By Jaimenacho
This past Saturday morning began the odyssey that will be known as Download festival 2005, A.K.A.-Festivus (in honor of the Seinfeld episode)
The day began nicely enough, I drove to Paco’s house at about 7:30am, we drank some coffee, and departed for SF, and Shoreline amphitheatre. We had tickets to the download festival, which consisted of The Killers, Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire, Doves, British Sea Power, Ambulance Ltd., and a few other bands.
The drive down was fine, we listened to music, chatted, and even had time to stop at Williams for a Coors Light break.
The plan was to get to the show, and tailgate before the event. Tailgating, while normally reserved for sporting events, was going to be our ticket to saving money at an all day concert, which we knew would have exorbitant prices. We figured things to go like this:
1. Arrive at the show, cook sausages for lunch.
2. Sit in the parking lot for awhile eat our own food, thus saving high priced stadium food.
3. Drink beer we brought from home, thus saving outrageous beer prices.
4. Come out to the lot between bands, to have more beer, and save more money.
The plan sounded good. We got to the show, parked, and set up the stoves. We JUST finished cooking the first lot of sausages when 5-0 rolled up.
“Hey guys, sorry, but you can’t have stoves like that around here, sorry…”
“Really? Why?” We asked.
“Something about the CO2 levels being too high here; I’m not making that up either…”
“Oh…well we’re done anyway, so we’ll put them up.”
“Thanks.”
The cop drove off…so we had 1 sausage a piece, but still saved ourselves from the fee of lunch inside…things were working out. The next thing we planned, was drinking our white trash Coors Lights, and waiting for the band we wanted to start playing.
The minute we poured our first real concert beer (that wasn’t used in the cooking of the sausages) the 5-0 rolled up AGAIN, this time on bikes.
“Hey guys, what’s in the cups?”
Now everyone knows that it’s not wise to lie to a cop, so we didn’t…
“It’s beer.”
“Ok, pour it out…there’s no alcohol in the parking lots.”
Reluctantly, we poured out our beers…and with no food or beverage to occupy our time in the parking lot, we headed inside. At this point I think Paco and I still both thought that we’d come out later, when the bike cops were gone, and try and drink some Coors…between bands
That plan was quickly doused when we saw the sign saying, ‘No in and out privileges.’
Great, now we were stuck inside the festival for its duration, regardless.
Within a few minutes of being inside, Paco and I wandered to the side stage, and awaited Ambulance ltd’s performance. We spent a few minutes inside the Napster tent, checking out their ultra slow internet connections, and watching two weird girls nibble on one another. I thought one of them may have had a candy necklace, and the one was eating off it, but I could, and probably am wrong.
While we were standing in the sun waiting for the band to play, Paco and I noticed something quite disturbing; we were old. We were some of the oldest folks around that weren’t taking their own children to the show.
When one becomes confronted with their extreme age it’s never pretty. Paco and I spent the remainder of the day discussing our age in relation to our surroundings.
“Wow I can’t believe how old we are?” He said
“Me neither…man…OH Hey, That guy is older than us!”
“No, that guy is with those kids there…”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
We decided that after Ambulance Ltd, being as we were the creepy old people in the place we would go to the beer tent, and consume some big bombers in honor of Tony and Julie. The big bombers were pricey…$7.75 a piece, (roughly the price of the entire batch of Coors Lights sitting in the back of my car, ice cold.) But we managed to consume a couple. After the Bombers, Paco and I continued wandering around festival to see what else they had to offer.
The festival, being as it was centered on technology, had a lot to offer in that field, specifically, music technology. There were booths that had AOL instant messenger set up so one could IM the bands, or your friends, and say “LOL OHMIGOD I’m TOTALLY AT DONWLOAD FESTIVAL T.T.Y.L.” There were booths where you could win MP3 players (Paco even thought he won one); they had a myspace.com booth, where you could watch an annoying 9-year old dance. There were lots of different booths, almost all of which were all annoying. But, Paco and I had several hours to kill that we had previously planned on spending in the parking lot; we got to see it all.
Finally 4:30 came, and bands began to take the main stage. All the bands were good. I could go into depth on each one, but it would take too long, so I’ll paraphrase.
British Sea Power- They were good, and some guy in the band ran around dressed as a bush, and beat a drum.
Doves- Very good, they were not overly enthusiastic performers, but very good sound wise.
Arcade Fire- Really good, better than I expected, it could’ve been a bit louder, but it was a very good set.
