Summer Music Festivals S2E19

On today’s show, as summer is set to start, we’re taking a look at summer music, and more specifically, the institution that is ‘The Summer Music Festival.’ From Woodstock to Coachella, the Summer Music Festival has been a glorious celebration of song, of youth culture, of excess, of hooliganism, and of wildness itself. There’s always a little danger lurking around the corner with summer music festivals, be it rain and electrocution at Woodstock Original-Recipe; coked-up Hell’s Angels at Altamont; mud clod-slinging frat boys at Lollapalooza; or disaffected and pissed-off young white men just looking to ‘break something’ at Woodstock ‘99. In recent years, though, summer festivals have taken on a wholly different feel, for better or, as Justin would have you believe, much, much worse. So with all that in mind, we’ll dive into a little of our personal Summer Music Festival histories, and then we’ll take up the then-vs-now debate and decide once and for all what the essential Summer Music Festival experience is, or at least, should be.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It's the pop culture show with Cult Classic Swagger. This is Inglorious Brothers. I'm Matt Harper, and together with my brother Justin, we dive into the deep end of the Zeitgeist each week to bring you cool talk and hot takes. No genre is too specific, no topic too broad, and no rabbit hole too deep as we open our minds and enjoy each other's company. Sound good? Then let's ride. Hello and welcome to Inglorious Brothers. I'm Matt, and I'm here with my brother Justin. And today, as the summer is set to start, we're taking a look at summer music and more specifically the institution that is the summer music festival. From Woodstock to Coachella, the Summer Music Festival has been a glorious celebration of song, of youth culture, of excess, of hooliganism, and of wildness itself. There's always a little danger lurking around the corner with summer music festivals, be it rain and electrocution at Woodstock Original Recipe, uh coked up Hell's Angels at Altamont, mud clod slinging frat boys at Lollapalooza, or disaffected and pissed-off young white men just looking to break something at Woodstock 99. In recent years, though, summer festivals have taken on a wholly different feel, for better or, as my brother will have you believe, much, much worse. So, with all that in mind, we'll dive into a little of our personal summer musical music festival histories, and then we'll take up the then versus now debate and decide once and for all what the essential summer music festival experience is or at least should be. Stay with us. Alright, well, welcome to Inglorious Brothers, everyone. I'm Matt here with Justin, and uh I am super excited to talk about this. Now, I gotta come clean. I literally did basically zero preparation for this show at all. Uh, I remain as time crunch as I've been for the past couple of weeks here, and I'm really glad we chose this topic because this is stuff that I've been talking about for decades and decades. It's very close to my heart, so I can go off the dome and still feel like I can, you know, put in a solid, you know, performance here. Um, so I will I will come clean on that regard. Uh, but as I said, I'm super stoked to talk about it because I have been to many, many a summer music festival going all the way back. I'd say my first one would have to be the summer after my senior year of high school. I went to the Monsters of Rock at RFK Stadium. Uh and I got some, I got I got at least one amazing story from that one. But what was your what was your first one?

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Was it also at RFK Stadium? It was also at RFK Stadium. I thought it might be. My my I mean my whole concert stuff begins and it you know begins with you. You know what I mean? Uh the first concert, real world concert I ever went to was Van Halen with you guys at you and Andy at Merriweather Post Pavilion, where I where I drank a warm papst blue ribbon and thought it was the most disgusting thing that I have ever had.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Wait, was that me? And it wasn't Steve Romer or possibly John.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Well, I think that they they were there as well, but I'm pretty sure that Andy was there as well. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

So that one up.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

I want to look that one up. Yeah, it was 1993, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

No, that but that was not a festival. You're both. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

My very my very first festival would have been the 1995 HF Festival at RFK. I would say for on June 3rd of 1995.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Um I would say, wow, I would say for purposes of this conversation, a music festival would be like a a f a an outdoor concert in the summertime that uh has multiple bands. And while it might be a headliner, it's not like you're going to the Limp Biscuit concert. You're going to the festival that's named This Thing. And here are the many bands. And I feel like, you know, like when I went to The Monsters of Rock, way, way back when that would have been summer of 1988. There were five bands. That's it. There were five bands. Started off with Kingdom Come. Next up, Metallica, where where uh three-quarters of the stadium full of people materialized out of thin air, like the moment Metallica began. I never seen anything like it. Uh third up that day was um Docken, I believe. Uh followed by The Scorpions, and lastly Van Halen. This was on the OU812 tour with Sammy Hagar uh as the lead singer. Um I'll quickly tell you what my my my story from this concert was. So I played in a band, sort of, uh, when I was in college. Um the guitarist was definitely the most talented member of the band. I played drums, if that will tell you anything. Uh the guitarist was a kid named Mike Watson, and um he was really good. And he was like a he was like a devotee of Eddie Van Halen, and he loved like trying to learn Eddie Van Halen stuff, much like our brother. Uh I would say this kid was almost as good as our brother at the time. Um probably not as good, uh, but pretty damn talented, and he could he could rip the Eddie Van Halen type solos and stuff like that. Um we had a little band, and I think the biggest thing we ever played was a pep rally at our school one time. And after that, we sort of went our separate ways because this kid lived in DC where my our my school was, and I was from the burbs, and we graduated, and you know, there was no cell phones and social media back then. I don't even think there was email. So uh, you know, we were bound to lose touch and lose touch we did. However, at the Van Halen concert at the end of the uh uh Monsters of the Rock in 1988, as the sun was starting to go down, I am about 50 feet back from the stage in the mass of humanity, the in the pre-what I would call the pre-Mosh Pit era, um, where it was just a lot of people packed in tightly right in front of the stage. And I turned to my left, and who is standing there but Mike Watson? I shit you not. And as if you think that's the most amazing part of the story, hold my beer. This gets much better. Mike and I are thrilled to see each other. Suddenly we're like, oh my god, meet we're reunited and we're at a rock concert, and it's Van Halen, and we're about to watch it together. This just couldn't get any better. So there we are watching the show. And as I said, we're like maximum 50 feet from the stage, probably a little bit closer. Eddie Van Halen, guitarist for Van Halen, you know, one of the most famous rock gods of all time, uh, famous for his finger tapping style when he does his solos, which Mike Watson could emulate. Uh Eddie would often be playing with his pick, and then when he gets to the finger tapping part of the song, he would just like flick, flick the guitar pick and start with his finger tapping, and if you looked at his mic stand, he had a hundred guitar picks all taped up to his mic stand. Uh I swear to you, this is 100% true. This happened. Eddie Van Halen is playing with the pick, he goes to go into the finger tapping part of the solo, he flicks his pick, it arcs out into the crowd in a high looping arc as time slows down for both Mike and I, as we are watching this pick, and it flies through the air, and it is coming towards us and towards us and towards us, and it hits Mike Watson in the head, his sweat-covered head, and it sticks to his head. And he puts his hand over it, and we both realize that this may have actually just happened, and I'm like, down, and we both dive to the ground amongst all the legs at RFK Stadium on the field, and he's got his hand over his head, and he slowly scrapes it, and he puts it down, and he opens, and we see the Van Halen logo because famously Eddie Van Halen's picks on one side had a Van Halen, the classic Van Halen flying V logo, and on the other side it had a lion. I think it was a lion on the other side, and it's Eddie Van Halen's guitar pick, and it just stuck to Mike Watson's head. That's insane. Couldn't ever repeat it in a billion years. Absolutely incredible. This guy was like a huge fan. I mean, it's gotta be like among the two or three greatest things that's ever happened to this guy in his life. And I was there to witness it, it was wild. So that was my that's my good story for my first festival. Um what were your remembrances of your first HF Festival that I was apparently at?

SPEAKER_00 9:15

You pushing me almost on stage when PJ Harvey was on. I mean, like literally almost over the first rail. Like we we had made our way all the way to the front during PJ Harvey. Really? And yeah, and and like we you were like almost trying to like get me over the the the rail. That that that is definitely the the the thing that sticks out in in my head the most from that day. Um do you remember do you remember the lineup at all?

