Post by nmf on Aug 6, 2011 18:04:24 GMT -5
Heyyy, it's been over a week but I still feel the urge to write a review of Darien Lake. It's mostly for my own reference (which you'll see later) but that's okay. I'll be amazed if anyone makes it through this whole thing.
Since the setlist had only minimal changes over the last 15 months, I didn't have a whole lot of faith for this summer. I didn't plan any big adventures and I was more excited about other bands I was going to be seeing this summer. But of course I had to do my local show, especially because it's partially GA and quite easy to get front row if you're smart about it.
When I had talked to a friend about what I wanted in the new setlist they had promised, I had jokingly said 'I want Soldier, Still Your Song and Fallin' Down. Three songs and we can all go home early'. I thought there would be a chance of Soldier, a tiny tiny chance for Still Your Song, and I did not even consider Fallin' Down an option in fucking 2011. The Cincinnati happened and my heart nearly exploded in my chest.
I've been a fan of this band for 13 years. I became a fan with Iris and then figured out that they played Name, which I also loved. I vaguely knew of Long Way Down. Beyond that, I knew nothing. I told this story last year in the countdown to SFTROU thread, but one weekend in August 1998, I flipped the radio over to 103.3 hoping to discover more GGD songs (I was a young teen with no money and streaming and song downloading on the internet didn't exist yet so that was my only option). It happened that they were playing pairs of songs all weekend to promote an upcoming GGD concert. The first pair of songs I heard was Fallin' Down and Only One. I loved Fallin' Down without even realizing it was a GGD song. Shortly after that, I recorded a handful of GGD songs off of the radio and those songs kind of hold a special place in my heart even after all of these years. Fallin' Down was my instant favorite and it's remained that way. By the time I was old enough to actually go to concerts on my own, Fallin' Down was not being played anymore and I never expected it to find its way back into live shows except as some kind of freak event (like New Year's Eve 2004). I don't see the point of screaming and crying for something that I don't think will ever happen even if certain other people have no problem doing it constantly but seeing this song performed live is something I have wanted for a very long time.
I was insanely excited about Fallin' Down being in the setlist. Given the band's history for NOT changing a tour setlist, there was no question in my mind that I would see it performed at my show. I didn't even care about the rest of the setlist even though I do think it's a pretty excellent setlist. I was stunned when Fallin' Down was taken out two shows before mine and very sad when it was gone the next night as well. I was very bitter about having it dangled in front of me only to have it taken away before I got it and I didn't go to the show with the best attitude.
Anyways, day of the show... I was late leaving my house to meet Erica. GGDs were still on the radio and I apparently decided I would discover some sort of time machine on the way to Darien Lake that would get me there on time. And then I did something stupid and ended up on the wrong road with no cell phone reception in the middle of nowhere and was even later. Luckily, the line was minimal and Erica didn't yell at me even after I gave her her ticket.
The wait until doors opened was pretty uneventful. We just sat and talked and made friends with the girls behind us. When the gates opened, we hauled it into the venue and claimed our spot front and center on the rail. The girls we met outside were right next to us and the people on Erica's side were fine and it was the just the nicest most peaceful GA experience you could ever ask for when it was so hot out (unlike our Our Lady Peace nightmare GA experience earlier in the month).
Parachute was awesome. I didn't realize I knew a couple of their songs from the radio and they did a great cover of the Wallflowers' One Headlight so I enjoyed them more than I had expected to. Usually I just want the first opener to hurry up and get off the stage but I definitely could have handled a couple more songs from them.
Michelle Branch was okay. I knew a large portion of her setlist but I'm not really a fan. She was adorable and incredibly sweet to some young fans right up front so I can't say anything bad about her. I just couldn't get very excited about her.
Next was the greatest act of the night, the vacuum. I wish its set had been longer but it did a really amazing job. It was all over the stage and it got huge cheers from the audience (no lie). And yes, I took video.
Then GGDs. The stage was too high to see the setlists that were taped down. When Damage taped one down, I could have sworn I briefly saw Fallin' Down on it but then I convinced myself I was just being insane because it wasn't going to come back. The light show at the start was cool and then the band came out with LHNIA, which I admittedly don't know very well yet or have an opinion on. Then Slide and Here is Gone were played.
I hadn't watched any videos from any of the previous shows because I was 'saving myself' for my own show so I didn't know which guitars were being used for which songs so it was a genuine surprise for me when they started playing Fallin' Down. I didn't record it, I didn't take pictures, I just enjoyed those three minutes in case they never happen again. I don't know why it left for two shows, I don't know why it came back, but I am incredibly happy that I got to see it performed live. (Thank you to everyone who was patient with my bitching about it going away and to everyone who posted about it or asked the band about it and to everyone who was so happy for me after it was played. It meant a lot to me.)
