Got home last night - did the Road Trip & drove 1600 miles each way!
After reading posts, sure was wishing that I was at the Howlin' Wolf that night!
Great set - favorites were In My Tree, Tremor Christ, Down, and Kick out the Jams!!
Thank god for Jumbotron, really! If I couldn't see anything, then I might have a different impression of festival shows in general. But, the guys with the cameras were awesome! More than half way back was not my intention. The whole weekend was awesome. Blues Traveler, Steve Martin, Earth/Wind/Fire, Van Morrison, BB King, Richie Havens, Buckwheat Zydeco, Allan Tousaint. Just to name a few.
and fuck me if I say somethin you dont wanna hear, fuck me!
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
2010, Watch We Go To NOLA!
The misadventures of a Pearl Jam Fan Trio at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
As I gazed out of my airplane window at 32,000 ft. over the Gulf of Mexico headed to New Orleans from Tampa, many things came to mind: “Look at this terrible oil spill. How much more can they take?” and other thoughts like, “What did my 4yr old daughter mean a few weeks ago when she saw a plane in the sky and said, ‘Dada, the plane is going to blow up’.” and “Why is this aircraft shaking like a newspaper in a tornado right now?”
I must admit, I performed a few ESP exams on my kid a few days before the flight and luckily, she failed them all.
The night before the show, my Wife, her BFF and I decided to have a light stroll on Bourbon St. being careful not to be hung over for the show. Though we did have a goal of taking enough photos to create our version of the infamous Cougar Town Drunken Photo Montage. I forgot to pack my belt, so there are more than a few shots of me rocking out in a club with my pants on the ground, pants on the ground. We met quite a few PJ fans and had a good time.
Sometime in the middle of the night, we hailed a cab and hopped in. First thing we notice is the driver with an open can of beer. I was in shock. I mean the whole point of a taxi is to avoid drinking and driving. That’s what I thought to myself but when I tried to verbalize this, it came out like, “Wow, this IS a party town! Drink on, Dude!” Wifey protested and the cabby said,” It’s completely alright, this is just my first one. Here feel it. It’s still cold.” To which Wifey says, “Stop the car now, we’re getting out.”
On the day of the show, we called for a cab to take us to the fairgrounds. Not to be outdone by his colleagues, this cabby had an open can of beer, continued to text message on his phone and steered with the back of his hands. It was about 2pm, we were on the highway and if we stop now to get another cab, we may not make it. So we bravely went on, firmly situated in our crashing positions.
The festival was just like I thought. Lots of food, people and music. We finally made it to our position in front of the Acura stage to the left during the last performance of Anders Osborne (they were pretty much badass). We met some cool people, had a good angle, so we planted our flag there. People were passing the lit torch; I partook and passed it along. It was feeling great. During the set of Galactic, we decided to get another box-o-beer and BFF had to pee. The ladies went and I held the spot. (Our first mistake.)
About 30min go by and I start to worry. The moment Galactic finished their set is when the Human Tide rolled in. Like a ball that’s spinning. Then the unthinkable happens. Eddie and the boys step on stage about 15min early and begin with So You Wanna Be a Rock n Roll Star. I spent most of the time looking in the opposite direction for my peeps. Finally I see BFF making her way to me through a sea of people. Apparently, they split up and Wifey went for the beer. (Our second mistake.)
During Lukin, I decided to rock out and sing the few words I knew, “…now I know Life is worth!” Meanwhile at the beer stand, they ran out of boxes so Wifey pulled a McGruber by lifting the front of her dress in order to store six cold brews. When Corduroy began, it hit me. This is one of our songs. (I mean she recited the first line to Corduroy the moment our son exited her womb.) I’m stuck here with BFF and Wifey isn’t here yet. We are on the verge of the worst possible PJ experience in the history of our PJ experiences.
When In My Tree began, I finally connected to Wifey on the cell. The only words I could decipher were,”….there’s no way…… I can….. make it….. back” The following thought process lasted about 2 seconds but come on, you would have too… I thought, “what if I stay here and Jam from this great spot. I’m sure Wifey will enjoy the show from the sidelines with these big screens.” “Maybe I should wait for the encore to make my move.” I quickly hung up the phone and said,” We gotta go find her now!”