Modest Mouse- The sound of the vocals was a little low, but they played very well, and even played a few older songs that we weren’t expecting.
Killers- Well, it was 10:30 when Modest Mouse was finished, and that was plenty late enough for us to be there, considering we had to get to our hostel at some point and check in. We left before the Killers came on, and headed out on the 30 minute drive to downtown SF.
Paco guided us to the hostel, and I waited in the alley while he went to check in.
He came out and mumbled some discouraging words as he entered the car
“We have no reservations…”
“What?”
“Yeah, I guess their computer system isn’t working, and they never got it….but the guy gave me the address of another place, and called ahead for us…”
So Paco and I got back on the road and headed to find the next spot. To make things more interesting we decided to pump up “la ballad of Lady and Bird” a song which really can’t be described in words…but it has two characters with animated voices discussing life; at one point in the song they began to scream.
At this point in the song we were at a stop light, being approached by a panhandler…when he heard Lady and Bird screaming at full blast he took off in a fright, nearly getting himself hit by a car. It was very funny
Paco and I found our hostel, checked in and went to see our room. This wasn’t the cleanest place I’d ever slept in, but it certainly wasn’t so horrible, I’d run away screaming. We went in, picked our bunks, put on our sheets, and then quickly went to the nearest pub to waste the remainder of the evening.
We spent the next 2-3 hours in the pub, drinking pabst blue ribbon, and various other ales. At one point we sat out on a small trek to try and find an Irish pub Paco knew of, but quickly realized he had no idea where it was. We saw some girls who were WAY too drunk to be breathing, and one of them walked into a ditch, and nearly broke her leg.
“Do you know where we’re going?” She asked.
“Uhm…no…can’t say we do.”
“Well we’re looking for a club. Where’s Market and Mission.”
Paco pointed them in the right direction, and they staggerd off to get their grooves on, and we headed back to the safety of the pub near our hostel, to wind up the evening.
2:00 came, the pub closed, and Paco and I headed back to our “pad” to get some rest. The room we stayed in had 10 beds in it, originally we thought nobody else was staying there, but upon entering, we noticed that there was indeed a body in one of the bunks, right underneath mine.
We quietly climbed into beds, and went to sleep. I was awoken in the morning by the sound of someone gasping for breath, and in the midst of a painful snoring attack. I thought it might have been Paco, and I later discovered he thought it was me, but I snuck a peak over my bunk, and saw that another person had entered the room at some point early in the AM hours and was emitting the painful noises. I vaguely remember hearing the door at about 5:30am.
9:00am Paco and I woke up, and set out to find a sports bar to watch the morning football games. After a bit of driving, We settled on Green’s sports bar, wandered in, found some seats, and sat down to watch football. The bar quickly filled up with displaced fans from various cities who took a seat nearest the television showing their teams game. In our area of the bar we had a few Falcons fans, and a large group of Patriots fans, highlighted by one woman in her Troy Brown #80 jersey.
My initial thought about her was the only good one I had…it went something like, “oh wow, a girl football fan, who comes to watch the games…that’s kind of cool.”
Then she opened her mouth, and I spent the rest of the day wanting to jab an ice pick in my pee hole.
She was the epitome of super fan. She called players by their first name as if they’d grown up together, but somehow she only knew the big stars of the team. She tried to impress her friend by throwing out random comments like, “That guy is so F—ing fast,” Which honestly could be said about 90% of the NFL players.
She clapped, made touchdown signals, and danced around like a cheerleader every time her team came through. She sat there paralyzed, hands gripping head when her team was on the ropes. I’m not a Falcons fan in any way, but watching super fan #80 made me one for 3 hours. For that duration of time nothing would make me more delighted than the Patriots losing the game, and/or Tom Brady tearing every ligament that ends in CL.
I wanted her to cry. She was so obnoxious, it made me less interested in watching my favorite team blow their game, and more interested in watching the game she was…just to root against her, as loud as possible. Sports’ is funny that way. The only things that temporarily sidetracked me was some bitchin’ Thai food Paco brought back from a nearby restaurant.
Sadly the Falcons lost, and super fan made a hasty exit, I’m sure to avoid being bludgeoned with a bar stool.
We watched a portion of the afternoon games, and the seat once occupied by Patriot and Falcon fans were occupied with Bronco fans, Redskin fans, and a fan of 45 year old men.
Paco was sitting next to this lady who was obviously high, drunk, or both…who was in town on business and she was talking to him about looking for a 45 year old man…I think she hoped Paco would help her scout the area, but he seemed pretty disinterested once she opened her mouth and began talking. I sent Paco a message simply saying.
