Aftershock Day 4: Wait, I've been doing the festival thing for three days, why are we getting up so early on the 4th day
Posted by
JD (aka Jason Dean)
Oct 13 '22, 11:17
|
We've made plans to meet up with another of FH's friends and try to get to an opening act so we're up at 8 with plans to leave my parents by 9. We'll I was up at 8....
Turns out FH's friend lists Bad Religion as one of his favorite acts so that allows for an instant common ground. After an enjoyable time listening to them catch up and getting a glimpse into FH's high school days, we make our way to the parking lot.
Park closer than we have so far as we're earlier than we've even been. I'm trying to guess what spin they'll have with regards to getting on the bus but in an upset, it's just show wristband and scan digital ticket from yesterday.
We're actually just a bit behind schedule but with Maggie Lindermann playing the stage right we'll enter, I figure we'll catch 2-3 songs from the end of the set. We hear a song as we enter the security line, and hear Maggie thanking the crowd?!!? Make our way to the field to find stage hands removing equipment and hear the New Years Day set start on the other second stage.
Hustle over there and New Years Day was uh, good? I mean if they were invited to Coachella and stood out for both Woman lead and rock, I'd probably have lost my relative mind. In the context of an all rock festival while I loved the energy of the lead, the songs were just fine. Leave a bit early to head back to the other stage.
Set up in the Monaco canned cocktails area as they've got umbrellas for shade and we can see the stage where The Warning will be playing. We offer to share our table / shade with another couple and n talking to them prior to the set, we learn that the entire festival schedule has been shifted forward by 15 minutes of so as Jelly Roll dropped out. I check the app and I swear I can see the times change in front of my eyes. So it wasn't just me who failed in getting to the opening act but I got screwed by a day of schedule change.
The Warning! OMG, at least we were more than on time for The Warning. Three sisters from Mexico who's music is exactly what I do like in the context of rock. I just smiled my way through their set. My only complaint is the cliched festival one: the set was too short.
FH wants to check out Underoath. Whoa. Well, at least I got to see The Warning.
I realized only the night before that one of the acts on Sunday is Band Maid. They're all female rock band that performs wearing Maid costumes. It seems superfluous to tack on that they're from Japan. So of course, we're going to check that out. A decent crowd indicates that we're not the only ones who are curious. We do see what I hope is a super fan couple as both guy and gal are wearing maid outfits. They spend a fair amount of time sound checking but almost to the second of their scheduled start time, there's this high pitched: Aftershock and then they let loose on their instruments. It more than works but we leave midway through the third song as want to be on time for the next set and am working on the assumption that things are still ahead of the schedule.
Turns out we're plenty early for The Interrupters so we get as close as we can to the stage while still being in the shade. At about the five minute to go point, we suck it up and head out in the sun and join the rapidly growing crowd in front of the stage. The boys take the stage and the crowd is going nuts and then Aimee joins them and we all loose our minds. or maybe that was just me but before I can even finish the first lyric of the first song, the circle pit forms directly in front of us so now things have become partially interactive. FH and I spend the set occasionally letting people in and out as well bouncing a few way ward bodies back toward the pit. Set was the usual super fun and this time with a physical aspect so all good.
Catch our breath and head back to the other main stage where The Pretty Reckless has stared. I know it's been a super long time and there's plenty of fans of the band who've probably never heard of and at least never watched the original Gossip Girl but I'm still guilty of so pigeonholing the person that I still think in the terms that wait, Jenny leads a rock band, and they're good? So in perhaps the second biggest upset of the weekend, maybe I'm tired from The Interrupters, maybe I'm just tired but I end up suggesting we leave the set as it turns out while I do like their songs, I'm not in the mood for all of the guitar wandering around they do for their live arrangements. To me it seems like what were released as 4+ minute songs have turned into double that.
Plus it allows us to grab something to eat slightly ahead of the more traditional dinner time crowd.
Food and drink in hand, we set up at the little stage for carolesdaughter. I guess fitting for the artist that's the set that goes most like I had in mind having never seen them. In person, she's more adorably tattooed than scary. She's backed by an interesting combination of drummer, bass, and occasionally backing tracks. While one of the smaller crowds, there's definitely fans in the audience who all dutifully sing along with me among them. I was already having a really good time and then couldn't stop grinning after the intro: Have you ever wanted to sleep for a really, really, really, really long time? Boy, do I have the song for you and then of course : please put me in a medically induced coma. I'll spend a fair amount of the rest of the day humming that after singing along.
From there it is a short walk to one of the main stages where Bring Me The Horizon. I'm entertained by their show set up which to me seems like if GLaDOS was the hype program for a rock band. They're ok and I guess as sign that I'm only mostly on board, I spend a fair amount of time trying to sort out their name. How does one exactly bring a horizon? Why would anybody want the horizon? We leave a bit early to head to the locker to get jackets for the night.
All day long, we've seen people with Shinedown shirts and as we leave the lockers, there's a couple of guys already camped out toward the left edge of the field awaiting their show. One claims that the only thing he was there for that day is Shinedown.
I've no real idea but FH's stepson uses a snippet of one of Shinedown's songs as his walkup music. Given that's he's a starting pitcher, I've heard that snipped only just enough time that it's vaguely familiar. Proof of that will be that I've no idea what song it was or when it was played in the set. However the set was probably the best not female fronted performance I saw all weekend. They were really entertaining and hey, songs.
We should have probably left then as the Muse set is going to reinforce what I already knew about myself. It's so obvious that I wasn't going to like this set. I mean the songs that have made the radio are like multiple part, 5 minute plus long songs. Why wouldn't that be taken to an extreme in their live set? While I'm quietly mocking myself and apparently one point even laughing aloud at myself, I make the decision that we're leaving after the current song. I swear that those super impressive technically, guitars, drums forever MF'ers heard my thoughts and I swear that from the moment that I'd given them the duration of the song, they played for like ten more minutes!
The good thing about the moved up schedule and not staying for the duration of the headliner is that we're home well before 10PM and that finally wraps up Aftershock 2022.
|