We left early…

The Live 8 concert was… was… oh, how can I put it? “Amazing”? No, not quite. “Interesting?” Yeah, okay. “Better than I expected?” Sort of.

It was actually more stressful for me on the days BEFORE than the actual event. I was worried about [A] crowds (which I hate), and [B] traffic (which I hate even more), and [C] oppression (we’d heard about all the restrictions that were going to be in place), and [D] exploitation (I was expecting a multitude of vendors engaging in rampant Capitalism-on-the-backs-of-the-good-deed-for-the-poor).

[A] Crowds will be crowds. The entrance line moved surprisingly quickly. At one point, the line was moving faster than we normally stroll! Once we got into the gate, we found a place to put down our blanket and stake our claim on a few square feet of real estate where we had a relatively decent view of the stage. I didn’t move from that spot all day! We were not far from the foot traffic so I could scope out all the bikini-topped hotties going by, but no so close that we were actually stepped on as they went by. (Although there were a number of idiots who have no respect for themselves or anyone else around them…) Chocoholic was bothered by all the smoke, tobacco and other substances, but there was enough of a breeze blowing that we weren’t in a cloud of it all day.

[B] I looked into taking the bus instead of driving. It would have cost $45 each, and we would have been at the mercy of their schedule and the risk of full buses. As things turned out, I’m glad we decided to risk the drive after all. We picked the right time to drive north so there was almost no traffic, and what there was flowed smoothly all the way to Barrie. When we got to the venue, there was PLENTY of FREE parking to be had and we didn’t have to walk for miles.

[C] The signs said we could take “ONE bottle of water per person” and “WRAPPED food from home”. Chocoholic had the snacks (two bags of gorp, some fruit, and a bag of chips) in her backpack. I was carrying our FIVE water bottles in my backpack. The security guard checked her pack and she said “we read the web site” so he just waved me on through without even checking me. I’ll have to remember that the next time I want to smuggle in more serious contraband!

[D] This was pretty much as I expected. There were a number of Beer Tents set up away from the concert area, so the alchies could go soak up the suds. There were ice cream vendors throughout the grounds, selling $5 Haagen-Daz and $4 Drumsticks. There were food tents selling hot dogs and french fries and pizza. There were t-shirt tents set up selling Live-8 and Make Poverty History t-shirts. It would have been nice to get a souvenir shirt, but I refrained since they were selling for $40 each and there was no indication just were my $40 was going. And outside the venue, the streets were lined with hotdog carts and ice cream trucks and guys selling bottles of water. One guy looked like he had gone to Costco and bought a couple of cases for $3, then selling the bottles for $1 each!

But what about the music? you ask. Isn’t that why we went? Well, it was an interesting event. Each act performed only two or three songs, on stage for 10 or 15 minutes. There were a number of technical issues, especially with the feeds from other concerts. We had trouble hearing what was showing on the big TV screens, and then the idiots on stage would be doing sound checks which were louder than what we were supposed to be paying attention to. It was distracting and just plain rude.

Because Chocoholic‘s tummy started bothering her after all that time in the sun and smoke, we decided to leave a little early. DMC (formerly Run-DMC?) was on stage at the time, with Barenaked Ladies and Neil Young due up soon. We could hear BNL playing while we were driving out of the parking lot, and it was as loud or louder than it would have been where we had been sitting anyway.

As for Neil Young, I present the following conversation I had earlier in the week:

tammy2tall: Hey, Neil Young is signed on for Live 8, he’s supposed to close the show. Enjoy!!

xooz2: Wow! I guess I would be REALLY excited if I actually LIKED Neil? Oh, how UN-Canadian of me, isn’t it? I don’t skate, I don’t play hockey, and I don’t go ga-ga over Neil Young! (Well, we can’t all be mullet-wearing jocko-morons!)

tammy2tall: I can’t believe you don’t like Neil Young…..it’s time for deportation young man….but where to? Syria?! How about New Orleans? The summers aren’t that hot…..!

It would have been nice to see him, since it could very well be the last time he’ll play live!

All in all, I had a good time.

I’m having trouble with the interface for my digital camera, but as soon as I get it rectified, I’ll post some pix of the show!