The rest of the show was great. I loved Still Your Song and I actually like All That You Are more live than the studio version (which doesn't seem to be a popular opinion). I had already seen the full band and acoustic versions of SFTROU but I was happy to see the acoustic version again. Getting THREE SSCW songs in one show was amazing (Cuz You're Gone is also my second favorite GGD song). We got the long Broadway instrumental part which I am a big fan of. I love that January Friend has come back recently because Smash and Tucked Away have been beaten to the ground as the standard Robby songs. We didn't get much talking at all but they seemed like they were having fun and not just going through the motions. I really think that changing up the setlist so much gives them more life because it's a challenge after such a long period of doing the same thing. Funniest part of the show was definitely Robby getting ready to sing and stepping forward and sticking his wad of gum to the amp/monitor thing in front of him. The audience audibly groaned and he seemed very pleased with himself. It stayed there the rest of the show...
After the show, Erica and I went out and watched Parachute perform a couple songs acoustically. Then we said our goodbyes and parted ways.
The show was great, I enjoyed it very much, now let's get to the DRAMA!!!! In the real world, I'm pretty shy and I aim to cause the least trouble possible. I've been to enough concerts to know how it all works. If I go to a concert, I want to go there, meet up with whoever I'm supposed to meet up with, see the show and go home. That did not happen this time.
First, there was an issue with people with media passes during the show. As I've mentioned before, the stage is very high. Right before Michelle Branch's set, about 10 people with media passes came into the security pit in front of the GA pit to take photos for the first 3 songs. They were all sort of panicking because the stage was so high (this is nothing new, I don't know why this was news to any of them) and frantically looking for ways to get higher. One discovered that there are little footholds on the barricades of the GA pit (since the barricades are essentially the same as riot barricades, they're made for police to, like, tower over and beat down rioters). Next thing, all of these photographers are standing on these footholds, raising them 2 feet above people in the GA pit and block everyone's view - constantly. I was 'lucky' enough to have one directly in front of me and for the first three Michelle Branch songs (30% of her set), I had some guy's ass in my face. I stared down the security guard in a 'Are you fucking me right now?' sort of way and he just shrugged. I decided that this behavior would NOT be happening to me during the GGDs' set. So right before GGDs came on, about 15 people with media passes came into the security pit. I had my elbows on the railing and kept my arms firmly pointed out over the foothold in front of me and had no intention of moving to allow someone to stand in my way. So this guy comes over to me and just goes, 'I'm about to make you really mad for a little while,' which is not a very good way to make friends. I replied that I didn't pay $80 to see his ass for three songs. He said some other douchey things and I just repeated the same thing back to him and didn't move. Then he tried to be nice and sweet talk me into moving and I was not going to have it. So the light show starts and these photographers all get up on these footholds so they all look like fucking groundhogs peering out of their holes across the whole front of the stage. The guy who was by mine very carefully stepped onto the step so he didn't touch me or block my view (it fucked the girl next to me pretty hard but I was the only one that was apparently going to 'peacefully protest' for my view). Once the guy left, three other people tried to use my foothold with varying degrees of success but none of them lasted very long (Special thanks to the guy who rubbed his crotch into my hands. Be grateful I didn't grab and twist). They blocked other people's views for all of the first three songs. I took photos of this happening during Michelle Branch's set and I sent a complaint email to the venue but I shockingly haven't received a response. Tomorrow I escalate because I am going to be a pain in the ass until I get a response because it was fucking ridiculous and I have never seen anything like it at Darien Lake even though I've been there multiple times.
