My friend Paige asked me,”Want to go to the Download Festival and write a review for icecreamman.com” Hmmm, I thought “why not?” Then I saw the line up. I wasn’t familiar with 3/4 of the bands but The Cure was headlining. How could I not go?! So, with notebook in hand, off I went on my first Ice Cream Man assignment.
Having been at the Shins show in Berkley the night before, I needed a nap and a shower before Paige picked me up at 3p.m. All refreshed, I kissed all my boys good bye, and asked Paige if we could stop at Peet’s for a coffee before the show. Small three shot iced mocha in hand, we headed to Shoreline Amphitheater. Ten minutes later, we’re parked and crossing the dusty parking lot. (It’s great to live so close a major concert venue.) We headed to the business office to get our passes and tickets. Small world that it is, I knew our contact there. Kaari worked with a good friend of mine and as soon as I said,”I’m the one who makes cakes.” she knew who I was. ( I was a pastry chef in a former life, my reputation is sweeeeet.) Paige asked a few clarifying questions and off we went to the media tent in search of free beer. Beer located and consumed, we headed to our seats and caught the last two songs from She Wants Revenge. I was sorry we missed the start of their set. I liked what I heard. But we needed to head over to the smaller second stage to see The Black Angels. Photos needed to be taken! I’ve never hear them before so I had no idea what to expect. Well after two songs I can confidently say I didn’t like them. Just not my cup of tea. A bit monotonous for me, too lethargic, a bit whiny and droning. So off we went back to the main stage to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
On the way over it dawned on me that not much has changed since my high school and college concert going days. You see the same kinds of people at almost every concert. There’s the guy who looks like he’s a former Meatloaf fan, but then you see him rocking out to BRMC. Or the obligatory girl with bright pink pony tails, the guy in the pork pie hat, the gaggle of girls who hit Hot Topic for the first time, just for the show. A cute drunky girl being helped by embarrassed boyfriend, pre-teens followed by a bored parent on a cell phone, and the leather clad dude who looks like he’s been hungover for most of his life. Funny thing is, wouldn’t be the same with out them. Half of the fun of seeing live shows is seeing live fans. Like the two girls in front of me during BRMC. They knew all the words and had little choreographed moves for each song. I love seeing super fans. They are always so happy. Not being to familiar with BRMC,I really liked what I heard. They were a great guitar band…aside from the awkward synthesizer song that seemed out of place. They played the obvious hit song “Weapon of Choice” and the crowd loved it. It sounded more polished and produced than the other songs, and I don’t know if that’s such a good thing. All in all a nice set.
Next, AFI took the main stage (we missed the meet-n-greet at the Media Tent, oh well) with all the attitude they could muster. And the fans went wild! They looked super cool all dressed in black and white with a mainly white stage, amps and all.I spotted the nearest super fans, two girls in black pony tails, matching AFI bandanas on their heads, plaid short skirts (one pink, the other red) and coordinating lycra lace shirts with tight tank tops over them. Yeah, uh…well, not such a good look. But hey, they were happy and feeling good! That’s all that matters when your fave band is on stage. I have to say I’m not a huge AFI fan. I like some of their songs better than others. They’re like a punk rock band that a label cleaned up so they could be marketed to all those midwestern girls who are afraid to dye their hair black. Like softcore punk. But, with that said, they put on a great show and I’ll admit… Davey Havok is a hottie. (Hey, a girl can still think like a 16 year old, can’t she? I guess boys in bands wearing black boots make me swoon a bit.) Much to the shock of the mega AFI fans around us, we cut out early so we could go to the Cure meet-n-greet. No way I was missing that! But now the fun really begins….