“Lady….”
“Yes Bird,”
And he knew instantly the situation was worthy of screaming, and we quickly paid our tabs and left for home.
The ride home was leisurely, and nice…not too hot or cold, and we stopped occasionally to have one of the Coors Lights that had been left in our cooler from the previous day.
So the lesson learned is that you can still have a fun weekend even if you are the creepy old guy at a concert, not a Patriots fan, or 45 years old.
By Paco
Ok, I have to nail down my top shows ever to finalize this topic for me…
Here goes… with a blurb about each show.
1. Catherine Wheel 1993 @ Slims , San Francisco – Jaime… was this not the best show we have EVER seen? I know it would be in your top 5 for sure.
2. Beastie Boys 1995 @ Cal-Expo , Sacramento – See prior post… this was a BLAST.
3. Kent 1999 @ The Bottom of the Hill , SF – Even the underage dorks at this one couldn’t ruin a flawless performance by the Swedish Rockers.
4. Gene 2002 @ Sky Church / Bumbershoot , Seattle – These “guys” put on one of the best shows I have seen, everything sounded really clean.
5. Luna 1993 @ The Edge , Palo Alto – All I need to say is, “When Will You Come Home” Actually… I also have to mention SHOVELHEAD! (one of the worst opening bands EVER)
6. Greyboy All Stars 1996 @ The Brickworks , Chico – The first time I saw the All-Stars… this was a fun show! Do you remember that it was Rolling Rock night Pecos?
7. Combustible Edison 1999 @ Harlow’s – Eduardo, wasn’t that just a really fun show? They put on a great performance that night at a great venue. It’s too bad they called it quits…
8. Luna / Sundays 1995? @ The Warfield – This show gets in there because both bands were great. Except, I’ll never understand why people moshed to the Sundays???
9. Low 1996? @ The Blue Room , Chico – This was by far the most odd place to see a band play… a great show in a playhouse.
10. Radiohead 2003 @ White River , Auburn WA – I still kick myself for not seeing them before they became big, but this was still a GREAT show.
Honorable Mention
Sigur Ros 2002 – The Warfield , SF – A classic show. I think this band is always good live.
Oasis 1994 – Melarky’s , Sacramento – I had to leave because it was so loud. I think I still have hearing loss from this show. And this was before they made it big!
Man or Astroman? 2001 – The Howlin’ Wolf , New Orleans – The best show I ever saw with Guillermo. “A Simple Text File” and the giant Van de Graaff generator were the highlights.
Push Kinds 1997 – Bottom of the Hill , San Francisco – A story to tell another day… but a great show. I still can’t believe I made it!
Built to Spill 2004 – Harlows , Sacramento – Great bands at Harlows are always a good combination.
By Jaimenacho
One of the best, most memorable shows ever was seeing the Stone Roses with Eduardo and his girlfriend, now wife. The Stone Roses for some reason epitomized about 4 years of our lives. Between listening to their first album almost daily, and waiting for their second album they became almost the sound track to our years 18-22. When the long awaited 2nd album came out, albeit to very mixed, and somewhat disappointed reviews we knew they would be touring.
Sure enough, The Stone Roses were coming to the world famous Fillmore in San Francisco, and we decided—nothing, was keeping us from seeing them—nothing.
Eduardo and I found out the exact time and date the tickets were going to go on sale, and planned to be there early…even days early if need be. Days before the show I would drive by the Wherehouse, looking to see if people were waiting in line. Honestly, in Redding at that time I think I was friends with every Stone Roses fan, so actually seeing this huge line wasn’t going to happen. The night before the show, I made one last pass by the wherehouse about midnight, on my way home from a friend’s house, and there was no line to be seen.
Sweet. The doors of the place opened at 10am, I’d be there at 8am. I went home and went to sleep, happily knowing I’d be the first in line…baring some freak of nature occurrence.
7:30am the freaks of nature came out.
As I entered the parking lot of the wherehouse I noticed about 15 people in line.
What? WTF? These people didn’t LOOK like Roses fans, but there were people in line…I mean, I knew the show WOULD sell out quick, but maybe people had trekked from far away to get tickets. Maybe they were scalpers?
I got in line, very discouraged, because I had told myself only about the first 2 or 3 people would get tickets once they became available.
“So you’re getting Stone Roses tickets huh?” I asked the guy in front of me.
“No man, Dead tickets….we’re all here to get Dead tickets for the Eugene and Sac shows…”
“Are you serious? You’re all here for Grateful Dead tickets?”
