Every year my town (well the biggest town next to it) holds a music festival for a weekend. Generally we end up with quite a few big name artists coming and when I found out that Hedley would be here this year I knew that I was not going to miss it! Really regretted not going to Marianas Trench last year, wasn't doing that again. The big question was - who was I going to go with. When tickets went on sale that was not a big question though and I went and bought two VIP tickets as I knew I could find someone to go with. At first K (10 year old nephew) thought that he might like to go with me but quickly backed down for some reason. So I sent my friend S (went to university together and hadn't seen each other for three years at this point, though we kept in contact through MSN and emails) a message and asked if he wanted to go. He wrote back that he hadn't heard of them (What?!?!?) but would love to go. So I sent him the list of the other performers for the weekend and he wanted to go see The Offspring too so I bought tickets for those, though not VIP because they were quite a bit more money being the night headliner concert (Hedley was the afternoon show).
I guess I should explain what VIP means at this festival (No I am not going to give the name of the festival as I like to keep a little anonymity on this blog as it is quite personal - but it wouldn't be hard to figure out if you really really wanted to). The stage is set up in the front (obviously) and then the audience section is divided into two equal parts - the licensed part (over 19) and unlicensed (for underagers or family). Right in front of the stage (about to where the sound and lighting booths usually are) is divided into a further four sections total and that is the VIP area. With VIP you get closer to the stage (obviously), your own beer tents, washrooms, separate entrances and places that you can sit down. The worst VIP 'seat' is still closer than the best General Admission 'seat'.
So I picked S up from the train station late friday night. We got home and basically talked for a short time then went to bed as he was tired from work and then the 5 hours on the train. Saturday we spent a lot of time with K which was really neat to watch. We took S under the bridge to see the boat races that were going on, to the fish hatchery, to get french fries and to just walk around. At one point K wanted to go down to the little 'beach' area but you had to climb down these big rocks laid out like stairs and I knew that I just couldn't do it so S told him to come and K followed him down. S showed him how to skip rocks on the water and they looked for cool rocks and shells and just goofed around. At one point S play shoved him and K almost lost his balance and S very quickly grabbed him so he didn't fall. It was quite cute lol. We then went all the way to the other side of town and went to play mini golf, which S won, K got second and I lost. We stopped at the store and got some movies and then headed back home for supper. After supper we watched the movies that we rented (Sherlock Holmes and Moneyball) and tried to get to bed semi-early as I knew it was going to be a VERY busy day the next day!
Before we left that morning dad had suggested that we take umbrellas as it was supposed to rain that day. According to the list of 'unallowed items' on the website umbrellas would not be allowed so S and I just hoped for the best and headed out. We stopped quickly at the variety store on the corner to take the movies back and we rented the second Sherlock Holmes for the next day to watch. We drove into town and found a parking spot that didn't seem to bad (and was free) until we started walking and realized that we were on the absolute opposite side of the venue that we were supposed to be at. It rained a few drops on and off while waiting and then just as we were about to line up I realized that I left my wallet in the van and that I definitely needed it. Thankfully S told me to just grab a seat on the hill and that he would walk back and get it for me! I would have been so beat if I had to do that trip another two times!
Once we got in we decided to walk around and see what was going on in the different sections (you could move from VIP to GA but not GA to VIP). I found the merchandise booth and bought myself a Hedley t-shirt (and got a plastic bag - very important later!). There was even a Ben & Jerry's both where you could get free samples, you can't turn down free ice cream :) The first act, USS, came on around this time and during their set (lasted about half an hour) S and I just kept edging our way closer to the stage. After their set we went and got some drink tickets and got a drink (pop for me, beer for S) and went back to the stage area. It kept raining a bit on and off during this time but not too had. It was funny when Big Wreck took the stage as all the licensed side knew the songs but none of the under-agers did so they basically played to the 19+ crowed. I knew most of the songs and they did quite a lengthy set of about 45 minutes. As I had to buy two drink tickets (one ticket got one alcoholic beverage or two non-alcholic drinks) I went back to the booth and got some water, thankfully the lady there let me keep the lid briefly so I could put in my squeezy electrolyte juice in to keep dehydrated. I then had to give it right back to her as they wouldn't let lids in the audience (they can be projectiles I guess). When I got back to our 'spot' in the crowd it soon after started to massively rain. We got completely drenched and I was very lucky that I had bought a t-shirt. Why? Because I got a plastic bag to carry it in! So I put all my stuff (wallet, phone, camera etc) and Scott's phone into the bag and tied it up because everything in my purse was drenched (it was a canvas material purse). A few minutes later we got poked on the shoulder and these two girls behind us begged me to put their phones and cameras in the bag too, which I had enough room for so I did of course. The set was delayed for 45minutes so started at 3:45 instead of 3. To make things easier for me I am just going to post the setlist and the few notes that I made during / after the concert instead of typing them all up. So here it is:
• One life
• 321 /On my own / Streetfight
• She's So sorry
• Bullet for Your Dreams
• For The Nights I Can't Remember**[Jake on Piano]
• Hands up (Space Oddity Verse)
• Sweater Song [[Jake's Favourite Song]]
• Stormy**[Jake on Piano]
• Invincible
• Kiss You Inside Out
• Hot Mess
• Old School
• Don't Talk To Strangers
• [[Special time of year , 3/4 band summer b-days, no gifts throw what's in your hands on stage, best birthday is goody bags, band played "Beat It" while Jacob shot T-Shirts out of a cannon]]
• [[Band Intro - Tommy from Hometown]]
• Don't Talk To Strangers
• Never Too Late
[[Downpour!!!]]