SPEAKER_02 9:55

No, I'm I'm in fact I'm I'm on set list right now trying to like figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Yeah, you don't even need to, dude. If you get out of my notes, I put in all the set lists for the HF Festivals that I that I attended. So the headliners were the Ramones. Alright. Okay, Tony Bennett was there, Soul Asylum, PJ Harvey, Primus, remember Primus very vividly, Courtney Love, Solo, No Hole, just Courtney Love, General Public, Bush, Mike Watt, Better Than Ezra, Juliana Hatfield, who I definitely remember as well, and Shudder to Think. And this was the first time that I saw Better Than Ezra, and I think I ended up seeing them three or four times in the 90s. Um, and then you had on the outer stage, Suddenly Tammy, Mother May I, Candy Machine, Strip Tripping Daisy, uh, Scarce, Archers of Loaf, and Hum. Archers of Loaf uh is a DC, local DC band, if anybody remembers. Yeah, Archers of Loaf. All right, stop, stop there. Let's talk about the 95 one.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

So I'm thinking that I must have I must have gone to one before this. This must have been my second one because I distinctly recall going to one that had um that band James. Remember James and It's Good Living With You.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

No, that's better than Nezara. James James's song was Laid. It's that from it was it like the the song from American Pie.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Yeah, but the Lade. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Lade is the name of the song.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Yeah, James Laid. But um, so I was at that. So um, and God, I I I have I have a somewhat of a memory of seeing PJ Harvey in a festival setting like that, so that makes sense. Seeing that the Bush was there, that means that I've seen Bush play the HF Festival twice in my life. Because the most recent summer music festival that I went to was like two summers ago at National Stadium where we went to the the resurgence of the of the HF Festival and Bush played.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

Um I then I then attended four uh I attended five consecutive HF Festivals.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

I remember it.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

I remember it.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

That's why you think you're so pretty.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah, yes, yes, yes. That's laid by Jane. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:26

The same as on time. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Obsessed that I'm becoming a ball.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Okay, so I don't think I went the next year. Get into the next year. So you went to this the next year as well?

SPEAKER_00 12:44

I went to the next four. So the next year was pretty ridiculous. So now mind you, this is pre-internet ticket sales. So it left such an impression on me in 1995, all right, that in 1996 I came to your house. I spent the night, all right, and then I went to the hex, all right, down at Mazza Gallery, all right, and got in line in the middle of the night, and you know, I I don't think mom realized I was doing this. I think it was like like a covert thing because I was I got tickets for me and my friends for the next few years that way. But literally, you know, got in line, camped out, and got, you know, had to run through the heck.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

You're like what 15, 16 at this point?

SPEAKER_00 13:39

90 summer of 96. I started high school in 95. That would have been like a going into my sophomore year. No, going into my so you're like you're like 15. Yeah, all right. Pre-driving. Pre-driving for sure.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

So pretty just inside with the exception of Goldfinger, who I have no idea who that is. I mean, every single other person on this bill, uh, band on this bill is just ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Yeah, dude. So Foo Fighters, Cracker, uh, and this is like this is like first album Foo Fighters.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Um, Cracker, Afghan Whigs, uh, President of the United States of America, Garbage, Jewel, who uh literally walked off stage because somebody hit her with a frisbee, ended her set right there, and that was it. Um Jin Blossom, Everclear, uh, who was amazing. I remember very vividly remember Everclear and No Doubt, because this is like no doubt peak tragic kingdom, like you know, Gwen Stefani, I'm just a girl, spiderwebs, like, and they were early, and they were early in the day. I remember it being really, really, really hot. Um, and then you had Lush and then Jawbox, and then on the outer stage you had Gravity Kills, you had Fred Schneider from the B-52s, girls, by the way, is like a huge DC band.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Like I've seen them, seen them multiple times like a 9 30 club in like a tiny venue.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Um, you had Girls Against Boys, Baltimore's own Jimmy's Chicken Shack, who makes makes multiple re reappearances in these lists.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

There's a song that comes on where I work on the crazy ass playlist that we have at where I work by Jimmy's Chicken Shack, that big hit song they had. That's like I heard that one day and I was just like, Are you kidding me? This song, I couldn't believe it.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

How about how about years years later, I saw Jimmy's Chicken Sack at IUP, three blocks from where I'm currently at, which is wild. Wow. That is crazy. With my with my ex-wife. Uh you had Dishwalla that year. Definitely saw them.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Let me see if I can remember Dishwalla's song.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

That's the one that's like um it's like like uh God is a woman or something. No, you're you you're close. You're you're there is, I think, one like that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. Yeah, yeah, yes, you're on it. But that's not the name of the song. It's not the it's not the what if God was one of us. It's like no, he says he he referred it's uh You're right. You're on the right track, you're so close.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

I really want to meet her. Show me all your thoughts on God. Yeah. Because I really want to meet her. That's it, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Dish Waller, who had an amazing, amazing lead singer who is no longer with their band. There was some controversy. Um, then there was Guided by Voices, Solution A. Solution A D, and Hal and Maggie. Um I got some guided by voices like like four years after this. I remember going very specifically out to see Dishwalla at the at the at the side stage and Jimmy's Chicken Shack and Girls Against Boys, and I think I ended up catching Fred Schneider as well. Um and then I I made my way back in and caught pretty much everything from No Doubt On all the way to Goldfinger, who closed the show. Um really ridiculous, you know, day of music. It was it was great. Um 97 uh starts started where H and for those who don't know, um WHFS is put it is the was the local alternative rock radio station that absolutely dominated the DC airwaves uh in the great it's one of the great American rock stations of all time, period.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

I mean to me it's up there with like K rock and you know EXP and stations like that.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Yes. And they, you know, the the history was they they started in in like you know uh I think I have some notes here. So they started in 1992, or no, sorry, they started in 1990 as a 4th of July festival um that was held twice at Lake Fairfax Park in Reston, Virginia, so they did it in 90 and 91 there. Was it ever at like a like a fairgrounds? They did it at 92, they went to the the the the Prince George's County Equestrian Center.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

That's where I saw it.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

I went to that one. So that was 1990.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Was Charlotte was Charlotte's UK at that one?

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Uh I didn't I don't have the the headliner. I don't have the headliners. So what year did you say that was? And I'll look it up. 92, 92, and then 93 they moved to RFK, um, where it remained the next six years. And then, excuse me, when the RFK, when the first RFK lineup was revealed, there was a lot of controversy because they inc because it with the inclusion of the stereo MCs. The previous events had only had mainstays of rock and alternative music, and the MCs, a hip-hop group, seemed out of place. Once the concert went on, though, the audience's enthusiasm paved the way for WHFS to include more artists from outside the station's normal playlist on H Festival stagers. In future years, they uh included hip-hop acts, electronica artists, and sus disparate musicians as Tony Bennett and the Blue Man group. Um let's see. In 97, all right, we had The Prodigy were the headliners with Beck and Jamiraquai, Echo and the Bunnymen, Local H, Luscious Jackson, The Verve Pipe, Blondie. I definitely remember seeing uh Debbie Harry, Cool A Shaker, the Mighty Mighty Bostones, the Cardigans. All right, and the outer stage you had Squirrel Nut Zippers. This is full-on ska time, because like even Goldfinger was was ska, but you had squirrel nut zippers, they were ska, they were like that swing ska stuff. You had Ben Folds 5, Third Eye.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Squirrel Nutzippers was part of that um the swing that the swing bands were.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Ben Folds 5, Third Eye Blind, Real Big Fish, uh Kay's Choice. That song by Kay's Choice is a banger. That's the one that I've ever heard of that in in my life. Yeah, uh, and it's cool. I feel alive if you don't have it your own. The other side, it's not a habit. Oh man, what a great song. Um, Soul Coughing, Jimmy's Chicken Shack again, The Dismemberment Plan and Pool. And I specifically remember seeing Soul Coughing, Kay's Choice, Real Big Fish, Third Eye Blind, all uh in fact, all of those bands. Um I definitely skipped the cardigans and the mighty mighty boss tones for that. I I I when I was I ended up going in for Blondie on through the prodigy.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

I uh was definitely not at that one.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Um at least I don't believe you went to any of those the subsequent ones that I went to. Because I attended all of them with friends, with the exception of all my friends bailed on me in 1999. Because in 1999 there was two of them. There was one in Baltimore and one in DC, one early summer, one late summer.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Did you go to both of them?