BFF lead the way through the people-barricades and I followed. I was determined not let this ruin my tradition of singing along with the band as loud as possible. So you can imagine the looks on people’s faces when they see us leaving while I’m still in sync with Ed at the top of my lungs. Then it happened; The “Festival Effect”. It’s when you notice all the PJ Fans here are in different tier groups. You’ve got Tier 1, who WE all are for the most part. Tier 2 – Loved only the first three albums. Tier 3 – Casual radio airplay fans, etc. BFF runs into a guy who doesn’t budge and creates a roadblock. Roadblock Guy says, “I’m not moving. I don’t care how much you push me.” At this point I stop singing and Roadblock guy realizes that I’m with her. I studied the situation and said, “Look, let him be a Dick, just forget him.” Then I appealed to my Tier 1 peeps. “We have an emergency! We need to leave now. Please let us through!” Others heard and made an effort and we passed Roadblock Guy. I could understand people not budging if I wanted to get closer to the stage but to have to explain that by us leaving he will have more room, it just blew me away. After a few more layers of humans who were glued together we converged with another couple trying to escape. BFF noticed that the boyfriend was 6ft 5” built like the guy in Blind Side and immediately assigned him to take point. (Our third mistake.)
Several times, Blind Side ran into human road blocks, each one ruder than the last and would look back and shrug his shoulders. I remember a few times telling him, “Come on bro! You can do this! Just walk with a purpose!” I felt like Sandra Bullock coaching an adopted son I found wandering the crowd with no bed for himself. This went on until we ran into a patch of people (probably Tier 1) who had the common decency to split apart like the red sea. They all wished us luck but I knew. Looking at this enormous quantity of people, and having no response from Wifey’s cell, I knew I would need more than luck to find her.
During Got Some, I continued sing along while raising a collapsible chair up in the air as high as I could trying to get Wifey’s attention. Several people approached me asking, “How much for the chair?” only to become disappointed. I tried to think like she would and find a spot where the people are not so stuck together but still in view of the big screen. BFF disagreed on my detective tactics and we were walking all around having no luck at all except for the possibility of scoring 20 bucks for a collapsible chair.
When Giving to Fly began, I remember telling BFF, “We can do this. We can still save this day dammit!” This was followed by a text message from Wifey reading, “in front of Pepsi truck near water station” We quickly ran to that area and I thought, “Man I was standing so close with my chair flag and she didn’t notice!” Then, like any ending of any romantic dramedy, usually at an airport setting…..our eyes met. I ran to her in slow motion through a well spaced and comfortable crowd of people with a good view of the big screen. We embraced like we had lost each other for 6 years when in fact it was about 6 songs. I will admit I shed a man-tear. It turns out; she missed my chair flag because she was busy downing brewskis that she kept pulling from her dress fold. We immediately began singing along together as loudly as we could when I got a tap on the shoulder. I expected someone who witnessed this entire event to congratulate me but the polite back-tapper asked me to please put down my chair flag that I instinctively held high for no reason at this point.
The fans in this area were more Tier 2 thru 5 but that didn’t stop the three of us from belting out all the songs. During the communications with the Troops, which I felt privileged to be part of, a fan behind us kept yelling, “Come on! Glorified Version of a Pellet Gun, man! Sing it! Sing it!” Wifey says, “I don’t think he likes that song.” Pellet Gun Fan says, “Really???!?” I say, “I dunno Eddie himself sang, ‘Glorified version of how I hate this song!’” Then during the times when Eddie would conduct the crowd into improv chants, we were the only ones in our area responding. Wifey felt the set list was a bit too pop, but such is a festival. My favorite surprise was Tremor Christ. Most awkward moment was when the three of us were singing, “Fight to get it back again!!! YEAH! YEAH” and looking around to see that no one was fighting to get back anything again, at all. Then at one point, I see loads and loads of people from the section we were trapped in all begin to leave before the boys are done with the first set. Probably Tier 4-5. Hordes of unimpressed human roadblocks… all just were leaving in droves.
