2:10 PM - Interstate 808 take the Ernie Ball stage! Fabulous show; had the crowd eating out of their hands. I started to get nervous. I hoped the crowd would stay around. I think we were lucky that Sw1tched was going on after us. I banked on that and waited until set up.
2:40 PM - Time for set up! We had run into Josh Klayman from Powderburn earlier in the day and he really helped our collective asses! Down to guitar tech-ing and taking the pictures. All the ones you see here were from him. Anyway, Gene went in search of beers and I felt it my duty to pee like 3 times in 20 minutes. Some of our regulars showed up and they were so very cool! We all felt better to see familiar faces. I gave my video camera to Rob's friend, Evan, and joined the rest for our pre-show "Conan" line reciting ritual...
3:10 PM - SHOW TIME!!! See pictures...the crowd was really great! I was throwing out CD's and T-shirts and it was getting crazy already...you'll never guess what happened next..
3:15 PM - It hasn't rained since we got there, so what do you think happened? DOWN POUR!!! All the other stages closed and we were the only music for a short period of time ( a band was setting up on the main aphitheater stage). So kids came pouring down to our stage! There is a point on the videotape, which Evan valiantly kept going with, where I just laugh and say, "Holy Shit...". It was massive; I don't know how else to describe it. I think that Brian from Ernie Ball was a little scared because at this point the equipment Rob was playing on was shorting out and we were in an inch of standing water on the stage, but we kept going. Show didn't stop; that might have been scarier because the pits were forming and even I was afraid of people getting hurt, but still, it was glorious. At one point I look back at Gene and say, "Are you seeing this?" He commented later that during "Hands Up" he looked up and saw the sea of middle fingers that the song encouraged. We were all truly amazed at the crowd reaction to us. When all the merch was gone they wanted drumsticks, too. They were grabbing and fighting over anything they could get and it was so weird to us, but we thought so cool of them! Any of you who read this THANK YOU FOR THE BEST DAY OF OUR STONEKRACKER LIVES!!!! It was just so amazing; because it rained it got so huge so quick and everybody had so much fun! It was definately why we do this; everyone was letting go and fully emmersing themselves in experience and it's like there was just a 20 minutes of no problems, no bad times; just pure enjoyment. Eric, Gene, and most of all Rob, being the new guy with the most nerves, did a hell of a job. I am so proud of them...
4:00 PM - Erine Ball said we did one hell of a job. We kept getting stopped on our way to the van by kids for autographs, T-shirts, and just talking. We met a lot of cool people. Rob and I took off to see Sw1tched who were great! We lost Eric, Gene, Josh, and Evan for awhile but hooked back up at Mighty Mighty Bosstones to talk to more people and Gene and I enjoyed the sweet deal on Vans' shirts! Dude! Only $10 and you get a free cap!
5:56 PM - On the road home now. We were wet, tired, and a bit cold. But very, very, happy! Enjoy the pictures! Much love to all of you...
Dana "Red" Cooper - StoneKracker