Then, there is the parking lot. The Darien Lake parking lot is famous for being awful. It's mostly a big grass and dirt lot with only two exits. It can take over an hour to get out depending on where you are. And the Darien Lake parking lot id also famous for after show partying where lots of young people drink A LOT and then get in cars and try to drive. So I go to my car and don't even both to start the car to leave. My car is pretty old and the temperature spikes when it idles too long so I planned to just settle in for a while and watch the idiocy before I tried to leave. I notice that there is a group of people between the back of my car and the car behind me. One guy is leaning on my car but they're drunk and they're not really hurting anything so I don't say anything. But then the group disbanded and people got into three separate cars and I watch as the one guy walks up alongside the passenger side of my car and he tries to open my (locked) car door. I slam on my horn and he stumbles away. So I grab my phone and my pointiest key and get out to go yell at him because it is just not okay to try to be getting into the car of a lone female in the middle of an unlit parking lot. He apologized and made some remark about looking for chips and I told him if he touched my car again that I would call the police. I go back and sit in my car again and I'm kind of freaking out. Time passes and I'm getting ready to start my car to try to leave and suddenly the SUV behind me hits my car. My car wasn't even running so there was no reason why the car behind me should be running and in forward. Once again I get out of my car and type the license plate into my phone in case the driver somehow leaves. The two guys get out of the car and the passenger is the guy who had tried to get into my car earlier and so I assume the driver is also drunk. The driver just goes 'Oh, did I hit you?' to which I think I responded, 'What the fuck to you think? I'm calling the police' because I had really had enough at that point. Luckily, the guy who hit me was very agreeable and pleasant enough, though drunk, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I call the police and give them my info and they tell me they can't come to me because of the concert traffic and that I need to go, on foot, to the police trailer on the venue grounds. For those of you who don't know, Darien Lake is a good sized amusement park and concert venue and I was given very vague directions. I tell the other driver that I need to go find the police trailer and he tells me he wants to come with me. So I figure 'I am a single female. This guy is bigger than me, drunk and not terribly excited that I am calling the police on him. It is dark and I am not sure where I am going. YES, I THINK WE SHOULD DEFINITELY GO TOGETHER' because what more could possibly go wrong? Fortunately, he didn't try to kill me during our fucking mile walk, with multiple stops to ask for further directions, to the police trailer. Another fun fact is that the police trailer is past the back loading area of the venue so you're not supposed to actually be back there and get stopped every five feet and asked why you are in that area. We got passed around a little bit and then got an officer to take us back to our cars to look at the damage on a golf cart. We used a flashlight to see the damage (a small scratch on my bumper) and the officer gave me this guy's insurance info (It was his mom's car so I hope he went home and had to tell his mom). He told me I could leave and as I was getting all of my stuff together, he was telling the two drunk guys to stay in their car and not turn it on. I don't know if they ever brought over a breathalyzer for him or just made them sit for a while and sober up but at least I know I did my part to keep one of the 5000 drunk drivers off the road. I'm not going to deal with insurance and have my bumper fixed because it would cost me money but I hope the whole event scared these 21 year old idiots into not drinking and driving again.
So, the end purpose of this review is this:
Dear Nicole,
Next time you go to Darien Lake for a concert, splurge and get the $20 VIP parking you always say you're going to buy but never do. Your $20 saving does not make up for the sanity you lose.
Love, Nicole
But I got Fallin' Down and I would do it all again.
Since the setlist had only minimal changes over the last 15 months, I didn't have a whole lot of faith for this summer. I didn't plan any big adventures and I was more excited about other bands I was going to be seeing this summer. But of course I had to do my local show, especially because it's partially GA and quite easy to get front row if you're smart about it.
When I had talked to a friend about what I wanted in the new setlist they had promised, I had jokingly said 'I want Soldier, Still Your Song and Fallin' Down. Three songs and we can all go home early'. I thought there would be a chance of Soldier, a tiny tiny chance for Still Your Song, and I did not even consider Fallin' Down an option in fucking 2011. The Cincinnati happened and my heart nearly exploded in my chest.
I've been a fan of this band for 13 years. I became a fan with Iris and then figured out that they played Name, which I also loved. I vaguely knew of Long Way Down. Beyond that, I knew nothing. I told this story last year in the countdown to SFTROU thread, but one weekend in August 1998, I flipped the radio over to 103.3 hoping to discover more GGD songs (I was a young teen with no money and streaming and song downloading on the internet didn't exist yet so that was my only option). It happened that they were playing pairs of songs all weekend to promote an upcoming GGD concert. The first pair of songs I heard was Fallin' Down and Only One. I loved Fallin' Down without even realizing it was a GGD song. Shortly after that, I recorded a handful of GGD songs off of the radio and those songs kind of hold a special place in my heart even after all of these years. Fallin' Down was my instant favorite and it's remained that way. By the time I was old enough to actually go to concerts on my own, Fallin' Down was not being played anymore and I never expected it to find its way back into live shows except as some kind of freak event (like New Year's Eve 2004). I don't see the point of screaming and crying for something that I don't think will ever happen even if certain other people have no problem doing it constantly but seeing this song performed live is something I have wanted for a very long time.
I was insanely excited about Fallin' Down being in the setlist. Given the band's history for NOT changing a tour setlist, there was no question in my mind that I would see it performed at my show. I didn't even care about the rest of the setlist even though I do think it's a pretty excellent setlist. I was stunned when Fallin' Down was taken out two shows before mine and very sad when it was gone the next night as well. I was very bitter about having it dangled in front of me only to have it taken away before I got it and I didn't go to the show with the best attitude.