A lot went on during the trip; the massive oil spill threatening the coastline, the President arriving and his motorcade shutting down the highway, the election of a brand new Mayor of New Orleans sworn in and me wondering how far down the list is the whole Taxi Drinkers Club issue, my flying issues where the first flight I learned that flying is safe only to unlearn those lessons on the flight back home- all the while BFF usually falls asleep as we taxi on the runway, the realization that my daughter could grow up one day to become a subpar Psychic. The fact that there are literally hundreds of bats that constantly swarm around the buildings of the French Quarter and no one even mentions it. Still, we would let nothing get in the way of our PJ adventure. Despite all the trials and tribulations, we were determined to enjoy the vibe of the band and we were committed to Kick Out the Jams, even though none of us knew any words to that cover.
After everything was said and done, several truths remain; whenever you can see Pearl Jam live it’s always a great experience, Seeing PJ at a festival is something I don’t plan to do anytime soon. (unless they come to Tampa of course) And, there is no party like a Tier 1 party.
Noel_sinceTEN
UPDATE: "2012, watch it go to fire!"
1996-Ft. Laud/1998-WP Bch/2000-Tpa/2003-Tpa/2004-Kiss/2008-WP Bch/2008-Tampa/2010 Jazz Fest/9/11/11 & 9/12/11 Toronto,/ 9/12/11 Film Fest w/Eddie
I have a very big favor to ask: In an inebriated moment in New Orleans, I seem to have lost my camera -
I was seeing Big Al Carson at the FUNKY PIRATE on Bourbon Street on FRIDAY, the 30th of APRIL - the night before PJ at the festival. I was talking with 2 guys from Boston/ North Shore of Mass & somehow put my camera on the bar. Then proceeded to walk out without it. Obviously, being as toasty as I was, I didn't realize it unitl the next morning - and it made me VERY late to the fairgrounds & I had to sit 3/4 of the way from the stage as a result. Getting distracted here.
My plea: If anyone has any idea who might have grabbed the camera: a CANON POWER SHOT with 10x zoom, black/point n shoot, could you please send me a message? If one of those guys I was talking to might have grabbed it, that would be so cool.
Honestly, you can have the camera as a reward or I can come up with another $ reward... I seriously only want the pictures off of it - that's how much this means to me! There are Pics from our road trip to New Orleans, including the Cherokee National Forrest, Coker Creek TN, also some pics from NYC, and our first night on Bourbon Street.
I really think that someone grabbed it in hopes of seeing us again & I believe in my heart of hearts that it's out there wanting to return to me. Who would keep a found camera - keep someone elses memories?
Please restore my faith in humanity~ Send me an email here, or to this address: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:risafoto@hotmail.com">risafoto@hotmail.com</a><!-- e -->.
no? nobody? just me? good then im probably worried for no reason...
and fuck me if I say somethin you dont wanna hear, fuck me!
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
no? nobody? just me? good then im probably worried for no reason...
I'm quietly optimistic... keeping my fingers crossed. I have a six-hour road trip coming up on Friday afternoon, and I'm hoping I can relive Jazz Fest two or three times while I'm on the road
And I listen for the voice inside my head... nothing. I'll do this one myself.
no? nobody? just me? good then im probably worried for no reason...
I'm rethinking my stance... I checked the setlists they have on the Tour page, and Jazz Fest is the only show that so far doesn't have a "Buy CD" or "Buy Digital Download" link up :evil:
And I listen for the voice inside my head... nothing. I'll do this one myself.
A friend of mine that has been a Ten Club member for years says that they often don't have festival shows for download. I was bummed because I was at Jazz Fest also. :(
It's up on the goods section right now (under Specials)!
Sometimes being wrong feels AWESOME!!!! I'm downloading it right now - just in time for my road trip to Texas this afternoon. Timing couldn't have been better
To quote Eddie Vedder, "Alright, let's play some fucking jazz music..."
And I listen for the voice inside my head... nothing. I'll do this one myself.
and fuck me if I say somethin you dont wanna hear, fuck me!
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
It's up on the goods section right now (under Specials)!
