Aftershock Day 1 - Where's the *&^%!@ buses?
Posted by
JD (aka Jason Dean)
Oct 11 '22, 16:17
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Drive from La Verne to Fairfield was pretty uneventful the day before and was having fun listening to Sellout (see previous post for book rave). FH survived the being at the parents' house for the first time and so we set out for Cal Expo (the remote parking).
Parking was super easy but we did notice the rather long line of people along one edge of the parking lot. Looked like it wasn't completely unexpected as there were groups of four port a potties at various points along the line. Took note of nearest landmarks to the car and then joined the line.
And waited. Made some friends in the line. And waited. Started making jokes about why the line seemed to barely move. And waited. Started to take note that it seemed like one or two buses would arrive and depart maybe every 15-20 minutes. And waited.
Finally got close to front line, showed digital bus pass and got handed a little plastic card and then guess what? Waited in line to get on the bus.
As bad as the bus wait was, security and checking wristbands after that was a breeze. Get on the grounds in time to be pretty much deafened by what turns out to be last song of Ice Nine Kills. Can't say that I'm sorry that I missed that set. As well as that reaction turns out to foreshadow parts of my Aftershock experience.
Get our locker, put the hoodies and jeans for the after dark and expected cooler temperatures and then kind of check out the place as there's nothing on our schedule for 90 minutes or so. There are essentially two identical stages that serve as a combined main stage on end of the of the grounds. A secondary stage all the way at the other of the grounds and then a third smaller stage along one side of the grounds. Only one of the main stages is used at any given time with the other stage being cleared / set up.
Having entered at the main stages side, we wander our way back to the other end to see Cherry Bomb which is not a band as has been previously pointed out but instead a performing group of primarily women doing dance routines with fire sticks and other prompts. There's also the two performers who are doing um aerial routines? As in they climb up either a robe or a pair of lengths of fabric and hang from them, invert themselves, spin, plank and do other poses / action that made my core muscles cramp and me wince in sympathetic pain. Oh, and there was a disclaimer put up on the screens before there show that there would be PYRO (fire) yada yada yada and well as Concussive (Big boom) yada yada yada effects used in the performance. I felt kind of like Marvin the Martian as the set got closer and closer to their published end time and ultimately exactly like Marvin: Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth shattering kaboom. Apparently the pyro and concussive warning / disclaimer was boilerplate and not literal 8(
Then a stop at the smallest stage to see Royal and The Serpent which was everything I hoped for. Super energetic and entertaining. Unexpectedly, I learned that the lead is Royal and The Serpent as that's how she introduced herself after introducing the band. That would stick with me to the point that I would look it up when I got back to my parents that night and indeed, that the stage name of the performer.
There was just enough time from the end of the Royal and The Serpent set to make our way to the back of the sitting portion of the crowd for Evanescence. While Amy Lee has an amazing voice and is giving an amazing performance, I start to realize more and more that I needed to be either a bigger fan of hers or the songs as I'm not fully getting this. I get that if you have a voice like Amy Lee's why wouldn't you construct the songs as these big soaring anthem sounding things but without knowing the songs, it really does kind of start to the same to me and not in away that I'm connecting to in. In on of the bigger upsets of the weekend, I prompt FH and we leave the set.
Leaving early lets us go to the locker to get our jackets before we switch to the other main stage and we now learn that when not being used, the not used stage shows the video from the other main stage as well as the audio on a slightly lower volume so end up indirectly watching the set.
We're now in place for the start of the Rob Zombie set. I had way more fun with his music than I was having with Evanescence. I don't think I'd ever realized that his songs are primarily driven by a bass line and on some level are kind of danceable. We end up leaving about 10 minutes before the scheduled end of his set as we've got to walk the length of the festival grounds.
At the other end, Bad Religion is going to be play the last set for the night on that stage. Looking kind of like your kids super in shape college professor and his friends, er, wait..... I guess there's a reason for that, they tear through an amazing set that has everything from 90 second long blasts of So-Cal punk from 82 to the stuff they're still writing. Easily the best set I see / hear on the first day.
Since we have to cross the festival grounds to get to the shuttles, we go by the main stage where the audio and video is up from Slipknot who's closing the night on the other main stage. Hearing that even indirectly is starting to make me realize some things about preference in rock. I'm starting to realize that I prefer the punk side of things more than whatever the heck one would classify acts like Slipknot and Ice Nice Kills.
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