SPEAKER_00 21:36

No, I did not. I was already in Pennsylvania by the time the second one rolled around.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Well, I have seen two of the bands on that list, one of which was uh Third Eye Blind. I've seen them twice uh with my wife here more recently.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Uh I'll talk about the other one later. One of my favorite albums of all time is the Third Eye Blind self, uh the the the self titled album. It's excellent. 98. Uh, this is an infamous one. So 98 is an infamous HF Festival. Um, you had the Crystal Method and Green Day were like your big, big names, but Green Day ended their set lighting shit on fire. It was crazy. They were throwing flaming symbols. It's like it's one of those. Absolutely wild men back in these days. It's it's one of those like lore, like you'll see. Like I've seen it, I've seen it pop up on Instagram where it was like, you know, this crazy thing happened in 1998. And it was, you know, blow. And I'm like, yeah, I was there. Yeah, I was I was there for that. Um, Scott Wyland, no, no stone temple pilots, foo fighters again, the B-52s, Mighty Mighty Bostones, Everclear, Bare Naked Ladies, Y Clef, who I was super into at the time, Marcy Playground, Soul Coughing, Semi-Sonic, and Tuscadero. And then you had the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Samiom, God Lives Underwater, Save Ferris, Fastball, Harvey Danger, Fuel, Angels of Good Roots, Love Nut, and Grantly Buffalo on the outer stage. And I saw almost all of those guys on that outer stage. Um and then my last one was 99. That it was at PSI, it was the very first event ever held at what's now MT Bank Stadium, but at the time was PSI Net Stadium. Yeah. Where the Ravens play. Um headliner was Red Hot Chili Peppers, which was crazy because it was with Freshante. That was like the it was when Freshante had come back with the band. So I got to see them not with Dave Navarro, but with actually with John, with with John Frashante, which is like insane. Um The Offspring, Moby, Google Dolls, Live, Sugar Ray, Orgy, Mighty Mighty Bostones for a third time, Silver Chair, Blink 182, Lit, and this was the year that Jimmy's Chicken's Shack made it to the the they were the opener on the main stage. Then on the street, on the street stage you had two skinny Jays, Freestylers, The Living End, Buck Cherry, Azumotley, Citizen King, Beth Orton, Fountains of Rain, and Sev.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Beth Orton. Wow. A couple of comments on a couple of those bands. Well, first of all, on the the the previous one, um, I saw that fuel was on there. I believe I saw fuel again at the the one that I went to like two years ago. And then on this one, I think I also saw Lit. Uh no, I saw Lit. I saw Lit with a buddy of mine actually uh playing their own show like at 9 30 club, like maybe two years ago or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

I saw fuel another time with I saw Fuel Creed Stained Creed was the headliner. Stained fuel. Oh, and maybe Jimmy's Chicken Shack again at that show. I can't remember. Creed. Um, that's pretty strong lineup though.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Chili Peppers, Offspring, uh Live, Silver Chair, the short-lived Silver Chair, although I'm sure they're probably still playing concerts. Blink 182. That's that's pretty strong. I saw Buck Cherry at a at a music festival I went to in uh in Atlanta with Mandy, like maybe 12, 13 years ago. Out of nowhere, we went to this. Yeah, I think it was because Counting Crows was playing, but like Buck Cherry was like way early on the bill or something. I should look into that one.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

I kind of forgot about that one. Um and then so that that that's my run of the HF Festival. And then I have another one, but it'll come later. I wanted to get to yours because I know that you went to one of the original Lollapalooza's in Charlestown.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Well, let me let me let me stay on the HF Festival thing f first, um, because it actually there's a tie-in to that HF Festival that I went to in Upper Mar Marlboro at the Equestrian Center. Um so on set list, it says they have yeah, okay. On set list, it is listing oh no, this is right. Okay, so this is this is who was who was this is 1992, Saturday, July 11th in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Um, couple of memories from this.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

By the way, that's where I graduated from in that building.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Oh, well, a building? I mean, it wasn't a building. In the equestrian center. I was staring. Well, I mean, I was in a field. Like I was I was in another.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Well, they probably did it on the outside of it, but uh that's where that's where I had my my graduation.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Um one thing I remember when you they had a no, I think it was like a no-glass bottles um rule at this thing. And so you could carry in a cooler, but um they had to check the cooler to make sure it was all cans. And uh I can remember going in, carrying my cooler up, putting it down in front of the cop. It was like literally police officers that were checking it out. I think you couldn't have like like booze either. I think you could just bring in like cans of soda and water, essentially, because it was July 11. It's gonna be hot as hell. And um, I remember setting the cooler down, and as I set it down, I was looking at the ground, and what do I see on the ground directly in front of me? One foot in front of my cooler and two feet in front of the cop that is standing in face of me, and that is a bag of mushrooms that is like blending in with like the grapple ground, but I notice it specifically, and I'm just like, why? Why does it have to come to me when I'm two feet away from a police officer? I didn't grab it. I was like, no, there's no way I'm I'm gonna sacrifice my entire day and end up in jail over a sack of mushrooms. I'll still have a good time, but boy, that was bittersweet. Anyways, um, lineup on that day. Oh, and I'm I my buddy Tony was there. I think I went with like a bunch of my other buddies. I wasn't really hanging out with him much, but I knew that he was gone there because we still we still talked and stuff. And uh there was there were three bands at this HF Festival that this guy absolutely loved, and I can remember seeing him in the crowd. Those bands are Too Much Joy, The Catherine Wheel, and The Ocean Blue. He loved those bands. Also performing then. I had no idea how many times I've seen this band. They might be giants was there. Uh that's crazy. Graham Parker. Um, and then the last two bands were the Charlatans and the Soup Dragons. Remember the Soup Dragons? Mad Chester? Um, okay, Charlatans. They had this crazy lead singer named Tim Burgess, right? And I will always remember the end of the charlatans show, the last song. They're playing a song, and Tim Burgess is the singer, and they do the classic, they do one of the classic, like finishing your concert tropes. Tim Burgess, blah, blah, blah, sings the last letter, thanks, Washington, D.C. And he walks off stage, and the rest of the band's still out there going strong. And then the guitarist comes up, thank you very much, puts down his guitar, and then just the bass and the drummer just holding it down today. Then the bass player, boom, and at the very end of the thing, it was just the drummer, whole crowd racking out, rocking out, and he finishes up, gives a wave, and walks off. So uh, maybe the first time I ever saw a band do that, but it was pretty damn cool, right? So I'll I'll give you one little taste of a future festival that I went to. I went to Coachella in like 2002, and on the one of the side stages, I watched The Charlatans UK. That's the same band. Charlotte, they went by Charlatans or Charlatans UK, different venues or whatever. I saw them playing there again. Um, you know, Tim Tim Burgess is now 10 years older or something, um, or a few years older. Um, but awesome show coming on after the charlatans was Queens of the Stone Age with Dave Grohl on drums. It was back in during that era. So I'm super pumped. Here comes Queens of the Stone Age. I'd fall recently fallen in love with this band, and I'm rocking out to the Queens of the Stone Age, and I turn and I look beside me, and who's standing there? But Mr. Tim Burgess rocking out to the Queens of the Stone Age, you know, from the from the audience perspective. It was like a side stage, it was just like a little grassy area, and I was kind of kicked off to the side, and uh and uh Tim Burgess is standing right next to me.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

I turned, I said, Hey Tim Burgess, man, what's up? He's like, he's like, hey, good night, mate, or whatever. I said, I said, bro, your show was amazing. Oh, thanks, thanks, man.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

And I said, Hey man, I gotta tell you, I saw you play at the Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, like 10 years ago, man. You remember that show? And he's like, mate, I don't remember much from those days. I had no recollection of playing the HF Festival.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Kind of funny, but um when me and my buddies went to see Guns N' Roses, like, I don't know, six, seven years ago. W one of the openers was Wolf Mother. All right. And we once Guns N' Roses come on, and it was like I think it was like one of the first shows that they had played with Wolf Mother.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Is Wolf Mother's actual name Alice? Like, is the mother's name Alice?

