It Ain't Hemingway

October 2nd 2009

Gah! Damn, no free wifi here. Bastards! So i have to play catchup when i can. So far shear awesomeness. Girls rock, TCV most amazing experience. What TALENT!! and today is festival day 1. COLD out. yikes! No worries got my poncho and scarf. Yes, cute…i know. Stay Tuned!!

October 3rd 2009

OMG!!!! The most amazing night EVER!!!! Kings of Leon have the coolest fans and funniest fans ever. Side splitting good times. Have we talked about anything else besides the boys and the g-friends, umm no. All with Love though. Except of course for Nate’s passion for shuffleboard, affectionately referred to as Grandpa Followill in our circle now.

Sara Watkins and John Paul Jones was our first stop. I missed Lo Anthem but thats ok. We then moved over to the Avett Bros. So awesome and cute then on to Walkmen b4 heading over to Dr. Dog. Walkmen were awesome, I think I saw my girl crush Johanna in the background while watching the big screen but I’m not sure will confirm later.

Quik stop at the Austin Kiddie Limits to use the diaper toilets and to get in a good wiggle to “poop in the Potty” type songs with all the “mohican” sporting future rock stars. Next stop Dr. Dog where we caught the last 4 songs but there best songs if u ask me. LOVE my  homeboys.

Liz and I then got some soda’s and sat on the lawn for a smoke and a good long chat and solidified our love for each other. Seriously love my Lizzy. What kindness, witt, energy and just all around awesomeness. May u all be as lucky as me to meet her.

Got a text from Stacey “at barrier Matt side get ur ass up here”. About 20 minutes b4 Thievery Corporation came on we barreled thru to the front to b with our gals. FYI if anyone asks Fels is my daughter and it was very crucial I got to the front to be with her. Worked like a charm.

Thievery corporation really entertaining.

OK It’s time to head off to the Festival again and see my felice bros. It’s pouring out but it’s all good. I have my geek rain gear. I’ll be back to fill u all in on the KOL experience!

CT

October 2, 2009

KOL concert was so cool to be that close. Took in all their little gestures and dance moves. They did I Want You and Matty totally brought that song home. Really cool, loved it.

Had to open up that can of whoop ass cause a tool arrived and was annoying everyone. Apparently it was his world and we were just living in it. So close to the chick in front of him she needed to take a pregnancy test after. Eventually he found some other girls to hit on farther back and left us alone.

Of course there was also the annoying chick who barreled her way thru in front of everyone but I can’t say anything about that cause 2 seconds later I did the same thing to be closer to my gals. Cold Desert came on and yeah, I’ll say it-makes me cry every time I hear it live.  Caleb just sounds so beautiful singing that song.

To all our other KOL pals; ACL girls totally represented at the concert. Not one arm was down the entire time. We were hopping up and down in unison from beginning to end we all had the aches and pains the next day to prove it. As off key as (or me specifically) we were; every song got our full on vocals and no doubt every word CORRECT!

As soon as Caleb said “it’s about to get better” I knew that meant Eddie was coming out. Buzz talk around me was that Pearl Jam were already in town. Had to happen! And how sweet it was! Eddie walked on stage and put his head on Calebs back, gave him a bum tap with his tambourine and a kiss on his back. They rocked the house and Eddie had a smile on his face the whole time. Best KOL experience ever.

Earlier in the evening we were lucky to have a Jessie spotting on side stage, we were able to get her attention with our overzealous hand waving and got air kisses and waves in return. Very sweet of her and definitely made the Jessie girl crushers (who no doubt would yes, like a shower with her..tweeters get that) over the moon! Sorry Doctor, only makes me love u more for having good taste in women.

We were glowing from the experience all the way home, spent our shuttle ride reviewing our pics and video and some awesome stuff from the ladies to come. We certainly all slept very well that night.

Next up Bon Iver review…holy shit!

Oct. 3 2009

Rainy ass day. Off to the Festival with Liz and Jodi. The rest of the crew is staying back and exploring the city for the day. I cannot miss Bon Iver. My second favorite band. Justin got me through a very depressing winter and all I want is to see him live. Totally missed Felice Bros. but I just saw them in Aug. so it’s cool. Next up Grizzly Bears. Really talented live-I love there new album. I’m sitting on my WTC poncho and blanky hovering under my umbrella, tweeting-texting-talking on the phone while I wait. FYI you can tweet while there are no bands on but phone goes dead during performance. weird.

