Holy Moses

Here is a very small taste of what I experienced in the music realm last weekend. Brad Igers and I went down to Alpine Valley to see Rage Against the Machine and Queens of the Stone Age. I started the day by driving down there around 10 a.m. in order to get a decent parking spot thinking that we could just camp out in the back of the truck for the night. Igers started his day at 3 a.m. getting up in Seattle in order to catch a 5 a.m. flight that would take him from Seattle to Phoenix and ending up in Milwaukee where he would catch a rental car and be to Alpine Valley by 4 p.m. Doors opened for the show at 5 p.m. We stood in line to get into the show at 5 p.m. and they decided not to open the doors until about 6:45 p.m. While we were standing in line it began to pour. Luckily Luke was smart enough o bring rain jackets, but needless to say we still got soaked. We had a great time and saw two of the best shows I have seen in a long time. PJ is always good but nobody on this planet can match the intensity of Rage. Unreal is all I can say. Pics will follow below and only a teaser of Rage will be seen below (stage). Videos will be coming as soon as I can figure out how to post them off my camera.

This is the first picture of the Mud Kings that were directly behind us. These freaks would slide straight down the hill (which was all mud) directly into the hands of the rental pigs that would drag them out by their ears. Then the crowd would chant vulgarities at them which was always good.




This would be a picture of Queens of the Stone Age. Along with the next 2.





Here is where the real show starts. This is the set for Rage. It only gets better from here.

The "real" summer vacation

Intense

This is exactly what I was talking about on my other blog. Look at the face on both of these guys and tell me that they are not serious about what they are singing about. The audio is a bit loud, but you get the picture.

Long Road

Back. Tired. Still sweating. I guess I will be the first to blog about our experience in Chitown. Heidi, Brooke and I had a good time at Six Flags. Rode some rides, watched Spy Girl and had a good family time. We then drove downtown checked into the hotel and drover over to the aquarium. Had a very cool time there seeing the largest aquarium in the US (Who knew?) Then we had dinner on the Magnificent Mile that evening and crashed in the hotel. We stayed at the Congress Hotel which was a very cool old hotel right downtown. The next day we got up and proceeded to the Museum of Science and Natural History. It was a bit over Brooke's head but I learned a crap load of stuff. Saw T-Rex and various other flying dinosaurs. Pretty cool. Heidi and Brook left that afternoon and the "concert" weekend started. Pictures of the family vacation will come later. I will start with Night 1 of Lollapalooza.



Ben Harper was the main attraction that night and he rocked it out. First time I had seen him before and he was probably the 3rd greatest live performance guy/band I have ever seen. Eddie came out and played a very intense Masters of War with him.

Night 2 saw nobody, but did see one of the oldest and greatest baseball parks in the world. Wrigley Field. Something I will never forget.

Night 3 was every emotion I have in my body. It started at 1 p.m. when we walked from the hotel over to Lollapalooza. We loaded up with 2 bottles of water (needless did we know it was not near enough) and proceeded up to the stage that PJ was playing on. We were only able to get about what would be equivalent to 20 rows back but our thought process told us if we hold out people would leave in between shows. We waited. Some rap dude came out and I had flashbacks of when I saw Run DMC and they sucked just as bad. We waited. Finally our first bad we wanted to see. Kings of Leon.


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Remember now this is at about 4:30 or so and its 90 degrees outside and I have been standing in what was equivalent to a 2x2 foot box. Could not sit down could barley crouch down like a catcher. They actually made the previous 3.5 hours of standing worth it. There were a few people that left after that and I think we were able to shuffle up about 10 feet closer. We waited, still standing. We were at the point where this was a close as we were going to get. We staked out that ground like it was the California gold rush. Nobody was getting inside my 2x2 box. My Morning Jacket comes out. I think I could get used to if I saw them by themselves. Nobody left. We waited. MMJ finishes. Now its about 7:00 and we are working on 6 hours of standing still. This is where it really starts to get crammed. Everybody is pushing and shoving trying to get as close as they can to the stage. We hold firm. Getting close to PJ and Josh looks over and says "Hey you might want to put your back pack on because when PJ comes out there is going to be a huge push towards the stage." Ok now I am starting at this point to get a bit spooked. My 2x2 box is about to turn into a 1x1 box and there are dudes around me that are way more wasted than I wish I would have been. Not to mention we have all sweat through our shirts, we are exhausted, out of water and might not make it out alive. About that time Brad Igers who was standing next to me just about lost his lunch. Some older ape in front of him finally decides to take of his shirt and display the rug of hair on his back directly in his face. I thought he was taping out at that point, but the trooper he is managed to maintain. That was the other side note....it was like the abyss. If I was to leave my 3 other friends there I would not see them ever again. There was no way to get out and no way to get back in. Finally PJ.



They rocked as usual, played some cool songs I had not heard as well as all the usual. Concert done. Something in us allowed us to never give up. What was it? I saw this deal on 60 Min. about one of these Extreme Fighter guys. He was a famous guy and had his own Dojo (where they practice for you people that have not seen the Karate Kid). He had only one picture in his Dojo of himself and it was a picture of one fight that he will never forget. It was a fight in which his opponent had him in a hold that actually broke his arm. Something that was in him told him to no "tap out". He didn't quit after he watched this guy put him in a hold and physically break his arm. Adrenaline? Man whatever it is I wish I had an IV of it in my arm everyday.