Festivals suck, hole kicks ass.
This was the first music festival I have ever been to and the worse concert experience I have ever had. Now I’ve only been to about half a dozen concerts so maybe it gets worse. I got to the stage at a little before one and was in what would be the second row near the center of the stage. Everything started well. A band I’ve never heard of before, The Gufs, came on and were actually pretty good. Some of their guitars sounded pretty cool to me.
After they left I got to sit down for bit until Bare, jr came on. This is another band I had never heard of but they were pretty good too. The last song they did really rocked. After they left the crowd started getting band. During reel big fish people started pushing, crowd surfing, and slam dancing. It wasn’t too bad. What I would expect at most concerts. It didn’t ruin my day or anything.
Next was Berlin, a band that really sucks. They were an 80s band and I couldn’t understand anything the lead singer sang. They supposedly did a song for the movie top gun. What surprised me was that people were slam dancing and crowd surfing to this music. I don’t know it just didn’t seem like the type of music one would do that to. Anyway after they left Big Bad Voodoo Daddy came on and this is where the concert started to suck.
There was tons of crowd surfing and this chick took off her top and ended up falling down. She had to be taken away all bloody. Then a fight broke out in another section of the crowd. This was a few rows behind me and the security people stopped it within like five minutes. One of the guys that fought refused to leave though so all these people had to left him up. He started hitting a security guard but then they all jumped on him and started kicking his ass. This stupid fight forced me back a few sections. By now I was rubbing against sweating guys with their shirts off, had had beer thrown on me, and couldn’t move. After the band left people started pushing like crazy. I think another fight broke out. I got pushed back a few more rows and almost knocked over a few times. I decided to leave the area then because I was afraid I’d either fall down and get trampled to death or suffocate. I also didn’t think the show would be much fun from there with all the pushing and no breathing room.
So I got out of there and went by the big TV. Pretty soon this other girl who had by kind of near me and had an INXS shirt on came out too. I felt kind of bad for her cuz she had been there longer than me and you could tell she really loved hole. It pisses me off that a few jerks can ruin a person’s experience like that. I mean if you want a good spot get there early. Don’t wait until an hour before the f---ing show and then push your way up like an asshole. I just don’t understand by people can’t be nicer. I’ve never tried to push my way up to the front of a stage at a show. I always get there when the doors open. Why the hell can’t others do this? It’s not that f---ing hard.
Anyway, I ended up watching hole from the side in front of a big TV. I probably enjoyed the show more than I would have had I stayed in my old space cuz I had more room.
The set list was: violet, awful, pretty on the inside, heaven tonight, miss world, reasons to be beautiful, malibu, dying, asking for it, use once and destroy, doll parts, boys on the radio,
Encore: northern star, paradise city, celebrity skin
They all seemed to be in pretty good moods and courtney talked a lot. At the end of awful she added some lines “you’re not women enough to take my man” I think it was part of someone else’s song cuz some people seemed to recognize it. Before pretty on the inside she said “this is a song I wrote all by myself, you know, rather than have someone else write it for me.” At the beginning of the show she started staying she’d so her breasts if everyone would put up a lighter. A lot of people did but not enough for her. She did take her top off and did most of the show in just a bra. She introduced reasons to be beautiful by saying “it’s about all the plastic surgery Eric has had”. Malibu was great. She ended it by singing “I’m not like them but I can pretend” from dumb. She climbed the light towers on the edges of the stages a lot. She also threatened to leave at one point cuz people said they wished hole was korn. She said dying was for her boyfriend that lives in atlanta. The break before the encore was only like 2 minutes. I think they were afraid people would leave. Somebody also pointed a lazer pointer at courtney and she was like "ohh i'm scared. what you gonna do shoot me with a shotgun from back there? what a way to go. I have bullet proof skin you bitch"
Northern star kicked ass with just her and Eric on stage. She sat down at one point and seemed really sad. I doubt she was crying though but she might have been. After that song Melissa said the next song wasn’t for them but for us. They then did paradise city by guns and roses. During celebrity skin some dork threw a beer at courtney. She went on about how she’d kick his ass. She was like “come on get up here. Let’s do it. No lawsuits no nothing. Just you and me.” The guy never showed himself though. She then walked off but also gave a guitar way. The band did a lot of bits of rem songs like pretty persuasion and radio free europe. I’m not sure with what songs these were with though. Courtney also said southern people were sexy and if we came up north we could get laid no problem. She also said baptist were attractive. One more little story she told was about how she went to little five points (a popular hang out that has lots of good record stores and stuff) and some girl was saying to her how all the “socs and greasers and jocks and goths should just get along and not kill each other”. Courtney agreed by saying that if she can be friends with brad pit who was obviously a jock in school than high schoolers should be able to do it. Punks shouldn’t write 666 on the jocks lockers and all the jocks should stop beating up the punks. Hole’s whole show was really good. The sound kind of sucked cuz it was outside but the band kicked ass. Too bad they couldn’t play longer.
Hopefully when everyone else sees them it won’t be with a festival and Hole will play more songs. Maybe then you won’t have to put up with so many assholes that knock people over.