Anyways, day of the show... I was late leaving my house to meet Erica. GGDs were still on the radio and I apparently decided I would discover some sort of time machine on the way to Darien Lake that would get me there on time. And then I did something stupid and ended up on the wrong road with no cell phone reception in the middle of nowhere and was even later. Luckily, the line was minimal and Erica didn't yell at me even after I gave her her ticket.
The wait until doors opened was pretty uneventful. We just sat and talked and made friends with the girls behind us. When the gates opened, we hauled it into the venue and claimed our spot front and center on the rail. The girls we met outside were right next to us and the people on Erica's side were fine and it was the just the nicest most peaceful GA experience you could ever ask for when it was so hot out (unlike our Our Lady Peace nightmare GA experience earlier in the month).
Parachute was awesome. I didn't realize I knew a couple of their songs from the radio and they did a great cover of the Wallflowers' One Headlight so I enjoyed them more than I had expected to. Usually I just want the first opener to hurry up and get off the stage but I definitely could have handled a couple more songs from them.
Michelle Branch was okay. I knew a large portion of her setlist but I'm not really a fan. She was adorable and incredibly sweet to some young fans right up front so I can't say anything bad about her. I just couldn't get very excited about her.
Next was the greatest act of the night, the vacuum. I wish its set had been longer but it did a really amazing job. It was all over the stage and it got huge cheers from the audience (no lie). And yes, I took video.
Then GGDs. The stage was too high to see the setlists that were taped down. When Damage taped one down, I could have sworn I briefly saw Fallin' Down on it but then I convinced myself I was just being insane because it wasn't going to come back. The light show at the start was cool and then the band came out with LHNIA, which I admittedly don't know very well yet or have an opinion on. Then Slide and Here is Gone were played.
I hadn't watched any videos from any of the previous shows because I was 'saving myself' for my own show so I didn't know which guitars were being used for which songs so it was a genuine surprise for me when they started playing Fallin' Down. I didn't record it, I didn't take pictures, I just enjoyed those three minutes in case they never happen again. I don't know why it left for two shows, I don't know why it came back, but I am incredibly happy that I got to see it performed live. (Thank you to everyone who was patient with my bitching about it going away and to everyone who posted about it or asked the band about it and to everyone who was so happy for me after it was played. It meant a lot to me.)
The rest of the show was great. I loved Still Your Song and I actually like All That You Are more live than the studio version (which doesn't seem to be a popular opinion). I had already seen the full band and acoustic versions of SFTROU but I was happy to see the acoustic version again. Getting THREE SSCW songs in one show was amazing (Cuz You're Gone is also my second favorite GGD song). We got the long Broadway instrumental part which I am a big fan of. I love that January Friend has come back recently because Smash and Tucked Away have been beaten to the ground as the standard Robby songs. We didn't get much talking at all but they seemed like they were having fun and not just going through the motions. I really think that changing up the setlist so much gives them more life because it's a challenge after such a long period of doing the same thing. Funniest part of the show was definitely Robby getting ready to sing and stepping forward and sticking his wad of gum to the amp/monitor thing in front of him. The audience audibly groaned and he seemed very pleased with himself. It stayed there the rest of the show...
After the show, Erica and I went out and watched Parachute perform a couple songs acoustically. Then we said our goodbyes and parted ways.
The show was great, I enjoyed it very much, now let's get to the DRAMA!!!! In the real world, I'm pretty shy and I aim to cause the least trouble possible. I've been to enough concerts to know how it all works. If I go to a concert, I want to go there, meet up with whoever I'm supposed to meet up with, see the show and go home. That did not happen this time.
