Shockingly enough I actually have things happen at home sometimes too! Let's just say that September has been one crazy-ass month! I feel like I have been going going going constantly, but that is how I like it most of the time! On Sept 10th I started my 5 concerts/festivals in 7 days heavy concert season rap-up! My boys in Seether came to town here at home for concert #1. When I heard they were coming, I about had a freak out! As before mentioned I'm pretty obsessed with this band and I constantly argue with myself if they are my favorite band or if it's A7X. The mystery may never be solved. They played at The Complex which is in downtown SLC. It's not big by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it was just about right for them. They had a couple local bands open up for them which I thought was pretty cool. I wasn't particularly crazy about either of those bands, but I was excited for the opportunity they had to get out there and share their stuff. Seether freaking blew my socks off. Possibly the best concert I have ever heard them play. I'm always worried when they play indoors because sometimes it has gone terribly wrong for them, but somebody got it right this time. They sounded amazing! You could tell they were having so much fun up there and it helped the crowd get into it as well. It was a full house which also made me happy. Being in Utah, I always fear that there is going to be a great rock show and no one shows up and it's a total flop. We don't need that kind of bad exposure. So even though i hate being crammed in a venue rubbing up against strangers, I would do it for them. It was such a great night and it was so glad that it went so well! Hopefully they will see that people here love them and want them to come back!
Concert #2 was Chevelle out at the Great Saltair in Magna. I do love Chevelle, don't get me wrong, but I had seen them so many times last year that I wasn't overly ecstatic about the concert but I had to go. Anytime anyone worth while comes to SLC I will most likely be there, if anything, to support the cause of live rock here at home. So I bought tickets to support some great bands and show them that there is a market here. It was a pretty full concert, not a sell out, but a decent crowd. The bands that played with them were Dayshell, who were okay, and Kyng who was pretty great. Chevelle put on a solid show and we had a lot of fun. If you are ever at a concert at the Saltair, look in booth #2 upstairs, second booth from the left, and you might see me! If I'm ever at a concert there, that's where I'm at. I just love the VIP rep for Saltair, she is the best! We are now on a first name basis with hugging involved which means I go to way too many concerts lol. It was a great night once again. I love when I can see great bands here at home.
On Friday night Shelly and I hopped a flight to Sacramento California to go to the Aftershock Festival on Saturday and Sunday making for concerts #3 and #4. Saturday was (like usual) really freaking hot. I think the high was like 102 degrees, so we were roasting. This was the second year we have gone to Aftershock and sadly I think they didn't handle this year as well as they could have or even should have. The whole time I just thought, man I need to get a job organizing these things, because who ever did this one should be fired. The VIP lanyards were super ghetto compared to last years. The seating in VIP was terrible. They had what I would call poolside chairs that you lay out on, and only 100 or so. So most people didn't have a place to sit. Total waste of space. The worst part, and the part that made me the most upset was the 3 stages that were way too close together and played in conflict with each other. The first year there were only 2 main stages and they just rotated between the two so you never had to choose which band you wanted to watch. This year, 2 of the 3 stages were playing at the same time so they were playing on top of each other. Plus you were forced to choose! I hate choosing, I want to watch every one! For the most part it wasn't too bad but I have to say that poor Nothing More got totally screwed. They had to play at the same time as Black Label Society and you could hardly hear them! BLS is way louder that NM and so they were drowned out. It was just sad because they are such a great band. Lineup wise the weekend was pretty great, Godsmack was there as well which was awesome! I do love them and didn't mind seeing the twice in like 2.5 weeks. I also saw Seether. Again. and it was amazing. again. I was seriously ecstatic that I got to see them 3 times this month. Each time was new and different and amazing. Ah it was heaven. We also got to see 5FDP again. I had missed them. It was also crazy dusty so we were so dirty and sweaty and smelly (it was CA so naturally there was freaking weed everywhere). None the less it was a great weekend and a great way to go to our last festival of the season. I was sad it was over, but frankly I am ready for a break! Festivals are exhausting, but they are seriously the best!