[[Encore- "throw me all your pennies!!]]
• Cha-Ching
As we were leaving the VIP area, Jacob comes out from backstage on a Segway and gets stuck in the mud pit and managed to fall off not once but twice. Security VERY quickly grabbed him and yanked him back stage again. We waited a bit at gates to see if they were going to sign autographs but some band members left in a van so we gave up on that and headed to the van to get semi-dry. Got to the van and emptied out all our pockets and found some blankets and stuff to sit on. I called home quickly to see if they had had supper yet (they had) and to let them know we were coming home to get changed. My dad just laughed and said "Well you lasted a lot longer than I thought you would!". We drove home (about a 20 minute drive!), got in the house and my mom just looked at us and laughed. She asked if S was allergic to any soaps or not and told us just to throw all our clothes in the tub and she would take care of them. We quickly got changed (and I had to find another purse to use) and decided to go and quickly grab a bite at Taco Bell where I ran into an old friend who also was at Hedley so it was nice to see her even though I think S talked to her more as my mind was just not working because of all the stuff going on (pain, tiredness, dehydration etc). We went back into town and this time, since my legs were already painful, I decided that we were going to pay for parking so I didn't have to walk as far. It wasn't bad as we parked at the Humane Society for $10 and basically parked right at the end of the venue. Basically as soon as I parked the car the rain came pounding down again. Since we didn't really care about the first opening act we decided to just sit and rest for a few minutes and wait for the rain to die down.
The rain finally stopped so we headed into the venue. Papa Roach had already started but I didn't mind. You could barely understand a word that he said and every other word out of his mouth was a swear word, which I found wrong at a 'family friendly' festival. I think I only recognized one or two of their old songs. S and I walked around a bit and went to the merchandise stand again where I bought a Simple Plan key chain and necklace (didn't know if K would want something as he likes a few of their songs so I bought two souvenirs). For some reason they put Simple Plan as the second opening act which has nothing to do with Papa Roach before them or the Offspring show after. Because of this a lot of people left after Papa Roach so S and I were able to slowly get close to the barrier dividing VIP from GA. Simple Plan came on and were pretty good and after a while a lady went by the front of the barrier once handing papers to a bunch of people which made it so that I was right at the barrier and S (who is quite tall) was right behind me. about 2/3rd of the way through Simple Plan's 45 minute-ish set the lady comes back through and hands me a free upgrade to VIP! However because S was behind me, he didn't get one. A younger man was walking behind the lady and I called him and asked if I could get another one for S. He looked at me, then looked at S and smiled and handed me another ticket. So we both got VIP upgrades (about $100 worth) free for the headline show!.
We grab a couple of drinks along the way and head up to the VIP section. Because Simple Plan was still on, it wasn't too crowded and we were able to get really close to the stage. The Offspring finally comes on around 10pm (was supposed to go on at 9), and starts in on their 90 minute set. However, there was a downside to VIP. The section became a full on mosh pit with crowd surfing and fighting. Mosh Pit + EDS = Very Very Bad!!! At one point a crowd surfer came our way and ended up falling on me. S was very concerned especially when I told him that I was okay, my shoulder dislocated but went right back in. S then went in to full on protector mode. He made sure to keep himself between me and the rowdy guys, would take my arms and move me out of the way, and he probably got a lot more bruises protecting me than I actually did! However it wasn't all bad, the show was really quite good and I was surprised that I knew a lot more of the songs that they did than I thought they did. It rained through the show a bit as well so thankfully even though I was absolutely drenched in sweat, everyone else was also drenched because of the rain lol. I enjoyed the show but also was starting to hope that it wasn't going to be too long as my legs were really starting to hurt.
At the end of the show we were able to get back to the van quickly because of our parking spot and actually were able to see the band's tour bus exiting the venue. There was so much traffic that we just sat in the van for a bit and got a drink and finally made my move to get out of the parking area. After a good deal of time, and lots of police directing traffic, we finally got back to my house around 12:30. We talked for a little bit and then I went to have a quick shower and headed to bed yet don't think I even fell asleep until 2am :S
On the Monday, S 'let' me sleep in a few extra hours. I hadn't planned to but I guess after he told mom about the show the night before (and said he felt bad that I got pushed around so much in the mosh pit) they kind of decided together to let me get a bit more sleep which was really really nice. After getting some food and figured out what we were going to do that day, we went and watched Sherlock Holmes 2. Well more accurately, S watched SH2, I probably saw about 50% of it in short segments. We then went out back and S and K went for a swim (I decided to stay out since I could barely walk!!!) then we had some supper and it was time for me to take S back to the train station so he could get home. We swore that this time we were not going to let three years go without seeing each other! After he got on his train, I had a few last minute errands to run as we were heading out the next day on another adventure!!
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