The Sunday before returning
Battered, bruised, and extremely tired, I need a way to stay awake long enough to sleep long enough to do my job tomorrow night. Thus, I write this entry. It's not like I don't have a fair bit to relate anyway.
This past week, those waitresses I described earlier came in, right as the 'radio' began playing the song "Girl Watcher". Irony is delicious, and, one would guess, a good source of iron, something a once-and-future vegan like myself needs to make sure he gets enough of.
It's no spot on sleep, though. Sleep is delicious, much like lentils. Mmm....but soon enough, soon enough.
I've never been the kind of person that was content with telling myself "soon enough". I'm all about the instant gratification, and I don't do means to an end. The end very rarely justifies the means. This results in my doing almost everything for its own sake, which makes my life very enjoyable, but, I fear, makes me rather shallow. I was thinking of making a shirt that says "No Diving: I am extremely shallow". Being shallow leads to being frank, which is the good side of blunt, and blunt, which is the bad side of frank. (Sometimes I'd rather just be earnest, because we all know The Importance of Being Ernest. I mean, if you're not earnest, then you're Jack. OK, I'll stop now.)
The toes on both feet are in a bad way. Both are purple. Interestingly enough, neither injury came from the pits, mosh and otherwise, I've been in and out of for the past few days. One is from when my shoe exploded on the way to church, the other I just jammed really hard by stubbing it. Ouch.
Let's do the LifeLight rundown by the bands I wanted to see, in order:
Passing Thru - played Thursday. Missed 'em, 'cause I thought things started Friday.
The Switch - Missed, becasue Drew told me nothing was on Friday before six. They were at four-thirty.
Red Cloud - Missed, same reason; he was at five-thirty.
Ace Troubleshooter - Played well, but either they didn't work the crowd properly, or the crowd just sucked. They did play "Tonight", but if they played "Amanda", I missed it.
Nodes of RanVier - Always a good show. The crowd was strong on this one, even if the circle pits were abit loose. I came to the conclusion that I really am out of shape, as I can no longer dance the night away. As Jon Parker was giving his testimony at the end, they turned his mike off, because they didn't like what he was saying,but he shouted it out anyway. He had started by saying that they didn't need to give testimony, which is why they cut his mike, but then went on to say that their message was in their music, in their lives, and there was nothing they could say that would mean more than the music they poured their hearts into, that this was their prayer,this was their Good Word, and anything else from them would be cheap. That's not quite how he put it, but I believe that was the gist. It was the most moving, heartfelt speech I heard all weekend.
The Way - This came as a surprise; I hadn't noticed them on the roster until someone pointed it out. I saw them last when they won the Battle of the Bands at GodStock two years ago, and had been unable to track them down since. They were a little louder, a little faster, a little more pop, and a lot less acoustic than before, but still very quality. I bought the album, of course; I had a demo from before, but it didn't have certain songs on it.
Thousand Foot Krutch - Similar to last time they played, but the pit (not a mosh pit, mind you) was waay tighter because of the mini-halfpipe in front of the stage. I had trouble keeping my pants up.
Red Cloud - Second surprise act. They threw an 'all-hip-hop after party' at us, and we gobbled it up. The freestyle was awe-inspiring, as always, and his DJ, DJ Wise, was somethin else. He was doing freestyle spins and scratches that blew my mind. Ended early, though, due to threatening thunderstorm.
Side Walk Slam - Better than last year. They actually asked for requests, but their set was short because rain delays had chewed up the schedule. Between the minipipe and and the mud from the storm, a proper mosh/circle pit was unable to form, to everyone's disappointment. Afterwards, when I went over to the merch table the guy recognised me, which threw me off after the way they had all acted like jerks the previous year. They seemed to have come back around, though, so I think I'll buy their new CD. I couldn't buy it there, because they were at the end of a tour and had sold out of a lot of stuff. When asked, he said that 'Eve' was permanently retired.
Absence of Malice - Originally billed for just after / during the SWS set, they got rained out and moved indoors for a later time. When they finally did play, they rocked it. That Andrew Ling is a pretty cool kid, and I'm not just saying that because he gave me free crazy bread that one time. They actually had a good-sized crowd, especially considering that their time had been moved twice and they ended up playing at the same time as Blindside and Newsboys. Bought the demo, got it signed.
Blindside - Caught the last two songs, plus the three-song encore. Fortunately, "King in the Closet" was one of the ones I made it for, and the last song of the encore, "About a Burning Fire", is one I'm going to have to get my hands on. Downside: the whole field was mud, and I got splattered by people jumping around. A small price to pay.
And then I came home and wrote this. Goodnight.
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