Sometimes being wrong feels AWESOME!!!! I'm downloading it right now - just in time for my road trip to Texas this afternoon. Timing couldn't have been better
To quote Eddie Vedder, "Alright, let's play some fucking jazz music..."
Any idea what happened to the show i nthe Goods section? Saw it today, went to download tonight and it's not on their anymore. WTF?!
and fuck me if I say somethin you dont wanna hear, fuck me!
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
and fuck me if I say somethin you dont wanna hear, fuck me!
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
and fuck me if I say somethin you dont wanna hear, fuck me!
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
Comments
Got home last night - did the Road Trip & drove 1600 miles each way!
After reading posts, sure was wishing that I was at the Howlin' Wolf that night!
Great set - favorites were In My Tree, Tremor Christ, Down, and Kick out the Jams!!
Thank god for Jumbotron, really! If I couldn't see anything, then I might have a different impression of festival shows in general. But, the guys with the cameras were awesome! More than half way back was not my intention. The whole weekend was awesome. Blues Traveler, Steve Martin, Earth/Wind/Fire, Van Morrison, BB King, Richie Havens, Buckwheat Zydeco, Allan Tousaint. Just to name a few.
Looking forward to MSG Nite 2 in a few weeks!!
See ya there!
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
The misadventures of a Pearl Jam Fan Trio at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
As I gazed out of my airplane window at 32,000 ft. over the Gulf of Mexico headed to New Orleans from Tampa, many things came to mind: “Look at this terrible oil spill. How much more can they take?” and other thoughts like, “What did my 4yr old daughter mean a few weeks ago when she saw a plane in the sky and said, ‘Dada, the plane is going to blow up’.” and “Why is this aircraft shaking like a newspaper in a tornado right now?”
I must admit, I performed a few ESP exams on my kid a few days before the flight and luckily, she failed them all.
The night before the show, my Wife, her BFF and I decided to have a light stroll on Bourbon St. being careful not to be hung over for the show. Though we did have a goal of taking enough photos to create our version of the infamous Cougar Town Drunken Photo Montage. I forgot to pack my belt, so there are more than a few shots of me rocking out in a club with my pants on the ground, pants on the ground. We met quite a few PJ fans and had a good time.
Sometime in the middle of the night, we hailed a cab and hopped in. First thing we notice is the driver with an open can of beer. I was in shock. I mean the whole point of a taxi is to avoid drinking and driving. That’s what I thought to myself but when I tried to verbalize this, it came out like, “Wow, this IS a party town! Drink on, Dude!” Wifey protested and the cabby said,” It’s completely alright, this is just my first one. Here feel it. It’s still cold.” To which Wifey says, “Stop the car now, we’re getting out.”
On the day of the show, we called for a cab to take us to the fairgrounds. Not to be outdone by his colleagues, this cabby had an open can of beer, continued to text message on his phone and steered with the back of his hands. It was about 2pm, we were on the highway and if we stop now to get another cab, we may not make it. So we bravely went on, firmly situated in our crashing positions.
The festival was just like I thought. Lots of food, people and music. We finally made it to our position in front of the Acura stage to the left during the last performance of Anders Osborne (they were pretty much badass). We met some cool people, had a good angle, so we planted our flag there. People were passing the lit torch; I partook and passed it along. It was feeling great. During the set of Galactic, we decided to get another box-o-beer and BFF had to pee. The ladies went and I held the spot. (Our first mistake.)
About 30min go by and I start to worry. The moment Galactic finished their set is when the Human Tide rolled in. Like a ball that’s spinning. Then the unthinkable happens. Eddie and the boys step on stage about 15min early and begin with So You Wanna Be a Rock n Roll Star. I spent most of the time looking in the opposite direction for my peeps. Finally I see BFF making her way to me through a sea of people. Apparently, they split up and Wifey went for the beer. (Our second mistake.)
During Lukin, I decided to rock out and sing the few words I knew, “…now I know Life is worth!” Meanwhile at the beer stand, they ran out of boxes so Wifey pulled a McGruber by lifting the front of her dress in order to store six cold brews. When Corduroy began, it hit me. This is one of our songs. (I mean she recited the first line to Corduroy the moment our son exited her womb.) I’m stuck here with BFF and Wifey isn’t here yet. We are on the verge of the worst possible PJ experience in the history of our PJ experiences.
