place: Bicentennial Park

year: 2006

shirt worn: NIN

type of show: official

bands:

NIN

ROB ZOMBIE

AVENGED SEVENFOLD

Tommy Lee

coheed&cambria

the crystal method

ALKALINE TRIO

RISE AGAINST

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE

shinedown

LACUNA COIL

FLYLEAF

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE

Atomic Tangerine

went with: Chris Golding, Brian Hession, & Dane Hession

show was: wow............wow

entry:

Let's see, how shall I start this off. Um......I've been waiting a very very long time to see NIN....and so I finally did. I spent the night at Chris Golding's house the night before. I woke up at his house on 3/18/6. It was in the second semester of twelfth grade. So, anyways. I woke up at Chris's house. His mom gave me a delicious Jimmy Dean sandwich. God, those are so good. So, yah. I had two glasses of water. We figured that since the night before was St. Patty's Day, that good old Irish friends Brian and his big brother Dane must have been hung over. So, we decided we'd give them a ride to the show since we didn't really want them to drive down there and die. Did I forget to mention that Chris drives now? Well he does....license, gotta get me one of those. So our proud to be sober asses dropped by Brian's house and picked up them. And then it was off to Miami. The only problem is that southbound I95 was blocked off. No biggie though, we just took the Turnpike. On the way down I had to break his CD player's virginity with my favorite CD of all time, self-entitled KoRn. So, after two hours or so we finally get down there. Oh, yah, almost forgot: the history of the Global Gathering. So the Global Gathering is this thing that for the past however many years has been held in Europe every year and it's this big festival featuring lots of rock bands, techno bands, rides, games, blah, blah, blah, you get the picture. It was in Ireland last year. So, this is the first year that they've ever decided "Hey, let's have one in America also," and it just happens that they also decided "Hey, let's have it in Miami," and it also just happens to be that the only one in the country is in Miami and I live two hours away, so I got to go. So, we get there at noon. Chris suggests that I starv myself all day and then just eat Checkers after the show. We're walking around. There's a giant rock stage, which is what I'm interested. There's like ten techno tents. I like techno but I wasn't familiar with the thirty million DJs there except the crystal method which is why I only listed them. So, there was this shitty local band from Orlando playing on the rock stage called Atomic Tangerine. I thought they were kind of shitty. So, I didn't really stick around to watch them. Instead, the four of us just decided to go walk around the never ending series of tents of people trying to sell you pipes but also give you free stuff. I look beyond the water and see a giant cruise. That giant cruise is one which would I get on the following day for a week and visit four countries: Cayman Islands, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico, all of which included a series of tents with guys trying to sell you their pipes but not give you free stuff. So, after Atomic Tangerine was done. I decided that we should go see BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE play. So, we went over to the rock stage, the biggest stage there. Now, something was very different about the way it was set up then when we went to Christmas Khaos. For some odd reason they had two barriers running down the middle of the crowd separating it in two creating a trench between the two halves of the crowd which no one except security and whatever officials could walk around in. So, we stayed on the right side. BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE kicked ass. They had one of the only pits I had seen all day. Every band got at least a 30 or 40 minute set which was really sweet. So, after they were done, it was FLYLEAF's turn. They're a very good band on CD, but they've got a lot to learn about being live, cause they look really goofy. One of their guitarists was trying to do the whole spazing guitar thing and it just wasn't working out. Actually, one of his guitar strings broke somewhere in the set. Their bassist was wearing red tight pants and a tight black shirt and black mascara and poofy pitch black hair and side burns and was trying to act all rock star by sticking his kroch in everyone's face. I had no idea how short their singer girl is. She looks like she's fifteen and she acts like she's high on every psychedelic drug out there. She's got a real good range though, ya know? After them was LACUNA COIL. They kicked ass. I was happy to see them. It was their first time playing in Miami. Then shinedown got on. I don't like shinedown. So, while they played, me and Chris went on the giant Farris wheel. When we got to the top the view was awesome. That's the thing I love about Miami. Wherever you look, there's a whole bunch of stuff beyond that in the background. Thank God the rides were free and they last a good while. That's much better then the fair..... except for the fact that the fair has much more rides, and much better ones. Then we went in the Gravitron. It was my first time going in one of those, cause I was always afraid it'd make me dizzy before. It really wasn't bad. What the hell was I thinking all that time? Then we went on the Hang glider ride. I always loved that thing. It makes me feel like I can fly, like Super Finch.So, that was enough time to get through shinedown's set, but then KILLSWITCH ENGAGE got on and I don't like them either. We just sat in the grass on the left side and watched them anyways. You'd think that I'd like them, but whatever. Well, actually I like their self-entitled CD, but that's all. Adam Dekewitz was being goofy as usual. Saying stupid 6th grade stuff like "I want you all to know something. Last night I fucked all your mothers with a bowling ball behind your favorite sports bar." Why does he act like he's twelve? Oh, well, he has more money and fans then I ever will, probably. The singer seems like a nice