It’s now 2 am. After having woke up after 11 am, we got some breakfast/lunch, and headed to the Smirnoff Arena. I’m not going to go into a bunch of detail about the day. It was great, the kids had fun, and it may the only time in their lives they get to see Ozzy.
BUT
It was hot. Not just “hot” but humid, sticky, thick air that you could barely breath, and there was VERY little shade, and nearly everyone there, including ourselves, were dressed in black. If it weren’t for the hose tents set up for people to drench themselves in, there is no way we could have made it all day.
The crowd was dense, and mostly drunk/high. I don’t care if people want to smoke a joint, but I personally can’t stand the stuff. I kept trying to find a place away from people where I could sit and take a break, but it never failed: I’d find a place, a nice curb in the partial shade of a tree, and take a seat. And here would come a group of folks, sit down right next to me, and light up. It was annoying enough when it was just me, but when my kids were sitting with me, I got a little ticked off. Have a little consideration, okay? I mean it, I REALLY don’t care who’s doing it, I’m even for legalization (maybe I’ll go into my reasons for that in another post), but like so many other personal lifestyle choices, I don’t want to be a part of YOUR decisions. And I’d prefer my kids have the option when they are older whether they want to get high on marijuana, instead of getting high now just by being near you. Luckily, they all thought it smelled like crap and moved away each time some rude punk lit up next to them.
Once in, you could not leave, unless you wanted to stay gone. So, market geniuses they are, a bottle of water cost 4 bucks. Needless to say, most of cash went to water. And $81 went to cheeseburgers for dinner. And it was a pretty nasty heat-lamp burger.
On the upside, hubby and 2 of the kids had a great time in the mosh pit at the 2nd stage. The others amused themselves shopping and “checking out the eye-candy”. Of which there was an abundance, of every kind. From clean-cut to grunge, even a few in kilts. They had all kinds of cute young boys to gawk at.
The ages of the crowd ranged from 3 year olds, to 70. I saw at least 2 grannies in their motorized wheelchairs cruising around (I think one was even banging her head to Devil Driver). One old man had his oxygen tank with him, and was using his cane to bang out the bass beat on the pavement. I had a good time crowd watching, and after a while of feeling self conscious at my rolls sticking to my wet tee, I loosened up after watching a few quite large scantily clad young women stroll by in thigh high leather boots with 4 inch heels or platforms, fishnets, skirts that didn’t quite cover the hind end, and corsets that could barely contain their um, “ample” cleavage. And frankly, they looked just fine. They fit in with everyone else, no one cared what anyone else looked like. It was pretty awesome. Frankly, I felt more out place for just being dressed in a tee and jeans. Hubby told me before we left I should take my funky clothes, because he knows I won’t dress in my preferred mode in my hometown. You know, reputation to uphold and all. But I thought I’d look stupid, a 30-something year old mom with her teenage daughters dressing like an 80s punk throw-back. But as always, hubby was right. This was someplace my dog collars, chains, pony tails, and combat boots would have been completely acceptable. Oh well.
As for the main stage events, it was all right. First up was Lordi, they sounded more like an 80s metal band than the speed metal of today, and so I kind of liked them, but I couldn’t understand a single lyric. Not because of them in particular, but the sound levels in the arena were enough to make you think a jet liner taking off was good music. Lordi had some elaborate outfits, but it was still daylight when they took the stage, so were hard to see clearly from the lawn. We had 2 seat tickets, but stayed with the kids on the lawn. After Lordi was Static X, then Lamb of God, who got a massive circle pit going up on the lawn. That was an interesting sight.
Then the Man himself took the stage. Ozzy. I’ve seen him in concert before, but was still pretty excited. He wasn’t doing very well, and kept apologizing to the crowd for singing like ’shit’ and explained he had a blood clot in his leg and wasn’t supposed to be on stage, but he was there trying his best anyway. The man is a legend. He could have come to the microphone and hummed, and the crowd STILL would have screamed for more. The kids never really thought about his age until they saw him in person, and afterwards said “He really is getting old, isn’t he. Pretty cool he makes good music still”. GOOD music? Kids these days can’t fully appreciate an artist, can they!
I didn’t take my camera after all, and even though it would have a been pain to haul around and keep dry all day, I wish I had. I want pictures of my kids screaming and laughing and having a good time. One of the oldest bought a disposable camera, and I’m hoping her pictures turn out well. We snuck out during the very end of Ozzy’s performance, and finding the truck, getting out of the parking lot, then back onto the highway went very quickly and smoothly.
On the way out of the arena we were all given multiple copies of a CD called The Ram by Rich Shapero. It looked like a well produced album, nice cover, fancy inserts, good photography and art. Then we all gave a listen and broke out laughing. It was pure shit, plain and simple. A cross between Weird Al and who knows what else, a folksy singer with death metal lyrics, strumming his guitar and quietly cooing about flesh sizzling in the fire and a chest covered in fur. Now I know why they were thrusting these things into people’s hands “TAKE THEM, PLEASE!” In case you want more info this pathetically bad CD, or the book that goes with it, here are a couple sites: ‘Wild Animus’ Beast-Man, Rich Shapero, Exposed! from the LaRouche Political Action Committee or the man’s own web site, Rich Shapero. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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