when john sang songbird the crowd started clapping between verses and they clapped too quicky and john laughed and said 'slow down'
Yeah that was sweet. ;D And then Chad helped the crowd giving them the beat.
That was my favorite moment too!
Only I didn't like when John stopped in the beginning of the song to change guitars. I know he's a perfectionist but I found the interruption more disturbing than whatever guitar he might be using
His singing was absolutely beautiful. I thought it was Chad who first encouraged the people to clap hands, but were to fast, and John said 'now, slow down, slow down'.. It was such a beautiful and sweet moment.
And Chad was so funny in the beginning. We managed to spot every single one of them sidestage, also Josh!, so his appearance was no surprise. The kids left of me were screaming his name and he smiled and pointed to the stage, that it was Mickey Avalon we should be watching instead of him ;D
Mickey Avalon was embarrassing, and I don't mean the crowd. At first I didn't agree with the booing and I even gave an applause but he was asking for it with such an act I think. I mean the pathetic things with his belt and his white underpants, please..
The food fight was hilarious!
And his response was perfect, he started throwing back and challenging the crowd "you're 55 000 people and you can't even hit my face"! It was great entertainment, to the point that people were wondering if it was all part of 'the act'
Dirk, where were you? I saw Henrik when we were waiting for the entrance and I was looking for you but I couldn't remember your face.
"She's the receiver", pleased to meet you
We both were there before 8 AM. Same goes for the energetic Scottish lady, great accent! Where did you end up? I didn't look behind me when I started running.
Security sucked. Okay the black lady was nice, but the second guy made me throw away my food and couldn't scan my ticket. So I took off anyway, he was screaming for me to come back but no way José ;D The way down was sooooo long, when I finally reached the barrier I couldn't go anymore, everybody seemed to be passing me
Me and my friend Bianca ended up first row on Flea's side, but her boyfriend Sander was mid first row, he wanted us to join but she didn't dare. By then I was in a minor dip because: I had shite headache, needed a toilet, and I would be soooooooo far away from John
Sander and Bianca didn't feel too well either and they decided to go further back into the crowd. Luckily my other friends Marike and Angelique were still mid first row. So I went to the toilets first and then took courage to push through the crowd and reach them. I was on the edge of being rude, hanging on to people and saying sorry-sorry-sorry all the time but I made it ;D
From that moment on I got high
I was just so grateful for being there, I didn't feel anything anymore, away headache, my feet never hurt -amazing!- okay my back was a little achey at times but I was 'above' all that, no boredom, nothing. I was enjoying whatever music was coming out of the speakers (insane basses, those yellow ear things are life savers) and it was fun to talk to the people around me, people from Pepperfans.nl also, but I didn't know them yet
And I was helping the kid next to me finding a plastic bag to pee in
He was cute with freckless, it was his first show, and he was trying to make out with the cute German blonde with the black star earrings ;D (And he secretly asked me if it wouldn't look dumb to pee in a bag
.)
Before any support act started Marike said she wouldn't be making it and she went to join Sander and Bianca. I got her spot ;D So I ended up first row in between Anthony and John, I can't imagine anyone having a better spot, truly..
I didn't pay attention to the setlist. People always speculate about what songs, I don't. As such even Give It Away at the end felt like a surprise to me, the crowd went wild.
But then I must say in theory I wasn't where I was anymore. Two tiny girls where squeezed behind me (they barely reached my shoulders) and I let them get passed. So technically speaking I was third row after the second song
But I thought: "mmm, this is my third front row experience, I can do it"
I realize I'm barely touching 'the show' as such, it's difficult to share 'the experience'. Some details you can tell, and it was an amazing show, but there wasn't much interaction with the audience.
Don't Forget Me was most amazing to me. And John's priceless facial expressions, he always steels the show
I'm a jam fanatic, but I regretted that they were standing so far at the back, I could barely see Josh. Sander said the big screens were totally amazing though
I really appreciate the way they are a band, as no other band can ever be. Everybody gets his time in the spotlights, it's never only about the singer (though praise the lord for Anthony's ass ;D), there's John's solos and Chad's length and Flea's trumpet. Forever cool