“Yup.”
I was pissed. If I lost out on getting tickets because a bunch of hippies were getting grateful dead tickets, I was going to lose it.
A few minutes passed and Eduardo showed up to get his tickets as well.
“Who are all these people?” He asked, “Are they here for Roses tickets? You think we’ll get tickets?”
“So pissed.” I muttered to him quietly, “They’re freakin’ Dead Heads, in line for Dead tickets.”
“Are you serious?” He said, stunned, and obviously now feeling the same hatred for the Grateful Dead that I was.
We waited in lines, performing a slow boil, just knowing, deep down, we were going to lose out on seeing the one show we’d waited years for, because of a bunch of dead beats in a van decided to use our wherehouse to get their Dead tickets.
When the time came to open the door, I can honestly say, the staff at the Wherehouse was ready. I think they were more planning on dealing with the Dead Heads, than the Roses fans in line, but their efficiency was impressive. Eduardo and I got to the front of the line very quickly, and were able to but the desired tickets.
I kept the ticket in safety vowing not to move it until the day of the show, only occasionally opening the drawer to make sure I still really had one.
The day of the show arrived and Eduardo and I went to SF to see the show with his girlfriend/now wife. We could tell the minute we drove into the city that it was going to be a special show, one for the ages.
We found a parking spot considerably far from the Fillmore, and had to walk. The walk to the venue was packed with people trying top buy tickets. One man offered us nearly $100 a ticket…we firmly refused; although, we were a little upset we didn’t buy extras to sell.
Once inside, I was pumped for the show. There wasn’t an opening band, so we were going to be treated to an entire night of only the Roses, and nothing else. Typical, of what I had imagined, they made us wait for a long time before taking the stage…but when they did….I wet myself, and I believe Eduardo did as well.
The place went black, and the only noise were the sounds of crickets (like the beginning of the 2nd album.) with each chirp of the crickets, a small light flashed, and the stage looked almost like a swarm of fireflies had engulfed it.
This went on what seemed like 10 minutes, the crowd growing more and more pumped with each passing second. Finally we could see the silhouettes of Mani, John Squire, and the new drummer (who sadly, replaced Reni) They took the stage, and the drummer began a tribal like drum beat, which kept went on, again, for what seemed like 10 minutes.
Then it started…the bass line for I wanna be adored….which, is where I blacked out, and went into a Stone Roses induced frenzy. As the guitar began to whir and moan, Ian Brown strolled to the stage, threw out a few curse laden salutations, and began to sing.
The show was amazing. Eduardo and I spent the majority of it jumping around like we were part of an African War dance…I can’t remember the set list too well, maybe Eduardo can, but I know they played a bunch of songs from each album. The highlight was the epic version of I Am the Resurrection they played at the end, which was words can’t describe. I’ve never felt more alive at a show. I was truly exhausted at the end of the last song, I had thrashed around, semi-moshed, and pogo’d my rear off for 2 solid hours.
At one point in the show Eduardo’s girlfriend had become angered with him, for something I’m not aware of, but he never paused his dancing once to handle the problem…and while he may have paid the price later, he knew he was seeing something that may never come around again…and it never did.
The next day John Squire broke his collar bone riding a bike, there by canceling the remainder of their US tour, and very shortly after their return to England, the band broke up…with the exception of 1 or 2 shows they played in England, we saw one of the last Stone Roses shows ever…and the last one in the USA.
By Paco
The first two real shows I saw after my Eddie Money experience happened several years later. I was in high school, had gleaned some different music tastes from my friends, and had been prodded by Jaimenacho to take in a live show some time.
We had tried to see Electronic down at the Warfield, but the show was cancelled.
We continued to scan the “Pink Pages” of the SF Chronicle for concerts.
SIDE NOTE : For those of you that don’t know or remember, the “Pink Pages” were not a “Gay” section of the paper. They were actually the “Entermainment” section that came out on the weekend. And it always listed most of the shows going in the Bay Area.
So one weekend we spotted “Kitchens of Distinction” playing at the Edge Nightclub in Palo Alto. It was an all ages show, and we were fans of the “Kitchens” and their shoegazing sound.
We ran the idea by Eduardo, he was interested, so we scored 3 tickets to the show.
So the three of us cruised down to the show and squeezed into the little club.
The show was very good. Not overly memorable, but good.
I had to mention this show just because it was the first show that I saw where I actually wanted to see the band. And it turned out to be the first of many more to come over the next 13 years.
