Robbed Blind

So I was at the Virgin mega-concert last Saturday.  It was...well...a mixed bag.  Very mixed.

First, the positives.  The Who were amazing; their experience compared to the rest of the performers showed.  They should have taken the stage last, but probably didn't only because their fan base tends to be so much older.  Chili Peppers were also good.  Gnarls Barkley was entertaining, though the sound for their set was awful.  The killers were technically good; the singing was subpar, and they were visually boring, but the band on the whole sounded good.  Scissor Sisters were also entertaining.  Neither was as fun as the Flaming Lips; they had about 25 people on stage.  Thievery Corporation is a band worth checking out,, if you get the chance.  So are the Raconteurs, featuring Jack White from The White Stripes. 

And now, the negatives. 

First of all, I paid an extra $53 for a parking ticket.  That inlcuded express shipping, a service fee and the $25 charge.  When we arrived at 2:45 (the festival started at 12), we were told all lots were full.  Let's not get into how asinine it was for them not to have enough parking.  Instead, let's focus on the fact that the organizers DELIBERATELY OVERSOLD PARKING PASSES.  I am SO demanding my parking money back.  And this was just the beginning.

I lost my waterproof/breathable windbreaker ($100).  This might have been a blessing in disguise, because I was never a huge fan of that jacket.  But I *am* a huge fan of my clip-ons, which were in my jacket pocket.  Yes, that's the second pair I've lost in 3 months.  Another $77 down the crapper. 

How did I lose them?  Well, I left my stuff with some acquaintances of mine who said they weren't moving.  And for most of the show, they didn't...until The Who finished playing.  By the time I made my way back to them, they were gone.  And so was my stuff.  When I caught up to them, they said they had passed my bag on to someone in my original group...who they couldn't name.  Gee, that's comforting.  It ended up being true, but somehow my jacket got lost in the shuffle.  Had I known they would leave after The Who finished, I would have simply taken my stuff with me.  Oh well.  But again, that wasn't the worst.

The worst was how the show was set up.  There were two stages and a DJ tent.  Each band played for about 60 minutes...but each band began 30 minutes after instead of spreading out the biggest-name bands over the course of several hours, they competed with each other.  If you wanted to watch The Flaming Lips and the Chili Peppers, forget it.  both closed the show on different stages.  Killers and Brazilian Girls?  Sorry.  The Who and Scissor Sisters?  Well, you could start to watch The Who...and then leave 30 minutes into their 90-minute set to catch Scissor sisters, who played for an hour.  Gnarls Barkley and Thievery Corporation?  Forget it.  By the time you made it over to a second stage, it was so much trouble to go back and forth that you'd inevitably give up on the band you left.  I've been to big concerts with multiple stages before, and never had I seen a lineup so stupidly arranged in my life.

And on top of all that, the main stage with all the bigger acts had a huge VIP section front and center.  This meant that you could not get in there without having paid $250 for your ticket.  Given how hard it was to see or to go back and forth due to the lack of an amphitheatre design, this was a huge downer.

By the end, my friend said, "I'm getting too old for this...".  I would have to agree.  I think I'm done with the festivals.  Lollapalooza was a whle lot more fun than this, and better-organized.  So was Live 105's BFD in Cali.  Today, I have to bitch at Ticketmaster to get my parking money back.

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