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Bayfest 2003: Sum41 & Blink182
Reviewer: Laura
Wow, fellow concert goers, this was an experience!! I took my 13 years old son to see the concert and oh boy was he excited. 3 calls during the day to me at work seeking details to the evening ahead as he was busting to get going! He was so pumped! So, around 7:45 we decided to head down to the park and arrived there by 8. Being the internet junkie I am I had previously checked the online park map at the Bayfest website so I knew exactly which entrance we were going through. Yeah, right!! The entrance was at one corner of the park, line up started at the opposite end. Still can't tell you exactly where it ended cause it turned into a tornado of swirling people, adults and kids combined, then they somehow separated into their own lines. We merged in surrounded by teens as the line moved along, slowly, but consistently. The walk in line wasn't too bad although the kids around us were quite rowdy. Pretty sure they had be partying previously, although certainly underage, but they moved along courteously and caused no problems apologizing every time they banged into us. We watched the clock and we entered the park just after 9, which although is a 45+ minute wait it wasn't too bad considering the people they passed through the gates. Some kids were visibly upset that they were missing some of the more popular Sum41 songs as they were already playing but that's the chance you take when you don't go in when the gates open. Nothing surprised me by this point and if people didn't expect to wait on the family side going to see teen bands then they wern't thinking.
Here's what did surprise me. The family side was less then 1/4 of the entire park size, which is fine for all nights but this one. I would have thought they could adjust that for the one evening, for safety reasons if nothing else. It was insane on that side to the point where kids looked scared and uncertain how to get out of the mass of people, many of which taller then I. People were pushing forward squishing all those poor souls trapped at the front (thank god for security pulling them out) and some stupid kids had smuggled glass beer bottles in and threw them up so the beer spewed out as they were in the air. I don't even want to know where they landed or who got hurt. With that many people packing in such a small area it would be insane to think anyone could fight there way in there to find the jerk who was doing it. Wanting my son to have the "full concert experience" while keeping safety first we trudged up a bit to find it ridiculously packed to the point you could not move so we backtracked. Then, being the brainiac I am, thinking "I looked at the map, we'll go to the back". So, we trudge along, thinking just a little farther and it will space out a bit and he can actually see the band. Great idea till we were smooshed against the fence cause we ran out of room. It was brutal and I was getting concerned by this point that we couldn't get out cause there was just no where to move to! Luckily, as all stories deserve a happy ending, a nice man, with his 2 young sons, ended up behind us and told us that if you made your way to the gate to the adult side they would let you threw with kids provided an adult was with them. That was us!!! So his young sons led us through the crowd (my heros!) till we got threw the gate and in minutes were in a calmer less packed atmosphere! From that point on we had a great time.
With all the confusion and chaos we hadn't even had time to listen to Sum41 and by the time we got settled on the other side it was time for Blink 182. From what I heard Sum41 sounded just the same as recorded and played the tunes you hear on the radio all the time. Blink 182 rocked and both bands really pumped up the crowd. You couldn't help but bounce as they played and sing along to the songs we all hear every day on the radio. It was very interactive and besides the congestion on the family side no doubt most had a great time. When the show was almost over we were smart and darted out and had no crowd to deal with as they were all glued to their spots. Since the concert I have heard lots of complaining about the language that the bands used and I feel compelled to address this. No doubt I'll get some nasty mail but PLEEEZE! What do you people expect? The language was awful, crude and very raunchy, one guy even took a camera and took a picture down his pants for a fan but parents... don't you check out what you are letting your kids attend before you make it an issue after the fact? Didn't you see their picture on all the posters?? They were naked with body paint... it wasn't the Backstreet Boys!! First thing I did when I found out my son was their "biggest fan" is I checked out their websites and it gave me a pretty good example what to expect and I wasn't surprised with what I heard. Nor did I let my son go alone, or with his buddies so I could address language or other issues as they came up. I just found it ironic that people complain about this, but don't hesitate to send their kids off into what we knew would be at least 20,000 people unattended.
~ Laura
Previous SR Concert Reviews
Endeavor, Six Foot Daisies and Flicker
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