Torrential downpours are killing me. Bon Iver is doing his own set up on stage. Dudes got some major hair issues. He should really make a stop at Followill House of Hair next time he’s in Nashville. Thinking the Pixie may look good on him.

Everyone’s pushing and we are in sardine mode ready for the band, a good 45min b4 he goes on. As horrible as this space invasion is, the best part is u get to meet and talk to the people around you. Met a cool girl from Saudi Arabia and her friend. Funny pair. Bon Iver draws a really young crowd. A LOT of college students.

So fucking hot standing here wrapped in plastic. I’ll admit the rain feels good tho. Finally I rip off the plastic crap and just accept the fact i’ll be drenched.

AMAZING! What a talent! He fuckin played a zillion instruments at the same time. Played some new stuff but when he played Re:Stacks all was well with the world. so so good. and such a great crowd.

6pm- Jodi and Liz were soaked to the bone and headed back early. I made my way back to the hotel and decided to just crash while the rest of the crew went on to dinner. My legs were killing me and the thought of getting back on that bus just wasn’t appealing to me. Alone time much needed then- pretty much asleep by 8pm.

Awesome day!

Oct 4, 09

Sunday, last day of festival. SO fucking HOT! Sarah Edser just tweeted me from the festival grounds saying it is a complete mudbath. Crap! This is Pearl Jam day! I originally was going to just wander around and then stand in the way back for Pearl Jam cause I really wanted to see Dan Auerbach but changed my mind cuz I really wanted to experience Pearl Jam with Fels. She’s such a huge fan and had so much history and memories good and not so good, I wanted to be there with her and for her.

First stop B52s. Really wanted to see Black Joe Lewis but that didn’t happen. After that headed over to Heartless Bastards. Erika Wennerstrom has the most awesome voice. Poor Jen had to hear me say that 1000 times, but hey man, it’s that good needs to be said 1000 times. Lost the ladies but ended up with a much better spot so all worked out.

From there we dragged our feet thru the mud and got some reinforcements in the form of sno cones and water. Met up with Liz and Fels and headed down to Livestrong Stage to get prime seating for Dead Weather, and PEARL JAM!!!!!!!!

More to come…

CT

Continued…

We wormed our way through the mud to get as close to the barrier as possible. We ended up in a pretty good spot just left of the stage but right up front. We had a good crowd around us. Lots of friendly people which was surprising since we had heard that Pearl Jam crowds were notoriously rough.

The Dead Weather were awesome. Allison Mosshart is gorgeous, talented, sexy disturbed and scary, thus making her the coolest chick in rock n roll. Jack White brought it on drums and vocals and how he stayed unsweaty is beyond me. Allison was drenched.  Excellent performance and Jack made it a point to thank the interpreter at the end of the show. They then all took a collective bow for the crowd.

By now the ground was like quicksand and it was really hard to find relief in the night’s heat not to mention everyone’s body heat. Every once and awhile a slight breeze would come off the water behind us but it was fleeting. A couple of times I thought about high-tailing it out of there cause I just couldn’t take it but I stood my ground. Not so much cause I was determined but more so because my feet were stuck like suction cups in the mud. Security was passing around water bottles which I sucked down and shared with about 20 other people around me. I think I must have sweated out any pending bug I could have caught cause I haven’t gotten sick yet.

Pearl Jam was late coming on, or maybe it just felt like they were late. I was just about to burst out crying when Eddie stepped on the stage and much like KOL 2 nights b4 all pain and anguish mysteriously disappeared and all was well with the world. Eddie put on an awesome performance and he truly is a spectacular entertainer. Such humbleness and graciousness. His audience interaction is really impressive. He ran along the barriers and high 5’d everyone and was covered in mud just as he promised he would be during his hello’s at the beginning of the concert.

The best part for this Kings of Leon fan was watching Eddie’s personal tambourine boy throw them out to him as Eddie tossed them to the crowd.

All-in-all the music and festival experience were amazing. I loved the music and that part will always be memorable to me. Will I do it again, maybe not a 3 day thing but I loved the atmosphere and the experience of meeting people while crammed together. Thought that was pretty interesting. Would I do some things differently, absolutely.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be doing a Kings of Leon Houston review on my main page. Check out pictures below.