stage I headed out into the crowd for the rest of the show. Wilco was certainly good but to be perfectly honest I was so preoccupied with thoughts of the Red Hot Chili Peppers that I decided to leave Wilco early to try and get good seats for the big final show. \n \nThe Red Hot Chili Peppers put on a great show, I have heard some murmurs about how they didn't play "Under the Bridge" or "Suck my Kiss," or one of their other hits. I think most of that kind of dissent is short sighted. There is no way that they could put the same kind of energy into a show if they played the same exact songs for an entire tour. \n \nIt was at this concert that I decided to give crowd surfing a try. The first attempt ended with me getting launched about 30 feet forward and dropped directly on my back. It hurt but I guess it is like riding a horse, you just have to get right back on, so up I went again. This time I made it very close to the stage before getting dropped on my head, but I was quickly helped up, got a few high fives, then turned around to realise that I was suddenly standing about 20 feet away from center stage... then it was my turn to start giving the high fives. \n \nTo say it was crowded up there is an understatement. We were packed in there so tight that I had to rest my arms on the head of the guy standing in front of me. Every once in a while someone would come floating over the top of us and the 300 or so people packed into the small space would bend and sway as one to support their weight. I could only take about 30 minutes of being up front before I was over come by the shear body heat of all those people. I was pulled from the crowd into the gated median, literally dripping with sweat from myself and those around me. I decided to spend the rest of the show much further back where I wasn't in constant fear of getting crushed or passing out from heat exhaustion. \n \nAfter the show, 70,000 people crowded the streets of Chicago stopping traffic and cheering for blocks. It was obvious that most people were satisfied with their Lollapalooza experience from the cheers of exultation that echoed through the streets of Chicago, and rightfully so. It was truly a great three days of music.