| "our sets like milk and cookies....nah it's more like a shot of tequila." - Julian |
| You could compare it to 'Riverdance'; it has the same sort of intensity and magic…Well, it's the same thing with us' - Nick...sarcasm much |
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>The Strokes @ Rimac Arena in San Diego on April 30th, 2002. by Jennifer Shepard Well, I did it again. Exactly three months after I first saw The Strokes in Las Vegas, I saw them in San Diego, with the D! It was such a great show, somewhat overshadowed by meeting some of The Strokes after the performance. But that is moving ahead, so I'll delay... I drove down to San Diego with my good friend, Joey around 4:30. And because of traffic and pitstops, it took us almost 3 hours to get there. I think the most fun part of the trip was when we put on The Hives, and rocked out while zooming past bumper-to-bumper traffic in the carpool lane! I love the damn Hives. Anywayz, we arrived at UCSD right around 7:30, and made our way past the long-ass line to get in, due to trusty will-call! I got my tickets, and slipped right inside. By the time we got to the floor, The Moldy Peaches were already into their second or third song. For some reason, I think Adam is foxy! Seeing him up close was like: "HEY!" They zipped through their acoustic hilarity, doing virtually every song on their album, including "Steak for Chicken", and my personal favorite, "Who's Got the Crack?", which served as their closing song. The crowd was largely unreceptive of the Peaches though. I thought it was great fun however. Screw those bastards who were making rude comments. Tenacious D came up next, and they were good as usual. I'd seen them once before, opening for Weezer last year, and this time I had way more fun. KG and Jack Black rocked the crowd. It's funny how everyone was just kind of standing around, but you could tell the crowd was digging it, because people were screaming and applauding at every turn. It was lots of fun, and humor. It did however, drag on for a bit too long. Longer than the Strokes set still to come. Still, it was enjoyable. I especially like the "Song for the Ladies"! "I'm gonna fuck you sloooooooow!" Too funny. Then, fucking Strokes time! That night I got to see Julian's exposed arms up close! Woo hoo! It was the first thing that went through my head when they came out... "Hey, I can see his arms! YES!" I'm such a foolish girl. Anywayz, the crowd went immediately insane as the boys launched into their new song. The one as-yet-untitled. Not "Ze Newie", but that new new one. It was really good, and very different in my opinion than their usual stuff. Then came "Meet Me in the Bathroom", which rocked my ass off. Then "New York City Cops" which rocked even harder, but this is where I started to get really frustrated because the crowd was way too nuts, and I was getting so pushed around and smothered and whatnot, that I couldn't concentrate either on the band, or the music. It sucked. But I kept going. Man, oh, man... Nick was wearing his white "fuck me" jacket with a black shirt underneath. Woo, did he look hot! I mean GODDAMN! Albert seemed to be in a very good mood, as did Julian. He had actually walked on stage smiling his gorgeous Julian smile! That's how great this night was. Usually Julian saunters on-stage with a "fuck you" attitude, but I knew this night was gonna be too good. Okay, back to the tunes... I can't quite remember the exact order. I think perhaps "Is This It" came next, because I remember some guy saying, "Dude I hope they do a slow one next, cuz this is ridiculous!", and I was all: "Right on!" Then I believe it was "Barely Legal", which always makes me crazy, and it was just fucking perfect. So yeah, then it was probly "Alone, Together", and then "Ze Newie". When they played that, I went nuts, and most everyone had no idea what the song was, so I took advantage, and plowed past all sorts of people to get even closer to the stage, and away from the crazy mother fuckers who were making me mad. I sang along with Jules, and noticed he did indeed come up with new and improved verses for the tune, cuz I kept screwing up. He looked at me during the song, cuz I was bouncng around singing the chorus, while everyone was kind of more mellow and idle than before. That was cool. "Someday" followed, as well as "When It Started", and I remember Julian introducing "The Modern Age" all strangely. I can't remember exactly what he said, but it was something in french, and he made it sound all like it was going to be a cover or something, cuz he called by a different name. Then Nick started the riff, and everyone went wild! It was great. "Soma" was another highlight. The fans really like that song. I started feeling pretty fucked up at that point though, and I was trying my best to ignore it. See, the thing was I'd only consumed a Kit Kat, a Dr. Pepper, and a cigarette the