When In My Tree began, I finally connected to Wifey on the cell. The only words I could decipher were,”….there’s no way…… I can….. make it….. back” The following thought process lasted about 2 seconds but come on, you would have too… I thought, “what if I stay here and Jam from this great spot. I’m sure Wifey will enjoy the show from the sidelines with these big screens.” “Maybe I should wait for the encore to make my move.” I quickly hung up the phone and said,” We gotta go find her now!”
BFF lead the way through the people-barricades and I followed. I was determined not let this ruin my tradition of singing along with the band as loud as possible. So you can imagine the looks on people’s faces when they see us leaving while I’m still in sync with Ed at the top of my lungs. Then it happened; The “Festival Effect”. It’s when you notice all the PJ Fans here are in different tier groups. You’ve got Tier 1, who WE all are for the most part. Tier 2 – Loved only the first three albums. Tier 3 – Casual radio airplay fans, etc. BFF runs into a guy who doesn’t budge and creates a roadblock. Roadblock Guy says, “I’m not moving. I don’t care how much you push me.” At this point I stop singing and Roadblock guy realizes that I’m with her. I studied the situation and said, “Look, let him be a Dick, just forget him.” Then I appealed to my Tier 1 peeps. “We have an emergency! We need to leave now. Please let us through!” Others heard and made an effort and we passed Roadblock Guy. I could understand people not budging if I wanted to get closer to the stage but to have to explain that by us leaving he will have more room, it just blew me away. After a few more layers of humans who were glued together we converged with another couple trying to escape. BFF noticed that the boyfriend was 6ft 5” built like the guy in Blind Side and immediately assigned him to take point. (Our third mistake.)
Several times, Blind Side ran into human road blocks, each one ruder than the last and would look back and shrug his shoulders. I remember a few times telling him, “Come on bro! You can do this! Just walk with a purpose!” I felt like Sandra Bullock coaching an adopted son I found wandering the crowd with no bed for himself. This went on until we ran into a patch of people (probably Tier 1) who had the common decency to split apart like the red sea. They all wished us luck but I knew. Looking at this enormous quantity of people, and having no response from Wifey’s cell, I knew I would need more than luck to find her.
During Got Some, I continued sing along while raising a collapsible chair up in the air as high as I could trying to get Wifey’s attention. Several people approached me asking, “How much for the chair?” only to become disappointed. I tried to think like she would and find a spot where the people are not so stuck together but still in view of the big screen. BFF disagreed on my detective tactics and we were walking all around having no luck at all except for the possibility of scoring 20 bucks for a collapsible chair.
When Giving to Fly began, I remember telling BFF, “We can do this. We can still save this day dammit!” This was followed by a text message from Wifey reading, “in front of Pepsi truck near water station” We quickly ran to that area and I thought, “Man I was standing so close with my chair flag and she didn’t notice!” Then, like any ending of any romantic dramedy, usually at an airport setting…..our eyes met. I ran to her in slow motion through a well spaced and comfortable crowd of people with a good view of the big screen. We embraced like we had lost each other for 6 years when in fact it was about 6 songs. I will admit I shed a man-tear. It turns out; she missed my chair flag because she was busy downing brewskis that she kept pulling from her dress fold. We immediately began singing along together as loudly as we could when I got a tap on the shoulder. I expected someone who witnessed this entire event to congratulate me but the polite back-tapper asked me to please put down my chair flag that I instinctively held high for no reason at this point.
The fans in this area were more Tier 2 thru 5 but that didn’t stop the three of us from belting out all the songs. During the communications with the Troops, which I felt privileged to be part of, a fan behind us kept yelling, “Come on! Glorified Version of a Pellet Gun, man! Sing it! Sing it!” Wifey says, “I don’t think he likes that song.” Pellet Gun Fan says, “Really???!?” I say, “I dunno Eddie himself sang, ‘Glorified version of how I hate this song!’” Then during the times when Eddie would conduct the crowd into improv chants, we were the only ones in our area responding. Wifey felt the set list was a bit too pop, but such is a festival. My favorite surprise was Tremor Christ. Most awkward moment was when the three of us were singing, “Fight to get it back again!!! YEAH! YEAH” and looking around to see that no one was fighting to get back anything again, at all. Then at one point, I see loads and loads of people from the section we were trapped in all begin to leave before the boys are done with the first set. Probably Tier 4-5. Hordes of unimpressed human roadblocks… all just were leaving in droves.