SPEAKER_00 31:49

That's a that's a previous episode reference. Um But we were standing there watching uh watching Guns N' Roses, and we all kind of looked to our left, and the the the lead singer with like the big bushy hair from Wolf Mother was like four feet away, so we all went over and said hi.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

I love it. I love it. Yeah, I'll get into more of my Coachella stuff later, but um that was uh that was really cool. So that must have been now. I feel like I saw I went to another HF Festival maybe before that. So maybe I went to three, but maybe it was just the two, maybe it was that one and then the one that I went to with you at RFK. Although I I I feel like I I went to two of them. I I went to two of them at RFK.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

Um Well, which if you went to another one after after the 95, so you could have gone to 93 or 94.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

When we click on 94, 94 was Counting Crows, Cracker, Jigolo, Ants, James. Yeah, I must that must have been the one I went to. Meet Puppets, Pavement, Rollins Band, yeah. Afghan wigs. Yeah, yeah. Toad the West Rocket. Yep. Yep, Violent Fems. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

All right. Yeah, there you go. So I went to the room. So you went so you went to two. You went to two in a row, maybe missing what the first one at RFK. And then I I went to the next five after the one you or the next four after the one you took me to.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

93, which was was after 92. This one, this was I this looks like it was the first one at RFK. It was. That was that was like, I got I it was X, Velocity Girl. I love that. I knew a guy in the band, Velocity Girl. Was in that band. Uh, The Posey, Stereo MC, Ned's Atomic Dustman, Matthew Sweet, in Excess, Iggy Pop and Belly. I feel like I might have been at that one too. God, I lost uh an album full of ticket stubs years ago that had like it had like the first like 15 years of my concert going lost. Totally sucks. Um, so that I think kind of concludes us on on um on HF Festivals. What other what other festivals did you? Oh, well, you said you wanted to hear about my uh my Lollipops.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Yeah, you went to you went to one of the original, like the law one of the original years of Lollapalooze. I went to the original one.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

I went to the first year, and then I think I went to the fourth year. I missed the second one, which was like arguably the second one was the best ever. That was the one that was like Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots. Like it was it was the grunge one, like of of all time. But when when all those bands were at their absolute zenith. Um, but the the first one I went to, I remember I do it's another another one where I ran into an old friend from high school in it, this guy, Sean Carey, who was like the the the hero of the swim team at at St. John's, my high school. Um, he was like the the best guy on the swim team. He and he was a really, really cool guy. I loved this guy. He was I think he was a year younger than me, but we had a we had a math class or something together. And uh he uh I bumped bumped into this dude right in the pit, like middle of the afternoon at Lollapalooza one. Um this was out at like Lake Fairfax or something like that, out in Virginia.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

And I Are you sure it wasn't it? Are you sure it wasn't it at the Charlestown racetrack?

SPEAKER_02 35:12

No, that's that's where that's the that was like number four that I went to. Um but this one had it was like another one of those festivals where it was like there was like six bands on the lineup. Like it started at high noon, high noon, the imposing, tatted-up figure of Henry Rollins wearing nothing but biker shorts with a pair of black, black biker shorts with a pair of black running shorts over it and nothing else, comes menacingly walking out onto stage, picks up the microphone, which is just laying on the on the stage on the floor, wraps the cord around his hand like five times. The band's like, Henry Rollins. Um I saw Rollins band, and I think after that it was Butthole Surfers, where Gibby Haynes, the singer of Butthole Surfers, I watched him guzzle a bottle of Jack Daniels, then throw the bottle straight up in the air, like 15 feet in the air, and let it smash on his head. Um, I think the next band up was Nine Inch Nails, very, very young Nine Inch Nails. First time I saw them. I also saw them in another in a later festival, the Voodoo Festival in New Orleans, years later, as a headliner. Here they were like the third act playing at like two o'clock in the afternoon. After that, it was Living Color. Uh and then Living Color and then Suzy and the Banshees, and then Jane's Addiction, because Lollapalooze was Perry Farrell's thing, so his band was headlining.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

And I really didn't know much about porno for pyros.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

No, no. I saw them play later with Mercury Rev. And actually the opening band that day was Velocity Girl, where I said I knew a guy. This guy that I worked in the writing center with at Frostburg, his name was Brian Nelson. He played in that band, Velocity Girl. Um shit. Yeah. Um he was totally part of like the whole DC hardcore scene. Um But yeah, so at that at that very first Lollapalooza, like I absolutely fell in love with Jane's addiction. I believe I was dating that girl Renee at the time. I think I went with her. And uh, because I think it would have been yeah, it would have been like after my junior year, maybe, um, of college, which would have been like 91. Uh absolutely just like incredible. It's just like one of the to me, that's like one of my badge of honor type concerts that I can say I went to is Lola Blue's the one for sure. And four was the one with Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins and Pavement played at that one. Famously walked off, walked off stage at one of those concert stops because they were getting mud thrown at him. They were just like, screw this. We're like a bunch of prep prep school kids from California. We have no interest in getting pelted with mud. F you guys, goodbye.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

That's great. That's exactly what happened with Jewel, dude. That frisbee hit her and she was just like, peace, just stop mid-song, just off the stage. She went to never come back. Oh, and so you so and so we've both done two massive like multi-day shows as well. So you've done Coachella and I did Bonnaroo. I did Bonaroo as well. Oh, so you did when did you do Bonaroo?

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Um I did Bonnaroo in God, it would have been like 2006-ish.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

So early, early Bonaroo. Yeah, 2006, 2007, something like that. I I went because I was really good friends with this guy, Bo.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

I had like a little t-shirt business going at the time, and he was like a big like music guy, concert guy, huge Dave Matthews guy. And uh, so that was the one and only time I ever saw Dave Matthews was at that Bonaroo. Um I had a I had a very interesting time. I'd love to talk about that, but you you you go. I've been talking for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

So I went to Bonnaroo in 2013 with uh my now wife. It was like the first like trip that we ever took. We went down to visit Andy because the really cool thing about Bonnaroo is that our brother Andy used to literally live right down the road from the farm. I mean, it was like a 15-minute drive, and you were at the farm in Manchester where they hold Bonaroo. And we really wanted to go to Bonnaroo because at the time we were super into Mumford and Sons, and that was like we were like, oh my god, you know, we can make a trip out of this thing because we were, you know, freshly dating and whatnot. And um, so we made our way to Tennessee and the first well, we didn't go on Thursday because it's a lot of like electronica music and shit, and we weren't into that. Um, but we went on Friday, and Friday night what the headliner was Paul McCartney, and that was like the big thing that we were going to see because that's you know insane. But um we also saw hold on, let me pull it up here real quick. Um we also saw that day we saw Wilco and one of my big bucket list items, probably the number one thing that I went and saw was the Wu Tang clan. I got to see the Wu Tang clan for the first time, or first and only time, um there. And it was this very like surreal experience because like we had we had smuggled a little bit of of pot inside. I had I had like snuck some and we got searched. Like we our car got pulled out and searched, and everybody got searched, but I had put um I had stuffed a couple of uh cigarettes with with weed, like hollowed them out and stuck joints up in the cigarettes. And so I had a few joints in there that I could pull out, and I was I remember smoking a joint, watching the Wu-Tang clan, and like passing it around, and like all these people were like looking at me because I knew the words to every song. It was like ridiculous. And so I nobody else wanted to go see Wu-Tang clan. I was off by myself. My wife had we had had a pretty long day. My wife stayed with Andy and Laura uh on the main in the main field, and I had to like find them, and that was like the worst part of the whole trip, was I I end with Wu-Tang and immediately have to beeline over to the main stage. And when I get there, what was a field where you could kind of see people, it was pitch black and there was a hundred thousand people, and I was like immediately panicked because I could not like there was just no way that I could spot them at all. So luckily at that time, I will say this is one, this is this is the one, the one thing that I will give the the cell phone argument that we're gonna have, is that I was able to call my wife call my soon-to-be wife, and they were able to guide me in via things that we could physically see. And in this case, it was like people at this concert like tend to have like totems that they're like holding up. And so I'd be like, What can you see? Oh, I could see this totem. And I and I literally just started weaving my way through the crowd, and I would, you know, I'd call them like, okay, what do you see now? Like, what like I can see this? Can you see? Yeah, yeah, that's uh that's to our left. And so it took took me probably 30 to 40 minutes to finally find them in the crowd, and I but I did.

