04-30-2007, 05:30 PM
I think it might be cool to hear what people remember about older shows before 2002. I was describing a show on another thread and I thought I did a wonderful job from a crowd prespective of what I experienced from it without the music side of the review. ( we all know the hip music is always good at worst and great at best) There are no reviews from before 2002 so here is mine for ARA 1993 2nd night at Markham fairgrounds. This is how I experienced the crowd feel.
I call it "Controlled Chaos" it was chaos but it was surrounded by a fence around the fairgrounds. I love a crazy crowd and the feel of it. Pushing agianst you and moving you against your will, till you have to look up to the sky to try to suck down some cool air and hope you dont pass out. The projectiles all around you the bodies landing on top of you. The orgasmic scream of the crowd as a new song begins it all over agian. The screams form those around you trying to escape and get out, forward, backward to the sides , anywhere just out. Those were the days. Those were the shows. about 30,000 people and they all wanted our spot front and center.
For the 1995 show we started out in front again but my sister in law was with us and had a problem being able to breath so we got lifted over the front rail and started in at the back and got to the light stage in the middle. From here we were able to get cool air to breath due to the light stage allowing air flow down. The crowd surged backwards and right over the (snow fence) that they had around the light stage. I found myself in the middle of this area and there was 1 yup thats 1 guy in there telling everybody to " get out" amazingly they did as they wanted to get back closer to the stage but I jumped ontop of my little area of snow fence and bent it down farther and stood on it , it gave me about a foot more in height. I got my wife and sister in law on it and we were a head above everybody else. The "security" guy came up to me and told me to get off. I told him that its down all around and there is no harm. he just looked at me and i guessed realized I was right. I asked him if he was the only guy around this area and he said there was only 5 guys for the sides and back and light stage area, the rest were up front. Can you imagine? I remember we would venture about 100 feet up thru the crowd again and my sister in law would complain that " its to hot" " i cant breath" " I cant move" " too many people" bla bla bla. My wife and i said to each other NEVER AGAIN. We jumped , screamed, sang at the top of our lungs, and yes threw empty plastic bottles too. When it was all over everybody just seemed to turn around and start a march to the exit, in the parking lot it was a standstill as people waited for friends, drank, smoked, partied, slept, we rolled down our windows lay back put a hip cassett on and fell asleep, I woke up around 330am to a mostly empty parking lot littered with beer bottles and cans and other junk, a girl approached my car from my side and proceeded to pull her pants down and pee right beside my window as she did not know I was sitting in my car, ( we had the seats laying down) I was gonna reach out and pinch her ass but thought better of it. She left I woke up Suzanne and we drove home to Cambridge. Next day we woke up and had showers, after the showers went into our room and it STANK of sweat and dirt. Later we went out to drive somewhere and wholly crap we had to open the windows and keep them open all day as the dirty sweat from our bodies had soaked onto the seats.
Long winded I know but what the hell I felt like writing something today.
I am gonna write about the other shows or what I remember of them.
I do know that the Molson park shows were dissapointing crowd wise for me. I actaully got yelled at by some girls for dancing and jumping around. Everybody around me was just standing still and showing NO EMOTION whatsoever. You would not even know if they liked a song or not. Or even if it was a fav or not. Just NOTHING.
More on that later.
Wesley.
I call it "Controlled Chaos" it was chaos but it was surrounded by a fence around the fairgrounds. I love a crazy crowd and the feel of it. Pushing agianst you and moving you against your will, till you have to look up to the sky to try to suck down some cool air and hope you dont pass out. The projectiles all around you the bodies landing on top of you. The orgasmic scream of the crowd as a new song begins it all over agian. The screams form those around you trying to escape and get out, forward, backward to the sides , anywhere just out. Those were the days. Those were the shows. about 30,000 people and they all wanted our spot front and center.
For the 1995 show we started out in front again but my sister in law was with us and had a problem being able to breath so we got lifted over the front rail and started in at the back and got to the light stage in the middle. From here we were able to get cool air to breath due to the light stage allowing air flow down. The crowd surged backwards and right over the (snow fence) that they had around the light stage. I found myself in the middle of this area and there was 1 yup thats 1 guy in there telling everybody to " get out" amazingly they did as they wanted to get back closer to the stage but I jumped ontop of my little area of snow fence and bent it down farther and stood on it , it gave me about a foot more in height. I got my wife and sister in law on it and we were a head above everybody else. The "security" guy came up to me and told me to get off. I told him that its down all around and there is no harm. he just looked at me and i guessed realized I was right. I asked him if he was the only guy around this area and he said there was only 5 guys for the sides and back and light stage area, the rest were up front. Can you imagine? I remember we would venture about 100 feet up thru the crowd again and my sister in law would complain that " its to hot" " i cant breath" " I cant move" " too many people" bla bla bla. My wife and i said to each other NEVER AGAIN. We jumped , screamed, sang at the top of our lungs, and yes threw empty plastic bottles too. When it was all over everybody just seemed to turn around and start a march to the exit, in the parking lot it was a standstill as people waited for friends, drank, smoked, partied, slept, we rolled down our windows lay back put a hip cassett on and fell asleep, I woke up around 330am to a mostly empty parking lot littered with beer bottles and cans and other junk, a girl approached my car from my side and proceeded to pull her pants down and pee right beside my window as she did not know I was sitting in my car, ( we had the seats laying down) I was gonna reach out and pinch her ass but thought better of it. She left I woke up Suzanne and we drove home to Cambridge. Next day we woke up and had showers, after the showers went into our room and it STANK of sweat and dirt. Later we went out to drive somewhere and wholly crap we had to open the windows and keep them open all day as the dirty sweat from our bodies had soaked onto the seats.
Long winded I know but what the hell I felt like writing something today.
I am gonna write about the other shows or what I remember of them.
I do know that the Molson park shows were dissapointing crowd wise for me. I actaully got yelled at by some girls for dancing and jumping around. Everybody around me was just standing still and showing NO EMOTION whatsoever. You would not even know if they liked a song or not. Or even if it was a fav or not. Just NOTHING.
More on that later.
Wesley.