They all thought I was crazy. But there I was, standing in the pouring rain with a bottle of mudslide in one hand and my camera in the other, patiently waiting by the band's bus for over 2 hours. But I briefly saw Dirk's face through the window and I watched Jose hop on the bus, so if they (and any other members on the bus) wanted to get from the bus to the venue, they were going to have to get through me! Eventually Jose and Dirk appeared and came to meet the 9 poor souls out there braving the storm to meet them, and they were super nice. (pictures will be up in the gallery as soon as I develop them)

Now it was time to hit the pit.

We arrived on the floor just a few minutes before Hoobastank started playing, and I think I may very well have been the first unfortunate person to fall down. Well, me and about 3 other people. This big sweaty fat guy with bitch-tits in front of me came stampeding backward and a few of us went down (imagine the domino effect). No one was hurt, but people thought I was because I didn't get up right away... My shoe had come off! I had one leg out behind me holding onto my precious shoe with just a single toe, determined not to spend the evening barefoot and my shoe being thrown at the band. So while my friend was trying to pull me up and some girl was screaming to get up, and everyone clearing away from me thinking I was injured, I finally managed to grab my shoe and secure my foot back inside it. Whew! That was our cue to go smoke a bowl.

So during intermission, we farted around for a while and found some FREE earplugs at the first aid station. The t-shirt people were trying to charge $2 per pair! I knew better, so I went and got some free ones and made sure to wave them in the face of the little ogre who tried to convince me that earplugs were never free. We headed toward the back of the floor when Incubus came out, and my friend wanted to spend the evening there as he was too drunk and high to deal with the insanity and chaos of the front. But I couldn't do it... so we went our separate ways and I claimed a few inches of territory right in front of Mike. I had a blast! There were some injuries nearby though.... 2 women right next to me got in a fist fight and I was unfortunate enough to have caught a stray punch in the face. Luckily, this chick was weak and it didn't hurt... otherwise I'd have joined in that fight and beat some ass! But these two were so riled up that it took 5 big guys on each of the women to tear them apart. Then, only moments later, I watched a girl get kicked above the eye by a crowd surfer... she looked pretty hurt, but toughed it out. Then some guy passed me, half limping and half being carried by a friend, and soon after, 3 people dragged an unconsious woman past me! Craziness! (I even saw some guy leaving the show on crutches... that's gotta suck)

But I managed to survive the show unscathed and one more Incubus memory richer. They played INCREDIBLE last night. The sound was mixed much better than the SJ show and no band members or instruments were injured. I got right up in front and took a roll of photos, but have no idea how they will come out... I'll see them at 5 this afternoon though! The setlist was basically the same as the previous shows on this tour, but I did have to laugh hysterically when they did a full rendition of Madonna's 'Like A Virgin'. (In SJ they started to do it and then were like "just kidding" and stopped) It was indeed a strange spectacle to see the thousands of fans out there at an INCUBUS concert singing along to old-school Madonna. Very weird indeed. But the band appeared to be having a good time, as they always seem to in San Francisco. (let's hear it for SF! The coolest people in the country!) And the energy of the whole place collectively was amazing, definite positive vibes all around! *sigh* I'm sad to see that the Northern California leg of the tour is over, but who knows, they may just go right back on tour when they're finished with this one! (that's what they did after the release of Make Yourself - toured for about 2 years straight before heading back into the studio!) So who knows.....

See you on the next tour...

Ah, I was all ready to go. I found free parking right by the arena, had my bottle of water with a sport cap, my ticket in hand, and of course, Spinny Chuck in my purse. I ventured through the door, where they took my WATER away from me! I asked if I could at least bring the empty bottle to fill at a drinking fountain instead of braving the germs on those things, but they said no and admitted it was because the venue wants you to pay a ridiculous amount for THEIR water. Bastards. So I chugged as much as my tummy would hold and headed for the floor. There were already hundreds of people sitting out there, so I worked my way toward the front until I found a space just big enough to plunk down my not-so-small booty. Shortly after, the color of the lights on the Hoobastank banner changed, and everyone stood up and rushed to the front. No, the show was not starting. It was just idiotic sheep mentality.

Finally at 7:30 as scheduled, Hoobastank took to the stage and played a 30 minute set. I'd never heard these guys before, but I must say I totally dug their music. Things in the pit were still fairly calm. After they were done, and after about a half hour of waiting around and being pressed against people from all angles, Incubus appeared. The crowd went INSANE. I was so crushed that I could not take a full breath of air and I was in imminent danger of losing my footing and falling down as the crowd surged in every direction. Ah, it was perfect. After a couple songs, things calmed down a bit, well at least I could breathe anyway, and a nice pit opened up just to my right. I love Incubus pits. Yeah, we're all running into each other and going crazy, but there's still some degree of courtesy in there. Spinny Chuck was up in full effect, and helped me locate my friends from enjoychuck.com, Gerlando and Andrea pretty quickly. Eventually I ended up about 20 people from the front and on the edge of the pit where I could finally admire the stage set-up. (Read Gerlando's review at enjoychuck.com for description) And of course, Incubus sounded amazing. The only downside I experienced was the intense heat down in the front, and twice I had to make my way out of there to get some air. I swear I could feel a 10 degree temperature change just when I got to the side of the pit. (and if only stupid security didn't take my water away, I wouldn't have had to get out of there at all.)

As far as the odd events that occured that evening, I did not see the moment where something hit Dirk's instument (I think I was outside buying a t-shirt), nor did I see the crowd surfer hit the ground (I say good - that's what they get!) but I did see a couple of interesting things out there. First of all, during "Echo" there was a girl on someone's shoulders near me who was singing along, reaching out to Brandon, and CRYING. Yes, crying. Like the women you see footage of weeping at a Beatles concert back in the 60's. Can you say FUCKING RETARD? Never the less, I got a pretty good laugh out of it. But the next thing really takes the cake: In the middle of the mosh pit, an Asian guy with spikey hair ran out into the middle of the craziness and started BREAKDANCING. Breakdancing like nobody's business in the middle of the chaotic pit! That guy gets the Evil Carrot Madd Props Award for that one!!! Definitely an awesome thing to have witnessed. All in all, it was an amazing show, a good crowd, lots of energy, and tons of fun! (Even if I am a little sore today!) See you tomorrow in SF!