SPEAKER_02 42:58

Um by the way, visual navigation aids come into one of my stories later, just uh putting a little footnote there.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

And you know, and then we ended up um having probably the seminal concert moment of my life when you know we saw you know Paul McCartney, and it blew me away because I think the thing that blew me the way the most about Paul McCartney was like in between songs he was like telling these stories. And some of them were crazy. And the one that sticks out in my mind was he was ta he talked about Jimi Hendrix, okay, seeing Jimi Hendrix, all right. He was playing on stage, and Jimi Hendrix asked Eric Clapton to come up and tune his guitar. And he like told that story. And I remember just being like so blown away by that story. But it was like, you know, for every song, there was like this amazing story, and you know, when they get to, you know, Hey Jews. was amazing. I mean it was like it's baby basically as probably as close to a a religious experience that I've ever had in my entire life where a hundred thousand people were like singing the same song at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

It's like watching it's like watching Jesus say the Our Father. Yeah it was crazy. And I well I remember you being a big Mumford and Sons guy back then and how interesting it was that coming out of that concert all you wanted to talk about was Paul McCartney.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

Well there's a reason for that hold on I'll get there. So and the other big one that I remember just was the other song that like sticks out in my mind so much was when they played Live and Let Die and the and he had this he had this badass piano on stage this like colorful multicolored piano upright that he's banging on you know and they do live and let die and when they get to the like that you know the seminal part of that song where it's like in Live and Let Die B dude and and like all the pyrotechnics start going off. Oh my God. Were you were you on were you on mind altering drugs and you were watching that outside of weed on some on some weed no probably just only weed at that time. But yeah dude like holy cold holy moly dude that was crazy. So the next day we well what we come to find out is um Mumford and Sons the bassist had a like a brain aneurysm andor some sort of like brain injury they didn't end up playing so we make our whole way there very very much to see Mumford and Sons find out the day before the day before they're not going to play and of all the people they could have gotten you know to fill in the headlining spot on Saturday night at Bonaroo by the way Jack White lives in in Nashville or outside of Nashville they could have got him but who did they replace Mumford and Sons with but oh no Jack fucking Johnson. Yeah no thanks dude not my cup of tea I mean I like Jack Johnson just fine when I'm like hanging around cooking dinner on a on a summer afternoon you know on a Sunday with my wife and you know cracking back a couple of beers perfect music for that for that scenario you know not Saturday night abonaroo material kitchen door back doors open you know light light coming in um yeah saturday night bonaroo nah gonna gonna say hard pass on that and then well then this then the sad the saddest part of the whole trip is that we were we were and this is like the big regret uh we didn't end up going in on on Sunday because my wife twisted her ankle sprained her ankle really bad and so we did not get to see Tom Petty ah I know that's such a brutal one for me that's a tough one yeah I remember Tom Petty right right yep I think I think there was a moment where I was entertaining a run at going to that going to that festival because as you mentioned all those all those acts I'm like yeah that's that's that's just those are just the ones that really really like stick out um Bjork was there fucking R. Kelly I didn't even know that I didn't I don't even remember it but R. Kelly was at this fucking show. That's wild. I know right especially talking about it you know 13 years later like holy shit R. Kelly was at this show but I mean there was so much Kendrick Lamar was there would have never known who he was the Lumineers were there uh of Monsters and Men um there was a Super Jam with Jim James and John Oates MacLamore was there Weird Owl was there yeah there was there was a wild it's those the Matt and Kim there was the like those those mega concerts like that they're just like it's you have to pick and choose what you want to see because you just can't see it all yeah um do you have anything else on Bonaro you want to hear my stuff I'm so excited to talk about yeah yeah go go go go okay so so uh I may have mentioned on this show before that in addition to you know whatever these musical festivals are I I have attended the Burning Man festival on three occasions now that is not uh a music festival don't need to get into it on this podcast um but I had gone I went I think I think the burning the burning men that I attended was like uh maybe like 99 2000 2001 something like this is that no no no no that can't be had to be later than that because you wouldn't Vegas yeah it was like it was like it was like 2000 2001 2002 that sounds right when did you go with dad no no no no it was like 2001 2002 and 2004 because I was in Europe in 03 that's what it was that's what it was so I had a little break in there um nonetheless you went with dad in 040 holy shit um yeah it was it was that first year I was still living at Kendra's parents' house that first that first year I was in Pensacola okay timeout on air production meeting Sean Ahern was there yes we need I I I need this I need a Sean Ahern episode all right previous guest where you guys talk about taking dad to Bonnaroo you mean burning man or burning man yeah sorry yes that would be good well we will we will a hundred percent do that um so I had been and then I'm living in Pensacola and I I get to know this guy Bo that I was in the t-shirt business with he's a big music fan and he's been to Bonnaroo a couple of times Bo is also the guy that that is has the single best meeting your hero story of anybody I've ever met in my life where he I said he was a a huge Dave Matthews fan he he once had brunch with Dave Matthews and his family him like for like four people at brunch him Dave Matthews Dave Matthews' wife Dave Matthews' kid like I'll tell you that story sometime it's incredible um but uh he had been to Bonneroo a couple times and you know it's a campout thing you go there you stay for the entire weekend you camp out and in the when I when he met me of course you know we're always hanging out drinking and swapping stories so I've told him all about burning man and he's like oh my god I want to go and we're sort of we're loosely tentatively planning on going to Burning Man at some point in the future because I wanted to go back and he has every intention of going to Bonnaroo and now he's got this buddy Matt who's been a burning man who knows how to like camp who knows how to like do infrastructure who knows how to engineer temporary infrastructure and so he is all in on having me go to this thing and be like be in charge of setting up camp and he's got all these friends none of whom I've met that are all coming to this thing and he's like don't worry you're in charge bro I'll keep all my friends in line don't even worry about them.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

We're doing it your way and I'm like okay let's do it that's fine it'll be fun so we you know get the tickets and everything and I want if memory serves I repurposed the burning man stuff that we had set up we had built this like silly like shade structure out of like two by fours and canvas drop cloths um that we took to burning man and didn't you have dad's old parachute or something too yeah I had that I had that as well um and so yeah you know I did did what I do I made a bunch of lists and we got everything together and Bo helped me out and we packed up the van and had a trailer and a car and got everything in there and like we showed up as soon as you could pull get in there and set this badass camp up and as his friends are showing up over the course of the day and into the night you know we like we got there first thing and got this jump like set up and ready to go. And so as his friends start to show up they're like rolling in and they're all just like one after the next is just like dude this is awesome bro like this is amazing look at this you know Bo is like feeling so good. He's like this is the man that made it happen. So like I immediately have street cred with all these guys like I am like the hero of of every one of his friends and I've never met a one of them they're all just like you're the man and like they just want to hang they want to be down with me and like you know they're always just like you need a beer bro like immediately VIP member of their whole crew right so that's that's a good that's a good start but what I soon realize is that I am not on the level of partying that these people are on by any means. Like these dudes are there to do hard drugs and go hard at all of the jam stuff that happens throughout the night at Bonnaroo. So Bonaroo basically doesn't stop no at all and so for a few a few hours a day it does it stop and that's basically from like four in the morning until like it's about 4 a.m to 8 a.m yeah or 9 a.m um as you'll see because I had a very very different experience of Bonnaroo than these guys did even though I spent a good portion of the weekend hanging out with these guys right and have nothing but but pleasant memories of of Bo and his friends um because they were all nice guys but they sort of had a different agenda and so we get there the first night and on the first night I think it was a Thursday um at the time it was like it was like Thursday to Sunday uh there was only one there was only one act that played on the first night so for folks that got there on the Thursday they gave you they threw you a bone you got one act and it was Les Claypool and he was like and he it wasn't Primus it was Les Claypool and he was playing with like some woman that like had her own artistic presence. And the two of them had put together this like chill like Thursday night show. And I remember going to that you know um yeah you could get there Thursday early in the day and set up and everything but the first show didn't happen until like eight o'clock it was just the main stage Les Claypool and this other woman and uh we went to that but there were like DJs and stuff happening that night as well and like all of his friends like dropped acid or or were doing ecstasy or whatever and just like were ready to go hard. And I remember I was just exhausted. I you know it had been a long like none of these guys had had the day that I had we were up at 6 a.m you know packing up the truck and making this long ass drive and everything so by the time Lesp Claypool was done at you know 10 o'clock that night I'd been going basically nonstop hard as hell since six that morning I was done. I was like y'all have fun I'm heading back to camp and I very purposefully brought my own tent. So I had my own little space that I could get away to right so I go back I crash out I wake up the next morning it's like nine o'clock right because I I you know I crashed out at like 10-11 or something I slept for eight hours nine hours I was well rested and like it's like Friday morning I'm ready for Bonneroo like let's go well half of these dudes do not wake up until like five o'clock that afternoon so like I wake up at like nine I distinctly remember one dude rolling in at the time like I don't know where he was but one dude came walking back into camp because I was up and like I made myself some coffee got some food going this dude rolls in you want some food man I'm like ready to hang out or whatever I'm gonna crash and out gone you know so I'm like solo I go all around the camp I'm looking around looking every tent all the cars like everybody's out this is like 10 in the morning I'm like well I'm gonna go have myself an adventure then so I roll to the side tent where the music is starting I start off by seeing Earl Scruggs and friends. Boom that's Friday morning at Lollapalooza in Tennessee by myself in a tent man I'm seeing Earl Scruggs at Bonaroo like I'm like all right this is starting off good I also um see Rylo Kylie and I saw M Ward um and I was into all of them at the time super cool I come back to the camp it's now like three in the afternoon and people are starting to wake up and stuff and they're like hey man what's up what happened to you last night I'm like ah you know I was I was pretty pooped you know I went back but I've been out this morning oh you really yeah what what what have you been doing I said oh I just I saw Earl Scrubs I saw Rylo Kylie and we're they're like oh my god like you've already seen three shows today like these two are like blown away right and uh I'm like yeah man that's so so I spent a large part of this of this festival on my own seeing stuff in the mornings on my own and I really need to dig back into that set list and see uh see all the stuff that I saw because I saw a bunch of stuff like solo but some of the other notable acts that I saw while I was there um I remember seeing um what is that band called um the rap group uh Jurassic Jurassic 5 4 the Jurassic Jurassic Trio Jurassic 5 um I saw them I saw um oh my god absolutely mind blowing performance by um my morning jacket incredible live that band is absolutely incredible live they had they had like six giant um like puppet type costumes on stage like people were like up inside these things but they each stood like 12 feet tall and they could like it was like somebody inside of this giant like puppet costume thing and they could like walk around on stage and the band was just like in and amongst them just like playing the show and not paying attention to them but these puppets had like their own thing going on um and I will never forget the uh the rendition of um tonight I'm staying with you by Bob Dylan that they they covered oh my god it was so good jim james like throw my ticket to the wind so good um and then I saw Modest Mouse there for the first time um that was all kind of side stagey stuff and the big stage stuff I saw like I saw Dave Matthews I think I saw like Derek Trucks band I saw um so do you want me do you want me to do me to drop drop I just pulled up the the Bonru. Let me name the rest of them that I can remember before you do. I saw the Warren Haynes band what are they called like something mule government mule Derek trucks I saw widespread panic was at that show widespread panic yeah I saw widespread panic one night of course Bo and all his friends they were like so like ramped up for all that stuff um so what else what did I miss?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:00