The 5th and final concert of my 7 days was back at home. 5FDP, Volbeat, Hellyeah and Nothing More opened up their tour here and it was seriously the best! We had 9 of us all together that went and it was SO much fun! Every band played a great set, and thankfully the concert looked to be just about sold out! It was especially great to get to be a part of a friends first concert experience. It was crazy to see how excited she was! Her first and what seemed like my millionth. It was fun to share some of my knowledge of do's and do nots and to see how she reacted to the environment. I'm sure there are many more concerts in her future!
What a way to end my concert year, right?! What an amazing summer it has been! I feel so blessed to get to do the things I love and live out my dreams of basically being a metal groupie. If only I could do it for a living! That would make my life all but perfect! My next adventure starts in an hour from now and I'm pretty excited! Life is great!
Friday, September 26, 2014
LABOR DAY MADNESS!
Wow! It seems like every time I write I have a ton to fill you in on! I actually have a free second so I figured I would try and catch up! So we left off just before my crazy crazy Labor Day weekend. So Friday night my mom, cousin Jen and I caught a red eye flight to Tampa Florida. I have never been much of a fan of the "red eye" flight, but living the lifestyle that I do, it tends to be my best option. So we hopped a plane and flew to Tampa. We had a layover in Denver which meant our longest flight was only 3.5 hours long. That meant that we only got 3 hours of sleep that night. Plus, let's be honest. Sleeping on a plane isn't very restful so it was a crappy 3 hours of sleep. We got to Florida at 5:30 in the morning and we were just exhausted. We grabbed the rental car and then headed to St. Petersburg to watch the sunrise on the beach. Well I shouldn't really say we, I should say they because I was passed out in the back seat of the car to catch an extra 15 minutes of shut eye. Afterwards we headed to Ft. Desoto state park so Jen could get in her run (she was training for a marathon). Shelly and I hung out by the beach for a while and then ended up just sitting in the car. By this point I was too tired to even sleep so I just stared off into space until Jen was finished. By this time is was most definitely time to grab some food. We found some wacky hole in the wall road side diner and ate breakfast/lunch. The place was pretty weird and the food wasn't anything to write home about, but we still had some fun. We killed some time in the parking lot until it was time to head out!
Of course we went to Florida for a concert! It seems a good 95% of the trips I take are concert related. This particular trip was for the Rockstar Uproar Festival. Usually Uproar comes to SLC but for some stupid reason they didn't this year. I was BEYOND pissed about it, especially since the lineup was killer, so I found the weekend that worked for me and chased them across the country. Sadly not all of the bands were at all the stops so I didn't get to see Skillet, but I've seen them enough times to get the gist. So we got to the amphitheater and immediately sought out some shade. I don't know if any of you have ever been to Florida in the summer months, but it is pretty freaking miserable. It was so freaking hot (which seems to be a theme at my festivals this year), and not to mention humid! I was pretty sure I was going to die and that I couldn't be any more uncomfortable. As most festivals do, the smaller bands play first on the smaller stages so we decided we would hit the VIP tent and stay there until it was time for the main stage. About an hour before the first band was supposed to play on the main stage it started to rain. OK not just rain, it was basically a monsoon. It was like someone was standing over us dumping large buckets of water! We started to freak out just a tad. We did NOT just fly across the freaking country to have our concert rained out! So we just sat in our tent and waited it out. Thankfully right before the first band was due to start, it finally stopped. So we headed to the main stage, dried off our chairs and watched Pop Evil start us off right. The second band was Seether. If you know me at all you know that I am basically OBSESSED with Seether and have every intention of marrying Shaun Morgan some day. They played pretty well, I have seen them do better, but I have also seem them play much worse. I was content with their performance. The headlining band was none other than Godsmack! Oh how I had missed them! They did such a great job! They had been on hiatus for 3 or so years and apparently they almost broke up. Thank goodness they didn't because their new material is flat out amazing. We had a great job rocking out, but all great things must come to an end. So at 11:30 or so that night we headed out to the parking lot to drive to Orlando where we were spending the night. By time time we got to bed it was around 1:30 AM, making this what felt like the longest day of my entire life!