I’ve been a Cure fan for as long as I can remember, so as we headed back to the media tent I began to regress into 16 year old mode. I was nervous and giggly. We were going to meet Robert Smith! hee hee! We get there and are milling about nervously, and then they walk out… THE CURE! omg! Paige approaches and starts her Ice Cream Man intro and Robert says, “Great, but where’s my ice cream?” (Apparently Paige gets that question asked often) We laugh and I have my picture taken with him and move away so the next in line can have their moment with the man. Paige turns to me with a gleam in her eye and declares, “We need to get Robert Smith ice cream!” How can I say no to that? Now Paige is asking anyone who looks remotely official if they sell ice cream anywhere? We haul ass to the nearest food vendor and see ice cream on the menu. Paige asks the people in front of theline if we can cut, this is an emergency! They kindly let us, only to hear that they are out of ice cream!! Grrrrr! Some one tells us that there is an Ben & Jerry’s truck some where by the second stage. Off we run. Laughing most of the way, we spot the truck in the distance and pick up speed. I’m sure somewhere in the blogosphere some one has written about the two crazy women pushing them out of the way to get to the ice cream. Oh yeah, we looked crazy. We make it to the truck and Paige starts explaining our predicament. Now remember, we have to be fast as the meet-n-greet will be ending soon. The Ben & Jerry’s guy was super nice. We got 10 cups which he put in a cardboard box for ease of transporting. Paige paid them and off we went, back to the media tent. Sheesh! Now we were crazy women running with ice cream, and lots of it. We get back to the media tent and try to get the ice cream to Robert and the boys. Some security or talent handler stops Paige and ask what we are doing. Paige explains and this sends people into a confused state. I’m amazed how hard it is to give someone free ice cream! Paige is getting a bit frustrated as the ice cream melts and Robert is but feet away from here talking to some press people. Just then a security guy walks up and says, “Oh good, the ice cream is here! Just go put it in the dressing room.” eeeeeeeeep! We’re going to see the Cure’s dressing room…..not! Thwarted by security again, we explain to no avail that we have permission. Nope, no go. So the kindly ice cream loving security guard takes the ice cream from Paige and brings it back to the dressing rooms. Whew! We did it! We upheld the free ice cream tradition and made The Cure happy. As we were leaving to catch Kings of Leon, we ran in to a woman in her later 30’s screaming like a school girl. She had just scored a press pass and met Robert Smith. She was floating on cloud nine. Awesome. Paige and I were laughing the whole way to the second stage, and I think she can now cross “Buy dessert for a rock star” off her list of things to do before she dies.
Now back to business. At the second stage Kings of Leon are still setting up, but The Vau de Vire Society was finishing up. Wow. I was mesmerized. It’s like Cirque du Soleil meets Suicide Girls meets the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They were amazing. Dancers, musicians, acrobats and contortionists all on one stage, all either in silly clown attire or scantily clad in goth grrrrl wear. Yowsa. As they ended, the crowd gathered for Kings of Leon. It was a good sized crowd too. My attention was drawn away from the lone rope dancer on the right side stage, over to the Kings of Leon stage. Wow, they were great! Sort of a southern rock/indy thing going on. We stayed for the whole set and it was great. I can see why the crowd was so big.I saw one super fan… the twirling girl. You know the one, cute girl in a flowy skirt who really misses Phish.We were having a good time, but not wanting to miss The Cure, we moved towards the back of the crowd. I got a call from my husband who was meeting us for The Cure, perfect timing! We handed him his ticket and off we went!
The Cure took the stage and I was awestruck. It was incredible.I was blown away. I was thrilled. Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming. Last time I saw them live was in 1989 in New Jersey at The Meadowlands. I can’t compare the two aside form Robert Smith was more coherent than back in ’89. We had a blast. We we’re entertained by the crazy lady in front of us with her homemade Robert Smith rag doll and assorted props. I’m sure there were a gazillion super fans around, but I was having too much fun watching the show. I did however, see a 40 something woman, quite possible on ecstasy, run, jump and wrap her legs around the aging security guy in our section. Oh, and the kid who looked like Napoleon Dynamite totally getting into the music…much to the amusement and peril of the people around him, his as he swung his cigarette around to the beat. Everyone was having a great time… until security came and hassled Paige about her camera. They took her away and apparently didn’t care that she had a photo pass. Although they really are only good for the first 3 songs of any set, Paige cleared it with Kaari that it was o.k. to take crowd shots. A few walkie taklie and phone calls later, she was free and clear, back to enjoy the show, all 2 1/2 hours of it. As my sweetie put his arms around me, we watched one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, really. sigh What a great end to a great day.