Alright so you you got widespread panic you got Dave Matthews band Trey Anastasio's band was there right right yep yep the Alman Brothers Alman Brothers right and Derek Trucks I think played with the Alman Brothers didn't he so and I've seen the Alman Brothers three times.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:16

Wow yeah um Jack Johnson The Black Crows Black Crows right Allison Krause and Union Station Modest Mouse Bob Weir and Rat Dog so that's about as close to to uh Grateful Dead as we'll ever see well I saw the Grateful Dead Herbie Hancock's headhunters that's right government mule baylack was there the Mars Volta Mars Volta I saw them I saw Mars Volta uh the Yonder Mountain String Band that's cool man they are that's one of the ones I think that's one of the ones I saw in the um in the side stage in the morning Yonder Mountain String Band yep um Jurassic 5 the word Galactic Cruise the Carnival my morning galactic that galactic is another one that all those guys were way into like that's like one of their one of their party jam bands there was Keller Williams STS9 I saw okay keller Williams I saw in the tent that's he was like a he's like another one of those uh uh acoustic like uh bluegrass guys and then what was it what a Soundtribe Sector 9? That's another one of the that's another one of those jam bands that that Bo and all those people were there for it's so funny hearing this set list is so funny it lines up perfectly with my story so I I'm glad to see I have those memories very much in my mind josh stone joshone yep Kings of Leon De La Soul De La Soul was there yep I missed them uh the Benevent Russo duo with Mike Gordon Wow you had you had Gaithersburg's own OAR OAR Ozzle Motley was there Ozzo Motley Rylo Kylie uh Carl Dennison's Tiny Universe Drive by Truckers Particle Joanna Newsome Particle is another one of the jam bands Joanna Newsome I remember seeing with the harp Peter Rowan and Crucial Reggae Javier Rudd Ray LeMontague Ray Lamontagne that's like one of our all-time yeah me and Mandy danced to Ray Le Montagne at our wedding the The Gords Blue Hurl uh Secret Machines Dawn of the Buffalo House on Mars John Mutler Trio They're perceptionists all the bell oh fucking old crow medicine show was there saw them saw them they opened they opened like saturday morning I think they were they were like they were like uh 11 o'clock on saturday morning old crow uh citizen cope the old 97s brazilian girls citizen cope is so good m Ward Madeline Perot M Ward Madeline Peru yep Peru yeah the frames DJ Crush Assembly of Dust Amos Lee and Modis Yahoo Perpetual Groove Modest Yahoo God remember that guy he was like the he was like the uh he was like the Yiddish rapper one day yeah yeah yeah dude dude that's great I guess some great songs yeah um you had you had uh da da da da da da da Perpetual Groove the Tea Leaf Green Lake Trout Gabby Lala featuring Les Claypool yeah Gabby Lala that was the Heartless Bastards Josh Ritter and then it starts to get really really small here okay that that was so fun did I did did I are my memories not like fantastic on that thing yes did you actually one that I I named was on there is there any chance that you actually saw Kermit Ruffins in the barbecue swingers I don't believe Kermit Ruffins you should know from New Orleans yeah yeah oh yeah yeah I'm I'm well aware of Kermit Ruffins uh let me see if there's anybody else Brandy Carlyle was there oh way back then yes uh must have been so young Brent Brett Dennen Dishwater Blonde Dixie Dirt Jim Lauderdale Jody Manross the Little you don't need to read the rest of them I'm just looking to see if there's anybody else that sticks out no yeah wow what a dude that was a crazy lineup yeah I have nothing but just pleasant memories of that whole experience it was just like a really really cool cool thing the way it played out and the fact that I was like the hero to this like whole big group of like partying stoners and they all just like adored me but I didn't really have to like get in too deep.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:59

Alright so who did so I want to hear who you saw at Coachella and then and then I want to start fra and then I want to frame our the second part of our conversation because I'm gonna convert you um okay I believe that I went to Coachella in 2002 um and I will roll through these and and I'm I'm just gonna mention the ones that I remember seeing okay um I saw Bjork Citizen Cope Corner Shop um G Love and Special Sauce let's see uh oh shit what just happened did you see you probably saw Susie in the banshees a different time huh I saw them at that Lollapalooza one speaking of which uh two bands I left off at the Lollapalooza one lineup that I also saw Bishbone and

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

Ice tea and body count.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:03

That's crazy. Yes. Did you see, did you actually see Oasis at the end of the store?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:08

I was going into that album back in the day. Yes, I saw Oasis. Um dude, the second day? Yep. There's the Charlatans, um, Queens of the Stone Age, as I mentioned.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:20

Um Jack Johnson third appearance on the podcast today.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:26

Uh who else? Oh, Chemical Brothers.

unknown 1:06:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:33

And then you had the prodigy on on the next day.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:39

Wait, I think um, I think uh who's the um dude, KRS one? That's strokes, strokes, that's right. I wish they had it like in time order. I bet you I can find that somewhere. But we got there at like one in the afternoon. We saw KRS one on the side stage, followed by the strokes. Um I remember I remember I remember being by this like one fence, and like there was a walkway on the other side of it. It was like a tall, like it was a chain lake fence, but they had like stuff inside of it to like really close it off or whatever, like stuffed inside of it. And I remember the strokes were standing like right on the other side of that fence from me. Um, but yeah, I saw the strokes, I saw Prodigy, and that's where my that's where my visual sign reference story comes from. I saw more The Dilated Peoples were there.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:32

Yeah, dilated.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:33

I saw Mars Volta, I think I saw at it wasn't here though. I that's that's who I saw at Bonnoroo. That's where I saw.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:42

