DAY 2
Setlist
1.
Wild
Nothing
2.
Icona
Pop
3.
Japandroids
4.
Fucked
Up
5.
Alt
J
6.
Cut
Copy
7.
Kings
of Leon
8.
Guns
‘n’ Roses
The start of day two was
much better than that of day one. Mostly because it wasn’t raining and it was
80 degrees and sunny outside. As we drove back the parking lot we had used the
night before you could still see dozens of cars still stuck in the mud. They
would still be there thru Sunday as I saw tow trucks still pulling them out of
the mud days later. Felt real bad for those people who paid $75 to park their
cars and they got stuck. I wonder how they all got home?
This time the Chef made
sure to come prepared with boots after her sneaker debacle of the day before. I
too kept my boots on and thank God I did. If possible the grounds were even
worse the day after. Sure there was no rain but now there was thick, sticky,
smelly mud everywhere.
 |
| The smelly part of hell. |
 |
| Muddy boots day 2 check. |
The whole venue smelled like cow manure, or to put it
bluntly, shit. Any green grass was now covered in a thick layer of mud that
overtook the entire festival grounds. I would say within 30 seconds of stepping
into the venue my boots were trashed. Which was probably a good thing since
once I realized they weren’t going to make it I just stopped caring about them.
Needless to say the work the grounds crew did to prepare the grounds was they
threw hay onto some of the mud. Yes that’s right, they put HAY as a way to make
the mud be less of an issue.
 |
| The irony of that sign in the background was lost on no one in the mud for three days. |
The Chef and I made it a
point to check out as many of the food vendors as possible since many we had
heard of and this was a great, albeit expensive opportunity to try many
different foods. Probably the one I liked the most is Arancini Bros which we
stopped at on Saturday. They specialize in an Italian street food which is a
rice ball coated in bread crumbs and deep fried. The one I got had jalapeño and
corn in it which had a nice hint of spice and was mouth wateringly good. It was
definitely the one food I enjoyed the most out of all I tried. Though I give
big thumbs up to Crif Dogs bacon wrapped hot dog. Bacon on a hotdog is freaking
smart.
The musical selection was
decidedly better today as people seem to be in much better spirits knowing they
would not have to walk around soaking wet the entire day.The funniest band
would have to had been Japandroids who do a Ramones style rock in that they
play 50 songs in an hour. They just fire through song after song and only
stopped long enough to pretend to be Guns ‘n’ Roses who headlined that night.
He had us dying when he said, “This is our new single off of Appetite for
Destruction”. But his funniest line was when he said, “We are Guns ‘n’ Roses,
hope you enjoyed the show, enjoy Japandroids who headline later tonight”. The
dude was funny as hell. One of my favorite acts of the weekend was a group
called Cut Copy. They had people up and dancing on the main stage with their
very fun, half rock, half electric style of music. And people just wanted to
jump up and down and let loose and this band let them.
 |
| Cut Copy rocked this massive crowd. |
Kings of Leon actually
agreed to play their set today after getting rained out the night before. Part
of it was they were planning to announce a new album at this show since it was
their first live performance in two years. So I was pretty excited to get to
see them since I always heard they were awesome. But as soon as they started
playing it felt like they had zero energy. The crowd was hyped to see them and
went crazy but whether it be rust from having not played or just not wanting to
be an opener instead of a headliner they came off as very bland. Honestly it
was really boring to watch them go through the motions on stage. Even when they
played their famous songs, “Use Somebody” and “Sex on Fire” it was the crowd
that seemed to enjoy it more than they did. If not seeing Beach House was the
most disappointing moment for me then watching Kings of Leon was the worst thing
I watched all weekend. They were a big dud live.
 |
| My boredom's on fire... |
Now I won’t lie I was one
of those people who when I heard Guns ‘n’ Roses was one of the headliners I
jokingly said I wanted a refund. Cause it’s not really Guns ‘n’ Roses. It’s Axl
Rose and a bunch of stand-ins for the original Guns ‘n’ Roses. And while Axl
was always the main draw cause of his unique voice and charisma, not having the
other original members makes it feel like an Axl Rose cover band doing G’n’R
songs.
Boy was I wrong. From the
second they came out and started blasting through their collection of hits I
was bobbing my head, dancing around. There was Axl on stage spinning around,
slithering like a snake just like he did almost 30 years ago. The man was
exactly the same as he was and he brought the house down as he blasted through
hit after hit. Sure his voice was a little pitchy but I can accept that because
he is 51 years old. I hope I’m still able to walk at 51 let alone run around
stage like he was. My personal highlight was “November Rain” which to me is
probably the ultimate rock ballad. There is something about Axl on the piano
that is just mesmerizing to watch. And you cannot beat hearing that intro with
the piano and the violins playing. It really brought me back to when I was a
kid and heard that song for the first time. I give it to him. Axl still has IT.
To the point if G’n’R are playing in the tri-state area I want to see them
again. They were that good.
 |
| This man still has it. Go see G'N'R if you have a chance. You will feel 16 again. |
So at the end of day two
the Chef and I were much happier. Sure we had mud caked all over our boots and
we were tired from spending 10 hours in the sun but it was a fun day. And the
best part was that day three was still to come…
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