Sunday 23 October 2016

Getting an ear-full: Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Roger Waters, Dave Matthews, etc. etc.etc.

After 9 hours of sleep (NO construction site and NO traffic outside the window), a leisurely breakfast, and some blog writing, we leave to drive to Mountainview via San Jose


Alan knows an excellent Ramen restaurant in San Jose, and I fill up on a spicy Ramen.




The guy who 5 seconds later will tell Alan that he is not allowed to bring that lawn chair to the concert
 And exactly like two years ago, Alan's timing is uncanny. When we hear the first sound of singing, we are already on the concert site, less than one minute from rounding a corner that gives us a view of the stage.  Exactly the same as two years ago.  And what we see when we round that corner hasn't changed either in two years ;-)


It's Neil Young accompanied by Native dancers wondering " How many roads must a man walk down? Before you call him a man.   The Donald obviously hasn't walked enough yet.  


No clouds in sight












Soon after I awake from my first nap, the light of the day starts fading.




Somewhere at this time I realize that buying an 0.75 L bottle of white wine poured into a plastic carafe is a better deal than having to run to a concession stand for a small glass of wine every time I feel like it.    Unfortunately (?), Alan refuses to take part in eliminating this volume of liquid, so the task falls to me alone, but I'm not too worried, there are still 5 or 6 hours of concert ahead of us.  And noticing all the empty plastic carafes later, I realize that I was not the only one thinking that way.


Alan casts a big shadow







Then it's time for the act that I enjoy almost more than Neil Young: Dave Matthews


After Matthews, it's time for Roger Waters.  My feelings of having missed his performance of 'Wish you were here' because I was at a concession stand are still mixed.


This is also the same visit to the concession stand when I realize that even though I have consumed one bottle of wine by myself already, I am SOBER in comparison to the other concert goers.  This becomes PAINFULLY clear when some Irish woman stands on my only sandal-wearing toes with her high-platform shoes.  Then she uses my screaming (it HURT !} as an excuse to give me a tight hug and talk to me.
Definitely NOT mixed are my feelings about the next act, Metallica.   I wish they had played in NeverNeverLand instead of here.  
But the saving part was the last number, they played together with Neil Young. They're playing Mr Soul and I'm ecstatic.


And strangely enough, after Metallica has finished, at least one third of the concert visitors have gone home or are on their way out.    We use this opportunity to move to the very front of the lawn area, right behind the reserved seating, the dress circle, as I like to call it.  Fabulous seats ;-)



Why does this inebriated German wear a self-satisfied grin on his face ? There is a simple reason for that;



And I'm dancing (imagine a mixture of hopping and wobbling) to pretty much every single number that they play.










The concert ends as usual, with all performers joining in a rendition of "Keep on rocking in the free world", or as I like to call it "The song that Trump couldn't have because he was too daft to realize that the lyrics are  meant to be read in a satirical spirit"

We get to the hotel that Alan graciously used a voucher for by about 1:30 am and decide that this is not too late to open another bottle of wine.

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