entire day, so I was pretty damn empty. So I guess I was getting exhausted and de-hydrated from all the activity. They started playing "Trying Your Luck", and I tried to focus on Jules, and the boys, but I couldn't. My vision was all splotchy with black, and I felt like any minute I could pass out, so I reluctantly decided that that wouldn't serve any good purpose, and made my way out of the crowd, to the left of the stage. Everyone looked at me like I was fucked up as all hell, and I was, but of course no one tried to help. So, for the remainder of the song, I sat down on the side, and tried to get a security guy to give me some water, and he said no... the bastard. I was thinking of what the fuck I was going to try and do about the situation, as I had been seperated from Joey during Tenacious D, when suddenly the opening riff to a great song gave me my second wind... "Last Nite", baby! I decided "FUCK IT! I can do this. It'll be over soon, and you can rest." So I went over through the crowd a bit, and stayed up close to the left of the stage throughout the rest of the show. After "Last Nite" came my personal favorite, "Hard to Explain". I just love seeing and hearing them do that one live. Julian tugs on his lapels looking all good, and the song is just so charged with emotion. The entire show was very energetic, and Julian kept saying things like: "This is a great show!", and "You guys are fucking awesome!" It was totally cool. They ended it as usual with "Take It or Leave It", and brought the fucking house down. Julian came over and hopped up onto a speaker platform right next to me, and started shaking the speaker while singing the angry chorus, which was awesome, and finished off the song by doing the same thing at the other end of the stage. After the other boys walked off stage, Fab came out from behind his drum kit, and jumped into the crowd, not once, but twice! It was so fun! So yes, the concert was a great experience, and it was obvious that the night was an exceptional performance for them. I personally would say that the actual show portion of my evening wasn't as good as the one in Vegas, because I wasn't able to enjoy it as much, and concentrate on the band, and share those looks with Julian throughout the show. I was too focused on outside bullshit. None the less, my after-show experience made up for anything that went on inside. I found Joey amidst the dispersing crowd on the floor of the arena. We immediately threw ourselves into a huge hug, and we had big smiles on our faces. This was his first time seeing The Strokes, and he said: "Oh my god, how fucking awesome was that!" I was like: "Too awesome!" So while walking out of the venue, drenched in sweat from head to toe literally, with my left ear hardly functioning, and my side feeling as if it would burst open, and my foot bruised, and my body needing fluids and nicotine, I convinced Joey to venture over to the outside backstage area, and see if we could meet some people. I figured I could hold off on the gatorade drinking, if I could talk to The Strokes. We were there for about 20 minutes, when Jack Black came out, and everyone got really excited, and Jack made his way around signing autographs, and looking slightly demented. When he got over to where I was standing with Joey, and a couple of hardcore Strokes fans, I handed him something to sign, and he took it without looking at me. Some dude was asking all sorts of questions, and he was generally unresponsive, and then when he handed me back the autograph, he glanced at me, then did a double take, and grabbed my hand. He gave me an intense Jack Black smirk, and looked me up and down while rubbing my hand, and I said: "Hey." And he was all: "Oooh, Snuggle Bunny!" In my head I was like "What? Jack Black is NOT hitting on me!" But he was I guess. I just kind of laughed and said something like "Thanks", and then he kind of gave me a look, and walked away. It was really strange, and great at the same time. After that the girls next to us started talking to me, and praised me for getting Jack Black's attention, and I said: "If only I get that reaction with a Stroke, preferably Julian." They told me I looked like a younger, cuter version of Jack Black's girlfriend. Then they told me I look like Meg from The White Stripes. I mentioned that to my boyfriend, and he was like: "You do! Now that I think about it, that's probably shy I have a huge crush on her!" So there, if anyone was wondering... I look like the drummer from The White Stripes. So, me and the two chicks began discussing the Strokes in earnest. It was cool. They had met them before, and said that they were all really nice, with the exception of Nick. They said the last time they talked to them, Nick was being all asshole rock-star like. I was like: "Wow, that sucks." And I was thinking: "Hopefully he'll be cool tonight. Boy was I wrong... more...there is more... |