Almeda Has Quite an Adventure

Almeda Has Quite an Adventure

Last night Almeda, her friend Stasia, and their other friend Leigh, plus Stasia's maternal unit, attended Feastival 2002, a concert sponsored by Y100, a local radio station, and featuring the bands Seether, Queens of the Stone Age, New Found Glory, Zwan, Good Charlotte, and Coldplay. The doors opened at 5:00 and the three teens accompanied by one mother arrived soon after. When they arrived in the vicinity of the First Union Center, the responsible adult let out the three girls, who, after a few false starts, found the right line in which to wait.

"We waited in this huge line for ages, and then Stasia had to go to the bathroom, so she ran off, and left me and Leigh behind. We eventually got to the front of the line, got patted down [they threw Leigh's water bottle in the trash, the pjoofaces], got our tickets "X"ed, and got our little yellow wristbands. Once we got inside, we waited for Stasia for what seemed like at least twenty-two days," says Almeda. "While we were waiting, I people-watched. There was this really goth-ish girl near us with duct tape on her shirt that said 'wanting 2 b sum1 else is a waste of the person u r.' I was like, oho, teenybopper-speak meets Kurt Cobain. Well, I found it amusing, at least."

Stasia eventually arrived, and the three made their way down to the floor. The first band, Seether, had already started playing. "I don't know, all their songs sounded the same to me. Very metal, very shriek-y. I'm not a big fan of that sort of music, but apparently the middle-class white rebellious teens who seemed to make up a large part of the audience are. Whatever floats your boat, I say. [Whatever makes you smile / whatever book you wrote / whatever rules you live by.]"

After Seether, SL&A went to meet Stasia's mother, Dame Orkwiszewski, at a display with a bunch of hats [whenever a hockey player scores three goals in one game, apparently the standard behaviour is to throw your hat, or bra, in some cases, onto the rink]. They waited there for quite some time, and in that time Stasia purchased a sexy Zwan shirt with the rainbow guitar logo and Almeda took a trip to the local lavatory.

Eventually the Orkwiszewski matron appeared, and everyone went back to the pit for Queens of the Stone Age. "They were pretty good, but I think I enjoy music that I'm used to more than I do unfamiliar music," explains Almeda. "There was one guy with Snape-ish hair and OMG. I JUST REALISED THAT THIS IS THE BAND. FROM BEKI'S BUDDY ICON. AHAHAHAHAHHA. Er, sorry. I only just visited the website to look for a picture of the guy, and then I was like, hmm, I've definitely been here before. Beki, you tolly should have come to this concert with me!!!!!!111one"

After Queens of the Stone Age, the trio took a short break from standing to sit. Next was New Found Glory, whom Leigh and Almeda enjoyed quite a bit, but of whom Stasia was entirely unappreciative. "They had a lot of personality," says Almeda. "Which doesn't necessarily make good music, but it makes fun concerts." Zwan was after New Found Glory, so instead of taking a break, the three pushed their way close to the stage, because Stasia adores Billy Corgan with all her heart. However, when Billy Corgan finally came onto stage, Leigh told Stasia she felt sick.

Leigh crouched down, too woozy to stand, but Stasia helped her to her feet [because the middle of a crowd of mostly-teenagers prone to moshing is not the best place to sit down] and started following her out of the crowd. But Leigh, Stasia, and Almeda got separated in the sea of people, and though Stasia and Almeda emerged safely from the crowd, Leigh did not. "God, I felt so bad for Stasia," Almeda comments mournfully. "She went to the concert for Zwan, and then at the beginning of their set her friend gets sick. So I went to look in the bathroom for Leigh but couldn't find her."

Stasia's mother then says she'll go look for Leigh and tells Stasia to not worry about it because she understands how much Zwan means to her daughter. Almeda and Stasia thread their way back through the crowd towards the stage, but they are nowhere near as close as they were earlier. Still, they are able to enjoy the music. "Billy Corgan was so adorable!" Almeda says. "He had this cute little sweater on, and as Stasia's M. said, he totally didn't look like a rock star. But in a good way. And I was proud of Zwan because they had the only female band member the whole night."

Towards the end of Zwan's set, things started to get exciting. "I was looking at the stage, and suddenly I started to see dots. I closed my eyes, but that didn't work, and then I couldn't see. So I tell Stasia that I can't see, but I'm not sure if she can hear my because the music's really loud and I can barely hear myself. I feel Stasia's hand on my back and she's directing me out of the crowd. The floor feels like it's tilting and I can barely stand. I'm bumping into people and then I feel another arm on my other side. We walk a little further, and I have no sense of how far I've gone. Then I feel a slight pressure on my shoulder, and maybe someone told me to sit down, and I do sit down, cross-legged. I'm pretty sure I remained conscious the whole time, but I'm not sure. I must admit, remembering everything exactly so I could blog about it was not my top priority at the time."

Eventually Almeda's vision came back into focus and she saw Stasia's mother crouched in front of her. Next to Mother Orkwiszewski was a medical staff person. Communicating through Stasia's mother, Almeda told the guy that she felt faint but was all right. He led her to the First Aid place, with Stasia and Stasia's mother in tow. In the First Aid place, they discovered Leigh. She was okay, but apparently she had fainted in the middle of the crowd and some guy had carried her to safety.

"The medical-type guy asked me for my name, my address, my telephone number, and stuff like that, and then had me call home. My dad picked up, and I asked for my mum, 'cause I figured she would take it better. Surprisingly, though, I misestimated my parents. When I got home, my dad was all joking about how I overdosed on drugs and told my brother to be quiet because I had to recover, but when my mother picked me up from school the next day, she was all, 'This doesn't make me too confident about letting you go to something like that in the future.' So, anyway, I called my dad, he said mum was asleep, so I explained the dilly to him. He then talked to the medical guy, who said they could release me to the 'responsible adult,' Stasia's mom, or take me to the hospital. My dad picked the former, so after I got some water and the guy took my blood pressure, we all left. At this point I had quite the headache, and Stasia said I looked green, but I was just thankful that I could see again."

Everyone decided it was time to go home then. Almeda didn't mind too much because she was rather tired, but she and Leigh both felt really bad for Stasia. Stasia, though, said, "Don't feel bad. It's not your fault. If you had chosen to faint, you could feel bad," in her logical Stasia way.

Almeda arrived home around 10:30 and collapsed into bed, exhausted from the crazy happenings.

Almeda | 16.12.02 20:07 | TrackBack