But I did see, oh, so on that side stage, Tenacious D opened for the Foo Fighters. So I saw that. They came out and they did like they did like three songs at like at the right at the beginning of the Foo Fighters thing. Um Saves the Day, I saw them. They were they were they played before the strokes, I think. Did not see Perry Farrell. I don't think I did like any dance tent stuff, so like no Oakenfold, no Sasha and Digweed, but I saw Oasis. Um I saw Mixed Master Mike and Most Deaf. That's cool. And Foo Fighters, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did not see BT. Okay. So the last night, this is the I'll tell you this story. This is my funny, this is my funny Coachella story. It was uh, I think it was like it was like Bjork and then um no Bjork closed the Saturday night, and then the Sunday night it was Prodigy and then Oasis, right? And I was living in Las Vegas at the time, and I went over there with Kendra and this other couple from work. It was this guy, Steve, who was like total music head, and he was dating this young little girl from Russia, basically. She was from the Republic of Altai, which is like some Russian state or something like that. And uh she, you know, had so-so English and was very timid, this girl. She was very timid. And Steve was, among other things, really into like kind of techno type stuff and was like making like techno tracks himself, and he was beside himself with excitement to see Prodigy, right? And so there we are, and we're waiting out in the crowd, getting ready for Prodigy to come on. Um, whoever played before them, I think it was like Citizen Cope or something, it just finished up, and uh, you know, we're just kind of buzzing with excitement because I love Prodigy too. Like I am beyond stoked for this. Me and Rich Miller used to be in this band so bad in DC just a couple years before that. So, like, we're pumped. And his little girl is like, I gotta go to the bathroom. And uh he's like, Well, honey, like this thing's right about to start. And she's like, But I have to go. It's okay, Steve. You stay here. I'll come back. I'll come back. It's fine. He's like, Are you gonna be able to find us? And she's like, I'll be able to find you. Just stay right here. And he's like, Okay. And I remember, I remember him going like this. So look, if you look directly ahead of us the stage, you see the big speakers. See the big speakers right there. She's like, Yeah, yeah, go. And then he goes, and he goes, and then turn one quarter turn, and you see the blah blah blah. We're right there. So make sure you line up with those two things, and we'll be right here. You got it? And she's like, I got it, I got it, you got it, okay, I got it. She she leaves. I swear to God. 45 seconds after she walks off, boom, the lights go down. It's prodigy time. I'm your five stata, you know, just like prodigy, and it is just loud and in your face and angry and violent and just like total overwhelm. And little homegirl.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:55

And the crowd shifts, and there's no chance that you ever saw her again.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:59

Not not even that, not even that. We were standing kind of far back, but it was still crowded there. You know what I'm saying? Like, there was plenty of people around us. We weren't like deep in the crowd, we were like further back in the crowd, so that we had room to stand and whatever. But we're like going out of our minds. We are absolutely loving this thing. Although I do remember Steve just kind of being a little like, god damn it, I wish, you know, what what could have happened to her? Like, he's like, you know, but I can't, it's no point in me going off looking for her. Like, we told her exactly where where we are. We haven't moved. She she's got to find us sooner or later, right? So let's just stay right here. And no sooner does Prodigy finish. I'm telling you, like, boom, show's over and the lights go back up. Bam, she walk, she walks up like 10 seconds later, right? And we're on a high. And he turns to her and he's like, You found us. Wasn't that incredible? And she bursts out into tears. And it's like, that was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life. That was awful, it was terrible. And he's like, What? What are you talking about? And she goes, and she literally said, You like that? And he's like, Yeah, it was awesome. And she's like, I hated it. And me and Kendra are just like took two steps back. We're like, let's give him some space, but we're laughing our asses off. This is just the most absurd scene that is happening in front of us. That girl was so upset. Steve was not reading, not reading the room at all. He's like, wasn't that awesome?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:42

That's crazy. So, you know, one of the things that I will say, and it can be said for Cancella, it can be said for Bonaru, and I think that it has a lot to do with the internet age, you know. I would say, you know, the post really 2010 era when smartphones became so prevalent is that, you know, once the internet age came about, all of these things have been corporatized, they've been, you know, the the ticket prices have soared, the costs have soared, and what, in my opinion, made these uh, you know, things so uh special was their accessibility. And I think that that's the part that we've lost in this age of you know of technology is that the accessibility to see a show or shows like these is uh you know basically non existent. You know what I mean? It's it's so much harder to be able to see them. It's so much harder. I mean, the where like you know, I'm looking, I'm looking back right now. Do you know what do you know we what you paid for you for your that that first HF Festival ticket? Do you know what the the on the on the stub price is?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:06

I'm going to guess oh I was gonna guess $24.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:10

$17. Wow. All right, and it was still only $25 in 1999.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:18

Well, cost is one thing. Okay, so I I get that, but like accessibility, I I uh hard disagree. I mean, like it's easier than ever. All you gotta do is pull out your phone and open an app, and you can go see all the shows and what's available and stuff like that. If you can afford it, exactly. I just said cost is is an issue for sure, but last time I checked, there's giant crowds at music festivals all the time. So it's not like people can't afford it. No, it's not like it can and are affording it, are and are affording it.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:52

I what I honestly and I've and I've thought this for years, long before I I uh you know I started you know thinking about this episode. I I honest to God wish that we would go back to having ticket master outlets. I wish you still had to camp out to get tickets. I wish that there was no online buying of tickets, period, where you can get bonds and people like the scalp. That all needs to go away. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:18

All of that is just horrible.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:20

Because you should be able to buy the tickets at face value, and they would still be affordable for most people, but because you're having to buy them typically on resale websites, you're paying a higher premium.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:32

Yeah, I saw I saw a picture of um the the floor plan for the an upcoming show for that guy, Noah Kahn, who was on on SNL a couple weeks back. We talked about them. Um there was like a special section that was like right directly in front of the stage that was like just like a tiny little corral for the for the Uber rich, $17,000 a ticket for to get in that area.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:59

And that's completely ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:00

Yeah, and all the infield stuff was like in the thousands, four thousand, six thousand and stuff. And it's just yeah, it's absolutely it's that that kind of stuff is totally absurd for sure. But let's get into the the I think juicier argument. I mean, we both agree on that, which is like the the the presence of cell phones at concerts, you seem to have uh a large problem with.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:24

Well, yes, the the presence of cell phones at concerts, I think to me, looking back on this now is and looking thinking about my experiences as a young man, is they take you out of the experience of what you're doing because everybody wants to get their vi their cell phone out and take a video and and you know record this. And I'm I'm as guilty as anybody. When we went to Metallica, I was like, you know, filming all kinds of shit. And like, yeah, it's cool, and it's nice to have that memory, but I'm telling you right now, I haven't look I haven't looked at a single one of those videos in the year since that concert. I d you know, maybe I'll look at them in 10 or 15 or 20 years and that'll be cool. But you know, it was much it was much cooler to me to see a photo of the crowd at one of those HF Festivals, to think about the fact that I was in that crowd and have to actually remember the visceral nature of it. And I also think that it's it's you know, I think that concerts have been kind of homogenized, and I don't think that they're nearly as rowdy and as uh grimy and you know like you know, everything is, you know, all the front sections are corporately owned, and you know, it's it's just not the same as it as it was. And I find that my memories of concerts before I was taking cell phones much better. Like I think of it more fondly.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:04

I think you just based on you know what you share today feel like but but you are you are leaving out the crucial part of the story, which is that you are not the same person that you were 25 years ago when you were going to these concerts, and new nor am I. Like, that's not what I'm looking for out of a festival any longer. I mean, my my experiences of my youth were priceless to me and like hold fond memories, but but music going is not ruined for me as a result of it. I mean, when I went to the H festival this last time, um I I like went down uh early and before my the wife and kids came down, we were taking the metro down there. So, you know, I just went down because I wanted to see a couple more of the acts or whatever, and I don't know if they had something going on in the morning or something, but nonetheless, it was just like so cool to get down there and like I I got a nice IPA and I went all the way up to the highest uh level that you could go up and stood up there and I was just taking it all in. It's like noon on a Saturday. I'm like drinking a beer and like the violent Fems comes on, and I'm like watching it from this bird's eye view. It was just awesome. It was just so cool, it was like such a great day out, and you know, it wasn't me stuffed into a car with six of my buddies and you know being hot as hell, going to the going to the Charlestown racetrack, you know, to stand in the hot sun in the mud all day. Yeah, it wasn't all that. I mean, back then that was cool here and now what I did was also cool, and the other thing that's great about cell phones being at concerts is I can be like, well, I didn't get to see the vampire weekend on their recent tour, but I can spend an hour on YouTube seeing exactly what it was like to go to the recent vampire weekend tour because there's 600 videos of every possible song that they play, and I can go take a look at it for myself. And I kind of like that because I don't go to a ton of concerts anymore, and I like to see what what is what is Krangabin like when they're on stage. What is you know, like I I I spend a lot of hours of every year watching contemporary fan recorded videos of rock shows on YouTube.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:31

