WOODSTOCK 99
Well it was Thursday morning and we went to the bank so I could
get some insurance and put some more money on my credit card, just to
make sure I would have enough to buy my ticket when we got there. So
we finished at the bank and we were on our way to the biggest concert
we've ever been too.
After a 2 hour drive we got to the boarder where they just asked if
we had ID and then waved us through, imagine all the things we could
have taken with us, oh well we probably would have had a full search
had we tried to sneak anything in to the States. We then stopped in
Pembroke, NY for some lunch where we found out that Americans have
horrible English, and I thought I had bad English. After that we were
on our way again and this time the next stop was Rome, NY.
We got to Rome and it was quite obvious that the local folk loved
the idea of all the money that could be made, there were so many houses
selling water and souvenirs it was kind of sickening. It took about an
hour to get through Rome to the actual parking facility, and on this
journey we saw some typical Americans, waving signs to the effect of
"show us your tits" and for some reason women were. Anyway we
parked and went to get my ticket. We asked 3 different security guards
where I could get a ticket and only the last one had any idea. We went
there and I went to purchase the ticket but my card was declined, after
putting over $400 Canadian on my card this was a big kick in the nuts,
luckily my friend Shane had a card on him and he purchased the ticket
for me. We went into the park and had a look around and we each (there
were 3 of us) bought a bottle of water, at $4 American. We then
returned to the car and ate a bag of chips while listening to the sounds of
James Brown coming from the stage.
It is now 8:30am on Friday morning, my tent has gone from
comfortable too unbearable, the sun can be a real bastard sometimes.
We wake up and get dressed and then make the mile walk over to the
park we spend about an 1.5 hours trying to get some of the free water
but someone broke the taps off of this station during the night so it takes
forever. After all our bottles are filled up we head over to the West stage
and that was about another mile away. We then stopped to get some
lunch, a 12-inch pizza for $12. After we ate that we decided that because
this was the best deal we should get another one for dinner and lunch
the next day, so we did and took it back to the car. Now we headed back
for the East stage, which is a little closer than the East one. We put up
with Jamiroquai and then Live came on, they were real good and the
new material sounds great. We then left and came back for the
Offspring who were the highlight of the weekend, they played a great set
had a lot of people come on stage with them and killed the Backstreet
Boys, well cardboard cutouts at least. We then walked around trying not
to listen to Korn, we then returned for Bush and they were pretty good
as well, played some new stuff that sounded decent. We left before their
encore to avoid some of the crowd but as we were walking they covered
an R.E.M. song that I can't remember the title of right now. We got back
to our tents talked for a while and went to sleep.
It's now 8:30am on Saturday morning and the same thing as the
day before has happened, I realize the biggest fault in a tent is its way of
heating up to about 130 degrees in a few minutes. We ended up eating a
pizza for breakfast, got dressed and headed over to the East stage to see
the Hip, they were great, it seemed like they were kind of nervous
though, it was weird seeing them in the day and for such a short set,
60min. After them we went to the bank machine and took out some
more money and then headed over to the West stage for Everclear, they
were pretty good and had like a hundred people on stage with them at
the end. Collective Soul was to come on after Everclear but instead Ice
Cube came on so we took off to get more pizza. We then went back to the
car ate our dinner and came back to the East stage for the end of Limp
Bizkit so that we could get a decent spot for RATM. We saw the whole
thing where the singer was on the wood and it didn't seem that bad
there but when we got home we saw what really happened. Then Rage
came on and they were great, the funniest thing was all the drunks
cheering that Rage was awesome and then when Rage burnt the flag the
same people started to boo them. It was funny as hell. The only
problem was that the Chemical Brothers were playing at the same time
so we didn't get to see them. Metallica came on next we watched one
song and left. We could still hear them at our car and I guess that to a
fan it would have been a good show. Shane and I were going to go to the
rave that night but our legs hurt way too much. We later found out that
there was a big orgy at the rave.
It's now 8:30am on Sunday morning, this time I'm determined to
get some more sleep so I took my blanket and laid down beside a truck
beside us that was providing some shade. I didn't fall asleep but it was
nice and cool. We went to the West stage to see OLP and they were good
but played far to many new songs, at one point they played 7 in a row.
After them we headed over to the "Emerging Artists Stage" so that we
could get up close for Big Sugar. This wasn't a problem there was hardly
anyone there, but by the time BS came on the place was packed there
had to be about 5000 - 6000 people there it was awesome. We met a
fellow Tea Party friend there, Julia; we meet up with her at all the Tea
Party shows. Anyway Big Sugar kicked ass big time and when they saw
all the Canadians in the crowd they opened with Oh' Canada. It was
beautiful, my favorite band of the weekend. After them we went back to
the West stage assuming that Collective Soul would be on now since this
was when Ice Cube was scheduled. We were right and they were great,
while watching them we noticed someone with a 3ft bong, that's got to be
a lot of work. Collective Soul played a couple covers - Crazy Train (Ozzy)
and I Will Follow (U2). After them it was over to the East stage to see
the Red Hot Chilly Peppers. We got there before Creed was done
playing and as we were walking there the singer said something like
"this band didn't get a chance to play 30 years ago so we decided to give
them another chance". They then brought out Robby from the Doors and
played Roadhouse Blues and Riders on the Storm, he also played What's
This Life For with them. It was pretty cool. RHCP came on and played
a good set and people were just going nuts making fires everywhere and
it was absolute chaos. We left after them and heard part of the Jimi
Hendrix tribute but they only played the American anthem and them
stopped to get rid of some of the people, apparently it was supposed to be
3hrs long. While we were at our tents we could still see the fires so they
must have been about 30ft high.
It's now 6am on Monday morning and my alarm is ringing we
wake up get dressed pack up and leave, we stop at the 2nd Dunkin
Donuts we find and drink a couple gallons of Pepsi to make up for the 3
days of only water. We then hit the road again and the next stop is in
Niagara Falls we do some sight seeing and then head for home. Once we
get to Claire's (the 3rd member of our trio) house we went for a swim and
that felt so good, it was nice to be clean again.
All in all the weekend was quite an experience and I'm sure I'll
never forget it. Many $'s were spent and many memories were formed.
We each drank about 10 bottles of water (refilled, not new ones) a day
and we walked about 10 miles a day. Legs and feet were sore for the
majority of the weekend but we didn't really care, it was a small price to
pay compared to the food prices 8~). Would I do it again? I'm not sure,
maybe if there was better security, a cleaner environment and cheaper
prices. I don't think there will ever be another one because of how poorly
this one was run. As everyone knows the only thing that this Woodstock
and the original had in common was the name and its sad that they use
the name to sell tickets but hey I guess the money is what's
important.