secondhand smokeout
Went to the Download Festival on Saturday at an outdoor amphitheatre in Mountain View. The tickets said doors open at 1:30, show starts at 2:30. But we couldn’t find schedules anywhere – and we’re talking bands like Muse, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and BECK! We went at 2, and figured it would be over around 5 or 6, and we’d go see a movie after.
A few things we didn’t count on:
- Muse went on at 7:00, YYYs at 8:30, and Beck at 10:00.
- Temps in the low 50s. Us Texans are used to outdoor music festivals being scorchers. I was in a t-shirt and a hoodie and jeans, and I still ended up having to put on additional concert Ts and another hoodie on top of that. And I was still freezing. But there was no way I was missing Beck, so we stuck it out.
- Potsmoke fog. Whatever happened to holding it in, people? We were high just from breathing. Not that I’m complaining…
Karen O of the YYYs came out in a skimpy dragon costume. She rocked, and she really liked showing her tuchus to the crowd and doing practically gymnastic stretching movements. They would actually be way better to see in a real small venue. Her energy was amazing.
Beck had a live puppet show of himself and his band doing the show right on stage. It was fantastic. And funny. And then they had puppet footage they put together earlier for a clip they called “Snakes on a Bus” – you can guess what it’s about. The best part was after almost everybody’d been destroyed in the snake massacre, one puppet walks up to the cargo door under the bus and says:
I wonder what’s in here? Safety’s what.
I couldn’t stop laughing. “Safety’s what.” Now that’s funny. The only disappointment was that they didn’t play “Hell Yes.” Otherwise, a great show.
1 comment
I’m for TX too. I felt like I might had frozen during that break between Muse and the YYYs!
Glad I went tho.
And the puppets were great.
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