A lot went on during the trip; the massive oil spill threatening the coastline, the President arriving and his motorcade shutting down the highway, the election of a brand new Mayor of New Orleans sworn in and me wondering how far down the list is the whole Taxi Drinkers Club issue, my flying issues where the first flight I learned that flying is safe only to unlearn those lessons on the flight back home- all the while BFF usually falls asleep as we taxi on the runway, the realization that my daughter could grow up one day to become a subpar Psychic. The fact that there are literally hundreds of bats that constantly swarm around the buildings of the French Quarter and no one even mentions it. Still, we would let nothing get in the way of our PJ adventure. Despite all the trials and tribulations, we were determined to enjoy the vibe of the band and we were committed to Kick Out the Jams, even though none of us knew any words to that cover.
After everything was said and done, several truths remain; whenever you can see Pearl Jam live it’s always a great experience, Seeing PJ at a festival is something I don’t plan to do anytime soon. (unless they come to Tampa of course) And, there is no party like a Tier 1 party.
Noel_sinceTEN
1996-Ft. Laud/1998-WP Bch/2000-Tpa/2003-Tpa/2004-Kiss/2008-WP Bch/2008-Tampa/2010 Jazz Fest/9/11/11 & 9/12/11 Toronto,/ 9/12/11 Film Fest w/Eddie
9/22 Midtown Fest and Eddie solo 12/3 & 12/4
I have a very big favor to ask: In an inebriated moment in New Orleans, I seem to have lost my camera -
I was seeing Big Al Carson at the FUNKY PIRATE on Bourbon Street on FRIDAY, the 30th of APRIL - the night before PJ at the festival. I was talking with 2 guys from Boston/ North Shore of Mass & somehow put my camera on the bar. Then proceeded to walk out without it. Obviously, being as toasty as I was, I didn't realize it unitl the next morning - and it made me VERY late to the fairgrounds & I had to sit 3/4 of the way from the stage as a result. Getting distracted here.
My plea: If anyone has any idea who might have grabbed the camera: a CANON POWER SHOT with 10x zoom, black/point n shoot, could you please send me a message? If one of those guys I was talking to might have grabbed it, that would be so cool.
Honestly, you can have the camera as a reward or I can come up with another $ reward... I seriously only want the pictures off of it - that's how much this means to me! There are Pics from our road trip to New Orleans, including the Cherokee National Forrest, Coker Creek TN, also some pics from NYC, and our first night on Bourbon Street.
I really think that someone grabbed it in hopes of seeing us again & I believe in my heart of hearts that it's out there wanting to return to me. Who would keep a found camera - keep someone elses memories?
Please restore my faith in humanity~ Send me an email here, or to this address: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:risafoto@hotmail.com">risafoto@hotmail.com</a><!-- e -->.
Peace & Love ~
Risa
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
I'm quietly optimistic... keeping my fingers crossed. I have a six-hour road trip coming up on Friday afternoon, and I'm hoping I can relive Jazz Fest two or three times while I'm on the road
I'm rethinking my stance... I checked the setlists they have on the Tour page, and Jazz Fest is the only show that so far doesn't have a "Buy CD" or "Buy Digital Download" link up :evil:
Sometimes being wrong feels AWESOME!!!! I'm downloading it right now - just in time for my road trip to Texas this afternoon. Timing couldn't have been better
To quote Eddie Vedder, "Alright, let's play some fucking jazz music..."
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
Any idea what happened to the show i nthe Goods section? Saw it today, went to download tonight and it's not on their anymore. WTF?!
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
Thanks! I hadnt thoughgt to look there (it's been a while since I bought a bootleg).
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here
and fuck me if you only hear what you wanna hear
fuck me...if I care...but im not leavin here