(no subject)
All music is beautiful.
- Billy Strayhorn
I feel sore, achy, and gosh I still have to studywide all day tomorrow but I’m not. Instead I’m wide awake and after watching the video I just recorded (horribly by the way) of Rage’s Killing in the Name… I feel pumped up! My gosh, it was the best night of my life to date! The day had started out as I started to pack my things, study a bit, and cleaning out whatever needed to clean, but by 1PM I was calling Miss London and trying to figure out when we should go to Finsbury Park. It was crazy at first since Rage Against the Machine wouldn’t be on stage until 8.20PM but she told me that the whole thing started at 2PM. So after popping over to her place and dropping off two of my bags (she was going to hold for them me for the summer), we caught the bus ride to the park. Even though the weather was cloudy with patches of sun, it was humid and muggy hot; and at some point during the ride, it sprinkled a little. Halfway through the ride,the bus NEARLY (too close to call) got into an accident because a neighboring car on the two-way lane didn’t want to wait for another bus to move, so it moved into our on-coming lane to get past it and yeah… nearly a head-on collision >.>
While on the bus we passed by this nice park, Clossid Park, and followed two guys going to the same gig to find Finsbury Park. Pretty much when they got off, we got off. And it’s a HUGE park. The entrance gate was beautifully detailed and was on the opposite corner of Manor House. As we were trying to find the concert entrance, we passed by a Latin-America Football tournament. There were so many families just listening to Latin music that I thought I was back home at Alondra Park, like I wasn't in London at all xD When we finally found the main concert entrance (after walking all the way around the park haha) we were thrown off by all the people camped outside (the ones who didn't have tickets)- holy moly guacamole!! Miss London and I were very lucky. She felt bad that one of her sisters couldn't be in London with us and see the concert and Rage for free (her sister was a very big fan of Rage). By the time we found the General Admissions Collection line... It turns out there was a closer entrance to the concert right there, down the street from where we were got off the buss ._. It was epic fail. While waiting in line to get our tickets, Miss London mentioned that it was like being at an amusement park because of the bar dividers and collection booth :P Since we didn’t get out tickets in the mail, we were completely worried that we wouldn’t get our tickets at the concert booth. As we stood in line, it started to sprinkle and by the time we got to the front of the line, it was pouring, so I took out my umbrella to cover the both of us. Due sending out the tickets late, we were some of the few who didn't get our tickets in time (it was still apparently in the mail). Luckily they wrote us out a ticket so we can get in :)
5
Fighting to get to the concert entrance, there were 2 minor checkpoints before the main gates. Since we brought out own food, we were afraid that the security guys wouldn’t let us bring it in when they had to check our bags. Surprisingly only food and drinks that had already been opened were tossed, so one of my water bottles and food were safe. Miss London had to toss her water bottle but was allowed to keep her food. It was crazy upon entering because the first thing I saw were carnival rides such as bumper cars, haunted house ride, and a mini-coaster. It was exciting that they seriously went all out! In addition, there was one merchandise booth, two large bar areas, and a bunch of food stalls. We headed for the port-a-potties first, and dude, there were just rows upon rows of them. Well really more like 6-8 and a covered tent of open stalls of urinals for the men (not pretty). The first bathroom break wasn’t a long wait- not even a wait at all. Then we headed over to the bar area, then the merchandise table because I wanted a shirt. Meanwhile, Miss London was texting her other friend to see where he was. Not a few minutes later he texted back saying he was camping out in the pit area, about 60 ft away from the stage. Waiting in line to get my shirt, Miss London went off to the ATM point to get some cash. It was crowded and people were pushing but it was awesome! There was a girl with pink hair who talked to me and explaining to me that one had to be aggressive if one wanted that shirt now and get to the front… Once we pushed through the small crowd, we were amazed to see that there was an elderly lady working the merchandise booth and a couple of elderly folks in the crowd trying to buy shirts too. I called Miss London to see if she wanted one but she didn’t, so I just got a small adult of ‘The Battle of Britain’ shirt for £15. Greatly priced because it could have been totally overpriced but it's not.
Afterwards, I met up with Miss London at the bar area so she could purchase a pint of Gaymers Cider, which was reasonably priced (and for two other beers, small champagne bottle, and Bicardi Breezer)- all of them 3.5P. Better than concerts back home where everything would be insanely hiked up. By the time we got everything we wanted, it was about 4ish, so we headed over to the stage area to look for Miss London's friend (wearing a yellow shirt) but it was hard since there were quite a few males wearing a yellow shirt. We did manage to get in front of the stage-pit barrier and was pretty damn close to the stage without being too close. We saw a Reggae-type rock band, which I thought was pretty cool. People, well mostly 85% guys were pushed up closer to us but were so polite when they stepped on our feet or accidentally shoved up, they apologized! If one of them wanted to get through to another part, they would say ‘sorry’, ‘excuse me’, or ‘pardon’. I mean who does that at a concert! Pretty nice… well except for the few drunk guys close by to us. It was disgusting when they started to crowd around one of their friends and encouraged him started to... well urinate into a water bottle >( Some of the sober ones who realized that there were a few of us girls around tried to block off the small crowd of guys and apologized for their behavior.
