By: Beth
(Lesley's note: what the guy next to Beth IS NOT cool, and IS NOT permitted at BBVD shows. Forewarned is forearmed, so no bitching if they take your Handi-cam)
I took off from where I live at 3:00, with my Dad and little cousin Nicole (12) in tow. It's about an hour drive to Jamesville Beach Park, where the Balloon Fest was being held, but we were anticipating heavy traffic. "Heavy traffic" wound up being a group of ducks crossing the road a mile from the parking entrance and a particularly long traffic light, so we were there around 4:00. After parking in a plowed out corn field (welcome to upstate new York) we were getting out of the car, and i could hear Mambo Swing booming out of the massive speakers. Dad thought it was strange that they were playing the cd of the band that was going to perform, and he got a pleasant surprise when i told him it wasn't a cd, it was sound check. We followed the sound of the music, feeling kind of like we were walking through Field of Dreams, around a corner of trees and saw a huge field of grass ending in a bandstand. Just a stage with a fence in front of it and a big open field.
We had just caught the very end of sound check, so the guys were kind of wandering off the stage, but Scotty did yell out, "That's the most fun we've had at sound check in a long time!" I wonder...?
They were the first act coming on (Balloon fest is a three day long festival where they have continuous live music - like Woodstock!! - and hot air balloons going up in the background. Almost everyone who goes is there for the balloons.) so not many people were there yet. Fine by me. I grabbed Nicole and dragged her up to the fence that separated the crowd from the area directly under the stage. Then...we waited. It was kind of cool, we got to see kind of the "pre-game show" and because the event was sponsored by a radio station there was music playing. It was kind of funny, this local chick who was going on after them got up to do her sound check and was singing this awful, out of tune country music, so the station turned the sound up loud enough to drown her out. :)
By the time the show finally started there was a pretty good crowd gathered 'round. I had to be kind of pushy to keep my spot on the fence. It was kind of an interesting deal; the way they had the concert set up. BBVD was going to play for about an hour, then go sign autographs, then the chick was supposed to sing for about fifteen minutes (I'm thinking she was the daughter of someone who worked there or something). Then Splendor played about an hour set, and then Big Bad was coming on for another hour. Strange, but anyway, on to the show!
Highlights:
~ Being
up that close was very cool. You felt like
they were playing right to you, and could make eye contact with the band.
~ The guy next to me, who started every sentence with, "I feel like such a groupie, but....." and would finish with things like, "...I'm going to try to go to Europe to see them there", or "What's the piano player's name?". He was kinda strange.
~I wanted good pictures, so I brought my sister's supah-zoom lens, which can zoom up to 300 feet. I was snapping happily away (Dirk even stopped to pose for a picture, then kind of bowed his head) when I got the scare of my life. During Kurt's long drum solo, Josh and Dirk started talking, looking right at me and not looking too happy. They kind of shrugged and gave each other "Well, what can you do?" looks. At this point I am kind of lowering my camera. Then Josh goes back and talks briefly to one of the roadies/security people. The man got up and started to walk right towards me, but Josh put out his hand, stopping him, and shook his head no. When the guy sat back down Josh gave him the thumbs up. But I didn't take any more pictures that set. (I later found out what was up, but we won't get into that just yet.)
~ During 'Mambo Swing', Scotty came in about four counts early. The band guys looked kind of startled, but laughed, and Scotty, once he started singing for real stopped and yelled, "I screwed up!". and the crowd yelled back, 'Yeeeahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!" (I am the only one who sees the irony in this?)
~ Rain had been threatening all day, but before the concert the sky had kind of cleared up. But as the opening lines of 'Who's that Creepin'' were being played, it got very dark very quickly and looked like it was going to pour. Scotty commented that "This looks like Blair Witch country up here!". It stayed dark through that song, without raining, and once it was over the sky cleared up and it was sunny once more. Who's their special effects guy again...?
They finished that set and we were all told to line up in front of this teeny little booth like cattle to wait for autographs. This thing was so small that they guys had to stand shoulder to shoulder.
Now picture this: You are waiting in a few fairly organized lines heading forward. But once you got to the front, you had to move side to side to get everyone's autograph. Begin mob scene sequence.
Meet
and Greet (kinda) highlights:
~ For the
most part people tried to be polite, but there
was quite a bit of pushing and grabbing going
on. I kind of stood and whistled until things died
down a little. I would like to make sure to say, though, that with
all that happening in front of him, Mr. Levy managed
to keep his hands to himself. :)
~ As I handed over my picture for autographs, you only got a few seconds with each person, because they were so busy. I said to Josh when I saw him, "I'm sorry, was I not allowed to take pictures?" He smiled and said, "You are required to take pictures." Made me feel better, but hmm.....
~ Who said Andy doesn't sing? The radio was on again and while he signed autographs, Andy was singing right along with Macy Gray on 'I Try' and a BSB's song. Think Mr. Rowley is looking for a career in pop?
~ The man in front of me in line (yes, the same one who was by me at the fence) kept saying to every member of the band, "Hi, I'm a trumpet player, and you're awesome." Umm, okay. He got to Kurt and said it and Kurt answered, "That's great!". Trumpet player extraordinare then said, "Hey, can I join the band?!?" and Kurt replied, "Sure. Ron, you're out."
~ Because Dirk was on the end I got to spend more time talking to him than the others. I said that I was in FOOD and he said he'd seen me down there with a huge camera. "Yeah, my paparazzi lens?", I said (I spoke! I did it!). He signed my picture, and then was nice enough to pose for a picture with me. Awwww yeah.
~ I snuck over to the other end where Mike was and re-introduced myself. It took a second, but he remembered me! He asked about my sister, and said to say hello to my parents for him, then I collected my second picture.
We wandered around the fest for awhile, ate some fried dough, and tried to endure the tail end of the Splendor set. As soon as they were done, Nicole and I shimmied back up to the fence, but this time on the other side, by the horns. The second set was amazing. There were so many more people there, they played all their best songs, and the whole crowd was singing along so loudly I could barely hear Scotty.
(Lesley: Pay attention
here folks)
I had found out from my Dad, who had
a behind-the-back view of what had gone on
earlier, that the insane fan next to me had been using a video camera to
record the concert. Tisk tisk tisk. I was
so glad it wasn't me! (When you think about it then, that was really nice
of Josh to stop the security man.) For the second set I resumed happily
taking pictures, and spent out my role of film.
The best part was during the 'Goodbye Song', when they got near the end, and I held my breath...and they played the snippet from 'Smells Like Teen Spirit!' The whole crowd was jumping up and down like crazy and my Dad, who had taken a safer seat near the back, said even the older folks near him were engaging in some head nodding action.
This was the best
show I've ever been to, and what's more, the pictures came out great!
(I'm so glad my film wasn't taken!)