So I'm sure you're thinking, "well at least you got to sleep in the next morning, right?" Wrong. We woke up, got ready and were at Universal Studios Orlando by 9 am on Sunday. We had head that the new ride in Diagon Alley had the longest wait and that we needed to get there first, so that is right where we went. The ride was called "Escape from Gringotts" and was a replica of the bank from the Harry Potter movies. The structure itself was amazing and the whole atmosphere was fantastic so I had really high hopes for the ride. Now enters the new segment of my blog lovingly called "What the HELL! (things I wish I knew)" So for today's entry of WTH I will give you a pointer. DO NOT RIDE THIS RIDE IF YOU HAVE TO WAIT MORE THAN AN HOUR!! We waited 2.5 hours and it was the biggest let down of my entire life. It was beyond stupid and by the time it was over, we were SO mad that we were literally speechless. We just sat there thinking we had just wasted the first half of our day for nothing. So that didn't start off our day particularly well. So for the rest of Sunday and half a day Monday we ran around like mad between the two parks trying to fit in as much as possible! On both days there as a 20 or so minute stint of torrential downpour which apparently is a thing in Florida. That was a bit annoying but we had fun with it and made the best out of it. Thankfully there are a lot of indoor things to do so it wasn't too bad! We did the Despicable Me minions experience (I would call it a ride, but they aren't rides they are 3D experiences where you get taken on a fake ride while sitting still for the most part. Sadly I'm not big into the whole 3D thing, so I wouldn't say many of these "experiences" blew me away). The minion thing was cute, I liked that. We also rode (or not rode, experienced) the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket (which was pretty good), Revenge of the Mummy (an Indiana Jones deja vu) , Twister (weirdest, most random, stupid thing I have ever done), Transformers (not a fan, too much going on and the 3D didn't sit well), Jurassic Park (meh), and the Cat in the Hat (don't judge). We also did the Dragon Challenge and the Forbidden Journey in Hogsmeade which were both pretty awesome! The Dragon Challenge was one of the few real coasters at the parks and I would say it did not disappoint! The Forbidden Journey was flat out amazing. It combined actual movement and 3D to make for a ride that will seriously kick your butt if you are even a tiny bit prone to motion sickness. It messed with me somewhat, but it seriously kicked the crap out of poor Jennifer. It was still awesome and we ended up doing it both days because it was awesome none the less. Hogsmeade was seriously the coolest thing ever! We had so much fun running around and spending way too much at all the little shops. It was great! Of course I had to try the butterbeer which was pretty good! I liked it! I would have seriously spent SO much money in there, but thankfully I was pretty broke at the time so it wasn't an option! So I just decided that I will have to go back! You can also ride the Hogwarts Express between the two parks if you have the ticket that gets you into both parks so that was pretty awesome! You hop on at one HP park and get off at the other! It was really cool and I seriously wished my sister was there the ENTIRE time. She would love it!
So after 1 festival, 1.5 days of play at Universal and what felt like a million miles walked, and what felt like 0 sleep-it was time to catch a flight home! We got home late that night and then had to head back to reality the next morning. We seriously had so much fun and I wouldn't have traded that weekend for anything. It was nice to be home though. I absolutely love traveling and experiencing the world, but there is just something about coming home that makes everything right in the world!
Of course we went to Florida for a concert! It seems a good 95% of the trips I take are concert related. This particular trip was for the Rockstar Uproar Festival. Usually Uproar comes to SLC but for some stupid reason they didn't this year. I was BEYOND pissed about it, especially since the lineup was killer, so I found the weekend that worked for me and chased them across the country. Sadly not all of the bands were at all the stops so I didn't get to see Skillet, but I've seen them enough times to get the gist. So we got to the amphitheater and immediately sought out some shade. I don't know if any of you have ever been to Florida in the summer months, but it is pretty freaking miserable. It was so freaking hot (which seems to be a theme at my festivals this year), and not to mention humid! I was pretty sure I was going to die and that I couldn't be any more uncomfortable. As most festivals do, the smaller bands play first on the smaller stages so we decided we would hit the VIP tent and stay there until it was time for the main stage. About an hour before the first band was supposed to play on the main stage it started to rain. OK not just rain, it was basically a monsoon. It was like someone was standing over us dumping large buckets of water! We started to freak out just a tad. We did NOT just fly across the freaking country to have our concert rained out! So we just sat in our tent and waited it out. Thankfully right before the first band was due to start, it finally stopped. So we headed to the main stage, dried off our chairs and watched Pop Evil start us off right. The second band was Seether. If you know me at all you know that I am basically OBSESSED with Seether and have every intention of marrying Shaun Morgan some day. They played pretty well, I have seen them do better, but I have also seem them play much worse. I was content with their performance. The headlining band was none other than Godsmack! Oh how I had missed them! They did such a great job! They had been on hiatus for 3 or so years and apparently they almost broke up. Thank goodness they didn't because their new material is flat out amazing. We had a great job rocking out, but all great things must come to an end. So at 11:30 or so that night we headed out to the parking lot to drive to Orlando where we were spending the night. By time time we got to bed it was around 1:30 AM, making this what felt like the longest day of my entire life!
