In between then and now, Ryan had given me over a thousand songs for my iPhone to listen to at work. This was all music that he thought I'd like, and most were from bands I'd never heard of (or heard of but hadn't listened to). So as I looked at the lineup, I actually recognized a few more bands than I would've otherwise.
So Ryan and his girlfriend picked me up, and we headed out to Frisco. We got there about noon, which was the end of the very first set. If you've never been, they usually have two or three stages, and they stagger the bands so one band is playing while another is setting up. And yesterday, they were working perfectly...where one band would start almost immediately after the other band ended.
As far as the music goes, New Politics (and their breakdancing lead singer) and Neon Trees (and their insane lead singer) were two of the best acts. I'd become familiar with their music, and I really liked seeing both of them live. I think these type of things work for me because you get to hear the hits, and you get to hear a lot of different types of music.
Which brings me to one of the best parts of Edgefest: the people watching. Because of the eclectic musical types, there are all kinds of people. Because while most people like different types of music, one band probably brought each person to that show. And so you had so many different types of people. You had douchebags with their shirts off with their girlfriends in bikinis and jean shorts. You had emo/goth people head-to-toe in black. You had different emo people in pants and hooded sweatshirts. There were people with dozens of tattoos and people with dozens of piercings. It was really fascinating.
And it was interesting seeing people get really excited about their favorite bands, and it really made me think how much music matters to people. And no matter where you come from or what you look like, certain music impacts people in ways they can't quite explain. And since none of the bands that played were my favorite (although there were some that I really liked), I was able to sit back and soak it all in.
Food and drinks were ridiculous. Beer was $11 and even water was $4, and the only food available was typical stadium crap. The stadium slowly but surely started filling with empty cups, particularly because of the unexplainable shortage of trash cans. The unmistakable smell of marijuana filled the air.
And that's basically how it went for most of the day. Then the afternoon started to slow down, and the four big acts showed up. Seether was first, and they were okay. They did a pretty cool cover of "Heart-Shaped Box" by Nirvana, and we joked that they might need to switch to an all-Nirvana cover band. Then Social Distortion came on, and I was surprised at how many of their songs I recognized.
Then came Weezer. It had already been decided by the three of us that we didn't really care about Jane's Addiction, and that we were going to leave after Weezer.
Now let me talk for a second about Weezer. It wasn't until recently that this band even factored into my conscious. I'd, of course, heard most of their hits, and I liked what I'd heard. But I never invested enough time in them to call myself a fan. But I figured they'd put on a good show, and I thought it would be cool.
And they were the best act of the night. They were great with the crowd, playing a lot of their big hits. They played big fun songs and a couple slower "guitar jams." The lead singer sat back as the bass player sang a song. And then there was the crowd interaction. He fed off the crowd most of the night, and he eventually jumped into the pit area and physically interacted with a lot of people. He went deep into the crowd, way off to the sides, and everywhere in between. He had energy, and it made the crowd love him.
They even did an encore, prompting the crowd to chant the band's name (the only time it happened all day). The stadium was as full as it was all night, and everyone seemed really into it. After showing nothing but ads all day, the large screens on each side of the stage were changed to video of the acts, and it also helped make the scene cool. And, of course, a lot of the girls that were shown on stage (after hours of beer and other substances) took advantage of that time to flash the audience. I saw plenty of boobies by the end of the night.
But, all in all, it was really a good time. I heard some cool music, saw some of my newer favorites play, and I had a lot of great people-watching. And while that's not necessarily "my scene" most of the year, it's something pretty cool that I like to do on rare occasions.
So, thanks Edgefest (and Ryan and Carrie) for a really fun and energy-filled Saturday.
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