In case you have no idea what Coachella is, it is a huge music festival that takes place every April outside of Palm Springs. I think most of you know what Woodstock is, and this is similar- just better bathroom facilities.
I left last Monday and did the whole So Cal experience, but I won't bore you to death with the pictures and stories of visiting my dad in Bakersfield and Disneyland with my kids. (Here's us on Splash Mountain! Here's us on the Matterhorn! Here's you clicking your mouse to get the hell out of here!)
The important nugget of info you need to retain here is that I mingled with 50,000 people at Disneyland on Wednesday and Thursday, then drove my ass to Palm Springs on Friday and mingled with another 50,000 people each day until Monday. Seeing as my tolerance level for most people is zero, I'm glad I made it through the weekend without losing my temper and punching anyone.
I'm going to skip all the funny stories and bullsh*t and get right to the point- right to Roger Waters- which is all you care about anyway.
Roger Waters was the best show I have ever seen in my life, or am likely to ever see. He was the headliner on Sunday night and came on around 8:45ish. I was so excited, I nearly peed a little in my pants.
The below video is just over 5 minutes long and is the lead in to the opening song. I wanted you all to be able to get a feel for what it was like, standing in an huge crowd, sweat running down the back of your legs and the smell of pot permeating your very being.
NOTE: I was the ONLY sober person in the crowd. I was possibly the ONLY person not stoned or on shrooms. It was simply too difficult to maintain a buzz when it was 98 degrees outside, the beer lines were long (8 dollars for a tiny Heiny) and the bathroom lines were longer (maybe 100 porta-potties for a crowd of 50,000. I kept a wad of tissue in my pocket the whole time because even when you do get a toilet, there is certain to be no tp.) When you have a bladder the size of a chipmunk, it's just not logical to drink more than one beer in a four hour period. And I didn't want to keep losing my place in the GA crowd. So I suffered. I suffered because being sober in a crowd of 50,000 makes you hate everyone and not be very much fun.
Roger did two sets. The first set had "Wish You Were Here," "Time," "Breathe," and many others that I don't know the names of. I had to sing each song to Gloria and Shannon today to make sure I had the titles right. He even did a new song about a trip he took to Beirut when he was 17 and the Arab family that took care of him.
He was very political. His stage show, including two giant big screens on either side of the stage and a screen behind the stage the size of half a football field. Every song that he sang had a video that went along with it, including pictures of dead presidents and political rhetoric.
At the end of the first set, he broke out the flying pig! It was full of graffiti and on the very bottom was "Obama 08." I guess we all know who he would vote for. It has been all over the news that the pig flew away and there was a reward out for it. When we watched it float away, I though it was supposed to do that. Check back tomorrow for live video of the famous pig!
The second set was the entire Dark Side of the Moon album! He closed with "The Wall" and "Comfortably Numb." I could go on and on but I have to go to a meeting. Enjoy this first video and check back every day for a new one (until they tell me to take them down. These are true bootleg videos!)
More to come......check back soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