So I'm sure you're thinking, "well at least you got to sleep in the next morning, right?" Wrong. We woke up, got ready and were at Universal Studios Orlando by 9 am on Sunday. We had head that the new ride in Diagon Alley had the longest wait and that we needed to get there first, so that is right where we went. The ride was called "Escape from Gringotts" and was a replica of the bank from the Harry Potter movies. The structure itself was amazing and the whole atmosphere was fantastic so I had really high hopes for the ride. Now enters the new segment of my blog lovingly called "What the HELL! (things I wish I knew)" So for today's entry of WTH I will give you a pointer. DO NOT RIDE THIS RIDE IF YOU HAVE TO WAIT MORE THAN AN HOUR!! We waited 2.5 hours and it was the biggest let down of my entire life. It was beyond stupid and by the time it was over, we were SO mad that we were literally speechless. We just sat there thinking we had just wasted the first half of our day for nothing. So that didn't start off our day particularly well. So for the rest of Sunday and half a day Monday we ran around like mad between the two parks trying to fit in as much as possible! On both days there as a 20 or so minute stint of torrential downpour which apparently is a thing in Florida. That was a bit annoying but we had fun with it and made the best out of it. Thankfully there are a lot of indoor things to do so it wasn't too bad! We did the Despicable Me minions experience (I would call it a ride, but they aren't rides they are 3D experiences where you get taken on a fake ride while sitting still for the most part. Sadly I'm not big into the whole 3D thing, so I wouldn't say many of these "experiences" blew me away). The minion thing was cute, I liked that. We also rode (or not rode, experienced) the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket (which was pretty good), Revenge of the Mummy (an Indiana Jones deja vu) , Twister (weirdest, most random, stupid thing I have ever done), Transformers (not a fan, too much going on and the 3D didn't sit well), Jurassic Park (meh), and the Cat in the Hat (don't judge). We also did the Dragon Challenge and the Forbidden Journey in Hogsmeade which were both pretty awesome! The Dragon Challenge was one of the few real coasters at the parks and I would say it did not disappoint! The Forbidden Journey was flat out amazing. It combined actual movement and 3D to make for a ride that will seriously kick your butt if you are even a tiny bit prone to motion sickness. It messed with me somewhat, but it seriously kicked the crap out of poor Jennifer. It was still awesome and we ended up doing it both days because it was awesome none the less. Hogsmeade was seriously the coolest thing ever! We had so much fun running around and spending way too much at all the little shops. It was great! Of course I had to try the butterbeer which was pretty good! I liked it! I would have seriously spent SO much money in there, but thankfully I was pretty broke at the time so it wasn't an option! So I just decided that I will have to go back! You can also ride the Hogwarts Express between the two parks if you have the ticket that gets you into both parks so that was pretty awesome! You hop on at one HP park and get off at the other! It was really cool and I seriously wished my sister was there the ENTIRE time. She would love it!
So after 1 festival, 1.5 days of play at Universal and what felt like a million miles walked, and what felt like 0 sleep-it was time to catch a flight home! We got home late that night and then had to head back to reality the next morning. We seriously had so much fun and I wouldn't have traded that weekend for anything. It was nice to be home though. I absolutely love traveling and experiencing the world, but there is just something about coming home that makes everything right in the world!
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