The second time we went for a bathroom break there were four huge queues! Though they all moved pretty quickly. Walking back, Miss London and I tried to find her friend again but no luck. Getting back to the center-ish area and close to the stage the second time was HARD. I mean there were guys already dancing and moshing and making it difficult, but again, they were some nice guys who let us through. One of the guys who elbowed me in the eye (thank you glasses for protection) apologized and made sure I was all right before letting me follow after Miss London XD Yeah, all I could think of was ‘wow’. Then I saw a group of four guys blowing up condom balloons and tossing it around. Anyways, the band that came before Rage was wonderful in getting the crowd revved up for Rage, which had Miss London and I thinking along the lines of ‘holy crap, we’re not going to live’ LOL xP We just couldn’t really classify what genre they would be in, as if they’re in a class of their own! Only a few people left for the break and we had to wait almost an hour before Rage came on. It was really nerve-wrecking but oh my! It was exhilarating! I’ve never been to a concert like this before; I’ve been to small venues and one or two outdoor concerts but this was just insane! There were barely any girls around us and one of them next to Miss London stuck together with us. There was a beginning clip of a cartoon Simon Cowell (mocked) about how he lost, complaining about how he now had to introduce Rage. Then everything went CRAZY INSANE! Just too surreal really because the noise level was off the roof- if it had one xD
The first song they played was People of the Sun. Everything and everyone started to move then and I was right there with them jumping up and down and going left, right, backward and forwards. I didn’t care that guys were stepping all over my feet and pant legs, it was just amazing to be a part of that, even though a lot of them were sweating like pigs. I felt like falling every time we moved but there were guys behind me who pretty much pushed, shoved, and elbowed me to stand up. Pretty good deal as long as I didn’t fall. I lasted through four songs before I just couldn’t really take any more physical, unintentionally abuse. So I started to move out towards the edge and it felt like ages before I got out. One of the guys along the way actually helped me out by pushing me forward while another plowed right through to make a pathway o.O I was surprised to make it out in one, sore, and numb piece. Even more so that I got out just as Miss London did and joined me off to the side. We could still see the stage, fairly clearly anyways when they started Snakecharmer. It was funny to see people climbing up one of the trees to get a better view. The song after was Guerrilla Radio which had go crazy I think =D The one after that was Sleep in the Fire- a favorite of mine. Then there was a short tribute where the group handed off a charity check to John and Tracy Morgan (the guys who started the whole campaign). From what I heard around me, it was for around 400,000P- all of the proceeds that was made from the sales of ‘Killing in the Name’. It was, again, just amazingly, totally surreal. Then they talked about a few punk bands of the 80s that influenced them naming the Clash last before playing White Riot!! Afterward there was a short intermission before they came back on the stage to talk about how the war should stop and that America and Israel needed to be taken down a few notches before playing Bombtrack. Very fitting as the flotilla attack just happened a week ago. Just freaking amazing. This was MY Disneyland! They played Freedom and then another short intermission before they put up a small sound sample of the guy they beat on the #1 Christmas chart- I did not know that he actually sang a cover of Miley Cyrus’ ‘It’s the Climb’. Of all the songs he could have covered, it was that? o.O And with it being the last song of the night, everyone went all out as they sang Killing in the Name. It’s the only video clip I have but all the shaking and shouting and screaming- totally into the last song before the concert was over.
Leaving the concert had been quite a trip in and of itself, especially when hordes of people seemingly came at us. Miss London and I stood behind this large guy who pretty much blocked everything and let us stay there as we looked for Ryan. Eiee, and so much BO from really, really, REALLY horribly sweaty guys. Even though we hadn't seen him since we got to the concert, Miss London actually spotted her friend leaving in our direction(lucky for her!) and that his t-shirt was completely soaked through with sweat! One would assume that with exit different exits, anyone would be able to disperse easily. Of course the security units had to make it difficult for all of us and steer everyone toward the main entrance as an exit. It took forever and more up-close-and-personal sweaty bodies to get through before we were close to getting out. At that point, I could sort of start feeling the pain from getting pushed and shoved. It was just insane. Yeah how many times have I said that?! XD But the closer we got to the exit the more we could feel the night breezes and I could finally breathe! Following the flow of traffic to find the closest bus, which was a little past the Arsenal Stadium/Finsbury Park Station, was even harder since the streets were packed with fans. Not finding the station, we started to walk back the opposite direction to find another bus. Halfway through though, we crossed the street to another bus stop and found that we needed to go back to the other side to catch a different bus because the stop we wanted was closed -_-" Luckily there were two stops there with the 4, 153, and 259 that would take us close to where we needed to go. After parting ways, I had t get off near Angel and transfer. Due to the high traffic of people and few night buses, the wait was nearly an hour and a half. A few of the other girls that I had met at the bus stop were contemplating on just walking all the way home when, amazingly luckily, one of the bus we needed came by.
I couldn’t say how amazing, completely hardcore and just FREAKING AWESOME THIS NIGHT WAS!!! Hehe. Rage and their music has done so much for me all throughout high school until now, that i still couldn't believe I had seen them for free!!! Totally got that off my list of things to do in my life. Rage was everything and more than I could ever, ever expected. I wish I could shout it out at the top of my lungs! Scream and dance and shout for joy that I got to see them- I don’t care if it ended at 10.19 and had gotten lost after… or that I was crushed or it nearly rained or that people were spilling alcohol left and right. It was all part of the experience and it was something I would never ever forget in my life I would think. A great end of the first semester of my masters program and a great beginning to my summer. JUST AMAZING!!!
... and yes I do realize that this post is just full of grammatical and spelling errors but that's okay ^_^