First, there was an issue with people with media passes during the show. As I've mentioned before, the stage is very high. Right before Michelle Branch's set, about 10 people with media passes came into the security pit in front of the GA pit to take photos for the first 3 songs. They were all sort of panicking because the stage was so high (this is nothing new, I don't know why this was news to any of them) and frantically looking for ways to get higher. One discovered that there are little footholds on the barricades of the GA pit (since the barricades are essentially the same as riot barricades, they're made for police to, like, tower over and beat down rioters). Next thing, all of these photographers are standing on these footholds, raising them 2 feet above people in the GA pit and block everyone's view - constantly. I was 'lucky' enough to have one directly in front of me and for the first three Michelle Branch songs (30% of her set), I had some guy's ass in my face. I stared down the security guard in a 'Are you fucking me right now?' sort of way and he just shrugged. I decided that this behavior would NOT be happening to me during the GGDs' set. So right before GGDs came on, about 15 people with media passes came into the security pit. I had my elbows on the railing and kept my arms firmly pointed out over the foothold in front of me and had no intention of moving to allow someone to stand in my way. So this guy comes over to me and just goes, 'I'm about to make you really mad for a little while,' which is not a very good way to make friends. I replied that I didn't pay $80 to see his ass for three songs. He said some other douchey things and I just repeated the same thing back to him and didn't move. Then he tried to be nice and sweet talk me into moving and I was not going to have it. So the light show starts and these photographers all get up on these footholds so they all look like fucking groundhogs peering out of their holes across the whole front of the stage. The guy who was by mine very carefully stepped onto the step so he didn't touch me or block my view (it fucked the girl next to me pretty hard but I was the only one that was apparently going to 'peacefully protest' for my view). Once the guy left, three other people tried to use my foothold with varying degrees of success but none of them lasted very long (Special thanks to the guy who rubbed his crotch into my hands. Be grateful I didn't grab and twist). They blocked other people's views for all of the first three songs. I took photos of this happening during Michelle Branch's set and I sent a complaint email to the venue but I shockingly haven't received a response. Tomorrow I escalate because I am going to be a pain in the ass until I get a response because it was fucking ridiculous and I have never seen anything like it at Darien Lake even though I've been there multiple times.
Then, there is the parking lot. The Darien Lake parking lot is famous for being awful. It's mostly a big grass and dirt lot with only two exits. It can take over an hour to get out depending on where you are. And the Darien Lake parking lot id also famous for after show partying where lots of young people drink A LOT and then get in cars and try to drive. So I go to my car and don't even both to start the car to leave. My car is pretty old and the temperature spikes when it idles too long so I planned to just settle in for a while and watch the idiocy before I tried to leave. I notice that there is a group of people between the back of my car and the car behind me. One guy is leaning on my car but they're drunk and they're not really hurting anything so I don't say anything. But then the group disbanded and people got into three separate cars and I watch as the one guy walks up alongside the passenger side of my car and he tries to open my (locked) car door. I slam on my horn and he stumbles away. So I grab my phone and my pointiest key and get out to go yell at him because it is just not okay to try to be getting into the car of a lone female in the middle of an unlit parking lot. He apologized and made some remark about looking for chips and I told him if he touched my car again that I would call the police. I go back and sit in my car again and I'm kind of freaking out. Time passes and I'm getting ready to start my car to try to leave and suddenly the SUV behind me hits my car. My car wasn't even running so there was no reason why the car behind me should be running and in forward. Once again I get out of my car and type the license plate into my phone in case the driver somehow leaves. The two guys get out of the car and the passenger is the guy who had tried to get into my car earlier and so I assume the driver is also drunk. The driver just goes 'Oh, did I hit you?' to which I think I responded, 'What the fuck to you think? I'm calling the police' because I had really had enough at that point. Luckily, the guy who hit me was very agreeable and pleasant enough, though drunk, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I call the police and give them my info and they tell me they can't come to me because of the concert traffic and that I need to go, on foot, to the police trailer on the venue grounds. For those of you who don't know, Darien Lake is a good sized amusement park and concert venue and I was given very vague directions. I tell the other driver that I need to go find the police trailer and he tells me he wants to come with me. So I figure 'I am a single female. This guy is bigger than me, drunk and not terribly excited that I am calling the police on him. It is dark and I am not sure where I am going. YES, I THINK WE SHOULD DEFINITELY GO TOGETHER' because what more could possibly go wrong? Fortunately, he didn't try to kill me during our fucking mile walk, with multiple stops to ask for further directions, to the police trailer. Another fun fact is that the police trailer is past the back loading area of the venue so you're not supposed to actually be back there and get stopped every five feet and asked why you are in that area. We got passed around a little bit and then got an officer to take us back to our cars to look at the damage on a golf cart. We used a flashlight to see the damage (a small scratch on my bumper) and the officer gave me this guy's insurance info (It was his mom's car so I hope he went home and had to tell his mom). He told me I could leave and as I was getting all of my stuff together, he was telling the two drunk guys to stay in their car and not turn it on. I don't know if they ever brought over a breathalyzer for him or just made them sit for a while and sober up but at least I know I did my part to keep one of the 5000 drunk drivers off the road. I'm not going to deal with insurance and have my bumper fixed because it would cost me money but I hope the whole event scared these 21 year old idiots into not drinking and driving again.
So, the end purpose of this review is this:
Dear Nicole,
Next time you go to Darien Lake for a concert, splurge and get the $20 VIP parking you always say you're going to buy but never do. Your $20 saving does not make up for the sanity you lose.
Love, Nicole
But I got Fallin' Down and I would do it all again.
(and it was really fun to read 
)
