311 Concert- An Interesting Experience

Hey everyone! Today is a momentous occasion as this is the first post by Janalee to the Anderson Family blog. So Kami has "invited" me to post several times and gotten after me for not contributing to the family blog but I have just not had time. I barely have time to look at the blogs let alone contribute. The other night, Natalie gave me until Friday at midnight to have my first blogging posted?? (as you can see I don't speak blog). I missed that deadline and I'm a bit worried at what the repercussions may be. When I told Natalie I didn't even know how to blog she said anyone with a master's degree should be able to figure it out and she had full confidence that I would and she expected pictures and a video clip. I told Kami and Marlee I wasn't sure if I should post because I didn't want to set a precedence or expectation that I'll be making future posts.

Anywhoo, back in May I won golden tickets on 101.9 THE END to go to three concerts- 311, Incubus, and The Fray at the Usana Ampitheater. I'm really excited about going to The Fray in July but I don't know the other two groups very well. The funny thing is that the week I won the tickets we had gone to Taylor Swift's concert and I had told everyone that it was ironic that I had been to many concerts but they have only been country singers and I don't even listen to country music regularly. (Marlee did remind me I went with her to Howie Day when she won tickets.) We were also talking about how it is weird that the music they play between acts at a country concert isn't country music so we wondered if they played country music between acts at other concerts and we found out they do! (just kidding).

As we watched the weather all week we knew we were going to get rained on so we bundled up and headed off. The minute we pulled into the parking lot we knew that we were out of our element. Everyone was already partying- drinking alcohol out of coolers in the back of their cars. We just barely parked and immediately there were several guys lined up in front of us peeing. They just kept coming- at least 6 took a turn. When we got to the entrance, men were shuttled into one line and women in another because each person was patted down before you could even enter.

Because of the ominous weather we bought ponchos and took a couple little blankets. We left my big blanket in the car and wished we had it later on. I wore my winter boots and gloves and was so glad I did. For the first hour during the opening act (Ziggy Marley) it was raining steadily, then it cleared up for the rest of the night but we were damp and cold.

Interesting things that happened during the concert:

In the middle of the concert there were suddenly four guys right next to me in our row. The first one was standing right in front of me with his fist clenched in front of my face. They were being really loud and were climbing through the people over seats but had stopped there. They had obviously been drinking. Marlee said she was scared because she thought he was going to hit me. I was just trying to figure out what he was doing when I realized he was waiting for a knuckle bump so I gave him one and he cheered and moved on. There was also just one guy who had already come through the crowd the same way- straight over the seats. He was quite drunk and fell right down on the ground after he crossed a few rows in front of us.

When the singers said to get out their lighters, everyone actually had lighters, not just cell phones. There was a lot of smoking going on around us the whole concert, including, the joint of some sort that was being passed around by the group in front of us. We wondered if we could actually get high by inhaling the air around us.

The F-bomb as well as other choice language was being thrown out all around us, including from the main singer.

When we decided to head out a bit early to avoid all the mayhem of getting out with the crowd I was totally body slammed and almost burned by the cigarette of a guy dancing around wildly.

I really did have a fun time I just wouldn't choose this type of atmosphere to be in regularly. I enjoyed getting into it and having fun people watching. I'm glad I can have fun in life without smoking and drinking but I definitely can see from watching others that your inhibitions are lowered when you get alcohol in you. I'm not sure how well Marlee enjoyed it. Hopefully, she'll be game to go with me again though I've had many offers from those who want to go to The Fray. I'm now accepting bribes.

I hope the video works. It's quite crackly.




Kami, are you satisfied now? Natalie, are you proud of me? I am only 24 hours and 22 minutes late. (Not to shabby)