Cole wakes me up with a good head snuffling. I spend a good twenty minutes rubbing his belly and telling him how pretty he is. So pretty. I’d had about 4 hours of sleep at that point. So tired.
Ethan very graciously went out to get me some coffee. I had graciously warned him in advance about my sick and dirty coffee addiction. Bagels, coffee, cigarettes and a shower and we’re good to go.
I’m offered sunblock. Multiple times. I don’t need no stinkin’ sunblock, no way. I’m tough, I’m mean, I’m fishbelly pale. After yesterday, I’m a beet red little piggy. Ow.
There’s no parking at the actual festival, parking is offered about 87,000 miles away with free shuttle service to and from. More on this later, but I’m pretty sure the word to describe the shuttle users is ‘suckers’. We manage to defy the bright orange signs everywhere and park in a neighborhood about a mile away. It’s a beautiful walk in the shimmery Austin heat. Heat? It was like 97 degrees with 8000% humidity.
Once inside we spied a tree to rest under, the heat was really intense. Once over the hill we discovered that a collapsible chair city had sprung up not unlike a refugee camp. We hated them and moved on to the food while catching bits and pieces of music here and there. The festival as set up beautifully. So many stages, all set up so that one fades out before the next one picks up. Really well planned, great music everywhere.
The food options were fantastic, we ended up with steak tacos and Jamba Juice and we chilled under a table to escape the heat. Modest Mouse kicked ass, had a great show, but the crowds were crazy. After the set we headed off to get some beer and relax in the shade. Dashboard Confessional was great when heard while lying on the ground in the shade by the beer tent. By this point I am worried because I’ve had so much to drink but I have not peed yet. So I drank more beer.
Surprisingly, the port-a-potties were not awful. They weren’t great, there was no toilet paper (I planned ahead!) but they were not awful.
The sun set, it was beautiful and the temperature dropped a good 475 degrees.
I have a confession to make. I don’t know The Pixies. When I tell people there is a general uproar and disbelief all around, “how could you not know The Pixies, they’re your generation??!!??”. Indeed they are my generation and yet, I don’t really know them or anything about them. The Pixies hit the stage after sundown, Ethan and I went to see the show (he, of course, knows and loves them). The show was great. I’m now a fan. Things work out that way. On a side note, Kim Deal looked like a soccer mom in her JCPenny knit top, black jeans and wash and go haircut. I could totally imagine her calling the other moms on the carpool list explaining that she couldn’t pull soccer transport duty for a couple weeks because she had to go play some rock and roll. The other mom’s are pretty understanding, they know what it’s like to have a dream.
The Pixies let out about 8 minutes before Trey Anastasios army of hippies left. Imagine 70,000 people trying to get out 2 gates. Ugly. Once we got out the gate and started walking it wasn’t too bad, things moved steadily. At one point I realized there was a line formed to my right, 4 people deep and possibly 1/4 long. These were the people waiting for the shuttle. I’m pretty sure that when I arrived on Sunday they were still loading them on the cute little Austin buses. We did not take the shuttle and were able to get to the car, get some fast food and get home before the second coming.
I was so damned tired that I passed out immediately after eating, I don’t even think I finished swallowing that last bite.
We’re seriously considering not going to Sunday.