guy. He was pointing at some guy in the audience and he was like "Hey, I gotta say something to this guy. Stop messin with your phone. Your mom knows you'll be home in time for dinner. Chill out..........You gotta give me props man, I'm the only black guy on stage." Some other black guy ran on stage later on though and then he was like "I love this guy.....You better run dude" and the cops chased him off. It was cute. They had some big pits on both sides of the crowd. So, then RISE AGAINST played. The were the shit. We stayed right where we were and watched them. Since, I don't like ALKALINE TRIO, me and Chris went over to one of the techno stages and watched the crystal method. It was actually pretty hilarious. Everyone was dancing and none of them could dance and they all looked so goofy and it was so fuckin funny. When they were done we went back over to the rock stage and ALKALINE TRIO wasn't done. So, we sat in the grass on the right side. Darkness fell somewhere along their set. Some guy through an acorn at the singer's head. He was like "Was that you that threw that acorn at me? Good shot man. That wa a real nice shot. But ya know what? I win, cause you payed to come her, and I got payed to come here. Never-the-less it was a very good shot. After they were done me, Chris, and Brian went into the crowd cause from then on out were the best bands in my opinion (minus Tommy Lee). So, coheed&cambria played. They were great but they didn't play any of their old stuff. That made me sad. By the end of their set me, Chris, and Brian were all spread out ni the crowd  with no clue where each of us were but it didn't matter cause I could see everything so I just stayed where I was. Apparently Tommy Lee was going to be the encore act, so he didn't really come on next. OMFG. AVENGED SEVENFOLD WAS SO GOOD. The only thing that made me mad was the fact that all they played were songs off the new cd. They only played one song off of Waking the Fallen and it was Unholy Confessions (go figure). They didn't play any songs off of Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. The crowd was ecstatic during them. It kind of made me mad that I knew them when they weren't that big and I didn't get to see them until after they blew up. The coolest thing they did during their set was when Matt Shadows was like "If you're a true fan, you know the words to this song, and you will sing the words to this song, otherwise, get the fuck out. This song goes to Dimebag Darrel," and then they covered WALK by PANTERA. They actually did the whole song rather than just the beginning like most bands do. So, yah. ROB ZOMBIE was really bad ass also. Unlike at Ozzfest, he actually had all the weird stuff on stage. It looked corny as hell, all these plastic monsters and shit. The whole time there was this screen behind him playing clips from really cheesy sci-fi films and gory porno anime cartoons. There was a part where Rob Zombie was like "So, we've got this new album coming out called Educated Horses, but you guys don't wanna hear any of that. You wanna hear our old shit, so we're just gonna play all of our old shit for you." That is so awesome, they only played one song off the new album and it kind of sucked. In between every song he would try to talk and then he'd be like "GOD DAMNIT. That techno tent keeps distracting me. It's giving me a migrain. That fucking disco shit. Boom chica boob chica boom chica boom. Have you guys been listening to that all day? Has anyone slit their wrist yet?" Right before they played MORE HUMAN THAN HUMAN, Rob was like "Any of you guys remember a band called WHITE ZOMBIE?" and everyone was like "YAH!!!!!" and he was like "Good......cause I almost forgot. Anyways we're gonna play an old song from that stuff. I'm gonna bring back an old friend on stage. You might recognize him. He's traveled a far far ways. He---You know just forget it, you'll figure it out when he gets out here,"  and during that song the astro creep came out. This big fucking fifteen foot robot was just walking around on stage. It was so wierd. Anyways. So, yah. They kicked ass. I was getting so excited waiting to see NIN. I fuckin love this band so much. So, they hit the stage covered in fog and it was so amazing. They played so many good songs. It was funny because Trent Reznor had shaved his head, and the rest of the band looked like he did back in the day, ya know, with the black hair down to the chin. Their was all these weird things on the stage that were like weird shaped screens with static running on them. They had that one keyboard that Trent made. They played a two hour set I'd say. I'm glad they didn't play my favorite song ever....THE PERFECT DRUG, because they day I do hear it live, I want to have my perfect drug with me.... As much as I enjoyed their set, I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't take Chris's advice. Imagine this, you've gone over twelve hours without fod or water, you're squished in a sea of people,.........you're a dumb ass, Travis Finch. You are such a fucking dumb ass. After they were done, everyone left. No one wanted to stay for Tommy Lee so they could hear Get Naked. No one really wanted stick around for a washed up 80's drummer with a ten inch dick. I love MOTLEY CRUE, but, whatever. Brian had to help me out of the park cause was dying. I was seriously about to faint the whole time. Somewhere on the way out I stole a Gatorade. The two of us had to stop and take a rest in the grass by the AMERICAN AIRLINES ARENA. I took Brian's phone and I called Alena (no longer my girlfriend), who was in New York, and I was like "I'm Travis, and I'm lying in the middle of Miami dehydrated, and I feel like I'm going to die, and I just saw NIN, and it was the night of my life, and I fucking love you, bye." Eventually we made to Chris and Dane and got to the car. They filled me up with water. We went to Checkers. This time we weren't stranded there. We headed home. I got home at like four in the morning. I went to bed, woke up two hours later and got on a cruise with Chong and Eric. I got back after seven days, got home and started writing this. So, here I am. Ok, bye.