But in my opinion, it takes away the mystique, the mystery, the like I like I said, I saw that I saw that you know thing that was like, were you at the infamous? You know, da da da da da you know, think about n you wanted to talk about 99 Woodstock. Okay? Yeah. Like perfect example of the pre, you know, the the death throes of that era, okay, because it's this is still pre-cell phone, probably for another 10 years. It's probably till like 2010 before you start seeing smartphones, at least that I can remember. All right. You're talking, you know. This was a time where like other than you do have some some archival footage of it, and they did broadcast a lot of those things, you know what I mean? They they had recordings of them, they were putting them on MTV or whoever. And because it was it was that transitional period between the analog and the digital world where you were getting more there was more cable stations and they had to, you know, they were still they were starting to really hunt for content. But you know, there was something to be said about like, were you there? Okay, that there isn't some sort of like 10,000 people where they are taking crappy uh videos of the same thing that you almost had to experience. The bootleg, all right, like Dave Matthews bands is a perfect example, The Grateful Dead, you know, bootlegging audio from concerts was a huge thing, you know, uh in our in our youth. And and and now that's you know, I'm sure it still exists, but it's not like it was. It wasn't you you you couldn't go find some coveted show that you wanted, you know, that you experienced to be able to relive that, you know what I mean? But so some of that mystery and mystique is gone.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:30

The Grateful Dead, um, which is now Dead and Co. fronted by John Mayer, um you know, they play 100 dates a year or something, I don't know how many, but like every single one of those shows is like up online, you can go and watch the entire show. Um and that's and that's a band that pioneered bootlegging. I mean, they were the first band to have a special section for people who were bootlegging. They encouraged it, they knew that their music got around from people making tapes and passing them around. Um, I think what you're getting at is is part of a much larger sentiment held held by many people of the, you know, the days gone by. And, you know, you could you could pick any genre and of of of modern life and go back 25 years before there were cell phones in the internet and have this exact same conversation about what has been lost. Remember back in the old days when you can work on a car.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:27

And cars.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:28

But but it's not just that. It's you it's it's literally everything, every facet of life just about has been changed by the presence of the internet and and and smartphones. And I guarantee you that back when we were 25 and going to these concerts, there were a couple of 45-year-old dudes having a conversation about like, this is lame back in the 70s when we like yeah, like this is just this is you know, say, and I promise you, there's two 25-year-old dudes that just that are gonna go to a summer music festival this summer, they're gonna have their minds blown, they're gonna be fucked up the entire time, they're gonna camp out with their friends, and 25 years from now, those two guys are gonna be sitting back going, concerts suck now. We are part of a continuum.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:19

And you're and you're probably right, and I'm probably feeling my age, and I but I think maybe too is that I've come to the realization that I was fortunate enough to live through the best of times for this type of stuff. That you know, being an ad you know, a young adult and then an adult in the at the in the death throes of the analog era was you know really great. And I think maybe it makes maybe it makes me sad for my kids that you know they their experience will be completely different than mine was because mine was so formative and so um special to me, you know what I mean? And and I just it's like and I and I've you know I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:15

But maybe dad had that same thought about the sixties. You know, I feel bad for my kids because they didn't get to experience the the Peter, Paul, and Mary. But but also just like the the the political upheaval of the sixties. You know what I mean? We got our own political upheaval, and all of that kind of stuff, but but then it was like moving in a positive direction in a way, at least in the 60s it was. We've had nothing but negative moving stuff for the yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:42

And that and that probably weighs heavily on my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:48

Well, um I I get what you're saying, but I don't I'm not as bothered by it, I guess, as as you are. Um yeah, I mean, it would be cool if my daughters got to experience a mosh pit, a proper like summertime concert mosh pit, no phones, nobody, none of nothing. Just like out there. I imagine if they had to camp out to get tickets to humanity.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:16

You know what I mean? Because I mean, you know, take whoever their favorite artist is right now. I guarantee you that whatever it is getting accessible tickets for a price that they could afford themselves by working at uh a you know a part-time job, that's not feasible. And that's the sad part. That's the part that really it's it's feasible.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:40

I mean, me and me and Mandy are seeing MGK again on Wednesday evening at in in Bristow, uh Bristow, Virginia. Um we got $35 lawn seats.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:54

Like you you can still see a concert for very well it's $35 end cost, or is that $35 ticket price? Okay, so maybe it's $50 you know in the end or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:05

$55, who who knows?

SPEAKER_00 1:27:07

But but yeah, like it's it's not it also it also may be that my proximity to like especially for concerts for me, I have to go an hour into the city to be able to see them. And then my version of Merryweather Post Pavilion, which is you know a hop, skip, and a jump from for you, is a two and a half hour journey into the hinderlands south of Pittsburgh for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:32

Well, th this one that we're going to on Wednesdays is not quite that, but it's good it's it's an hour and a half plus to get out there. Like it's way out there. We're gonna be going there during rush hour basically, like after we get off work. So, you know, there's gonna be a slog involved, but um shoot, what was a I was just gonna make a a point though. Um No, just that oh there's a there's a uh A great little bar restaurant that we like to go to. It's actually in Silver Spring. It's the second oldest liquor license in Montgomery County, Maryland. It's called the Quarry House. Quarry House Tavern. It's a really cool place. You get you walk down like it's like downstairs, like sub below below street level. Um, and they got this like tiny, narrow little back dining room. And you know, on Friday nights, it's like they book like local young people's bands up in there. It's like a tiny little cavern space, and they have somebody sitting there with an iPad on the threshold between the main bar and the back room on Friday nights. And if you want to go back there, like you gotta pay your 15 bucks, and they'll have five bands play. And I know that's not a summer music festival, but hear me out, okay?

SPEAKER_00 1:28:56

There are things I you're right.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:58

And and is any single person in any of these bands over the age of 25? No. Have I heard of any of these bands? No. Will these bands ever go anywhere? Probably not. But the kids in that room are having foundational musical experiences, and people are having foundational musical experiences at summer music festivals this summer, and they always will.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:24

Well, and I will I will say, well, I'll say two things. One of the things that that I know happens now is like, you know, multimillionaires, billionaires can literally buy themselves artist access at Coachella, and I think that's gross and disgusting.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:42

They can pay artists to come play for their kids' birthday party sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:44

I know wealthy people. The but I will say there is any musician, and I have mentioned him on the show multiple times, who is fighting this trend. All right, and that's Youngblood. Youngblood puts on his own summer music festival called Bloodfest. All right. And it is like super anti-scalper, it's super fan friendly, and it's super accessible to people of all walks of life. And we need more people like him fighting the good fight to make this, you know, these types of memories accessible for everybody and not just the upper middle class of society. It should, you know, music is beautiful because it's for everybody, it's not just for one person. And, you know, it's probably a a sad uh you know, a sad, you know, fallout of the Spotify's and the Pandoras and the Apple musics and the the the death of radio and newspapers and all of these things that you know made those memories possible for us. But, you know, hopefully, hopefully we we see the error in our ways before it's too late and try to correct some of these things because you know, God love it, it was some of my best memories growing up.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:11

Well, that was very well put. Uh, and I'm inclined to give you the last word, although I just have to make one more comment.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:19

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:20

Um, well, first of all, go get go seek out young blood. I I love the sound of that and I want to I want to learn more about it. Um if we I don't know if I've talked about this on the show before or not, but if we if we didn't have cell phones at concerts, we wouldn't have had the story from last year about the the couple at the Coldplay concert and the woman that I knew. Did I show you this?

SPEAKER_00 1:31:48

Yes, we've talked about it.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:50

Right? This is that's that's her present day or you know, last year with her with her guy, and then that's the photograph that I took of her when she was my employee at Cafe Deluxe and Bethesda, where you worked. Um, so yeah, we wouldn't have that.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:04

Uh yeah, those those poor people could have just had their their secret tryst all to themselves and not been internet sensations.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:12

Yep, yep. She wouldn't be the most famous woman in the world. Um well, this has been a super, super fun walk down memory lane. I wish I had had more time to prepare because I would have really loved to dig into the set list for every one of these these festivals that I've been to. We we got into most of it, but um, there's a few more, but it certainly was enjoyable. Um so thank you for that. Um you enjoyed this. Yeah, yeah. Thank you for listening. Uh, and we will talk to you next time on Inglorious Brothers Sound. Inglorious Brothers is a Harparama production and a part of the Harporama family of podcasts. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Please like, subscribe, and follow, leave a five-star review, and most importantly, tell all your friends about us. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time. And uh, oh yeah, I'm gonna go to the house.