My Mumbling Thoughts

We pulled up into the Nissan Pavillion's parking lot and stopped in front of a huge boulder in the cheap, free parking spaces.

Nobody was there.

We walked through some trees, over some rocks, and made it to the top where there were about three other die hard Coldplay fans waiting. It was perfect weather again, just like on Tuesday and I was relieved that we wouldn't have to be sitting out in the rain.

I sat down and decided to hold our place as number two in line while Mendy trekked it back down to the porter johns.

Waiting for three hours was going to suck.

When she got back, we scooted over into the shade and braced ourselves for three hours of being absolutely bored with no entertainment whatsoever. There was a guy standing in front of us talking on his cell phone. I thought, "aw man. We got stuck behind Cell Phone Guy."

Mendy and I looked up.

Mendy: "Just let us know if we're invading your space."

Cell Phone Guy: "Nah, it's alright. I don't have any space."

Me: "Doesn't that make you claustrophobic?"

And with that we made our first concert buddy, Jon. He talked to us for the entire three and a half hours about music. Nothing but music, turning music into an official religion, concerts, and more about music. He has been an avid concert goer ever since he was sixteen and this past Wednesday was his twentieth birthday. His friend, Pat, was on his way from work to rock out with him down in the pit. We were very excited that they would be down there that way they could save us some space since we wouldn't make it as fast with our short little limbs trying to race down.

Eventually, Pat joined us and brought two pizza slices that looked like they had seen better and fresher days. I was becoming so dehydrated that my lips began to look like I was a crack addict. Time continued to click away though and they soon opened the gates so that we could start scanning tickets. I had spotted a water cart while we were standing outside the gates and got my cash ready to buy a $4.00 bottle of water.

I ran, I paused, I asked for water, they gave me water and my $1.00 change (I was tempted to say, "keep the change" but thought against it immediately), I said, "bless you", I continued running/walking, I slowed down, I got a stitch in my side, I became embarrassed because I couldn't run the distance down to the pit, I called out for Mendy, I opened my water bottle, I started to run/walk again, I finally made it to the pit entrance.

I wanted to collapse.

After my ticket was hole punched and I got a nifty wrist band that said, "Enter the pit area at your own risk" (as if that would scare me away), I quickly ran down the stairs praying that I wouldn't trip and fall flat on my face while being known for the rest of the night as, "that girl who fucked her face up", and found Jon standing in the middle right up against the barricade...with no spaces anywhere around him.

None.

Zero.

I was too late.

We were standing in the second row of people behind this GIANT with no soul who refused to move and let Mendy and I stand in front of him. He wouldn't budge an inch. Instead, he was a complete prick and said to us with a bit of glee in his voice, "biology wins again." I wanted to say, "wow, you're a dick," but I bit my tongue.

People quickly filed in behind us. Mendy and I tried to reason with the incredibly bitter old man who had already seen Coldplay FIVE times, but he said that we should have gotten down here faster.

What an asshole. I had never want to cut somebody so badly.

Rilo Kiley came on stage a little bit after 7:30. I was so excited to see them, and the lead singer was just the cutest thing in the entire world. She rocked out on her guitar, sang her little heart out, and it was just a really good performance.

Too bad we could only see directly in front of us over this semi-tall woman's shoulder because the incredibly tall GIANT with no soul wasn't moving to save his life. What got me was that he wouldn't bob along to the music, or sing to any of the words (if he knew any), or clap along. No. He just stood there like this enormous boring tree.

I was not going to stand here like this throughout the rest of Coldplay. Oh no. I refused. I didn't wait for six hours just so some prat with an attitude problem could stand in my way.

I switched places with Mendy who was very upset that she couldn't see. I tapped on Jon's shoulder.

Me: "Hey, so how'd you like, Rilo Kiley then?"

Jon: "Oh, they were great. I really enjoyed that."

Me: "Yeah, me too. Or well, the bit that I could see. It all sounded really good though."

Jon: "Why don't you come up here?"

Me: "Do you think that I could squeeze in there?"

Jon: "Yeah, I'm sure. That guy can move a little," he pointed to The Tree.

Me: "Huh, right."

I wedged myself in between Jon and The Tree. The Tree looked down surprised.

The Tree: "It's a great view up here, huh?"

Me: "Fantastic." What a cunt.

The Tree: "So are you and your friend going to switch during the concert?"

Me: "No. I'm going to bring her up here with me."

I tried more negotiating with The Tree. Meanwhile, there was a group of other short ladies that Mendy had rounded up all pressuring The Tree to hunch over.

The whole time we were ganging up on The Tree, Coldplay's crew were setting up the stage. Chris Martin's piano was center stage. Johnny and Guy would stand on either side while Will hung out in the back right of the stage. There was a big screen just like in their video Speed of Sound behind them all. It was simple, but nice.

Before I knew it, the lights dimmed and everyone began freaking out. Coldplay was about to come out.

Holy sweet Jesus.

The music kicked up. Johnny, Guy, and Will assumed their positions on stage. You could hear the first chords of Square One start playing. The screen lit up and you could see Chris Martin's shadow with a microphone.

"You're in control, is there anywhere you wanna go?"

The tingling started in my skin.

"You're in control, is there anything you wanna know?"

I started jittering up and down.

"The future's for discovering."

Oh my lord.

"The space in which we're travelling."

The concert was on.

There they were, all four of them within an arm reach, jamming out.

By their second song, Yellow, Mendy was already up at the front standing next to me with her little camera recording Coldplay's every move, every note, every word. I was pretty proud of myself. I only cried three times. You would have cried too if you were standing a couple of mere inches away from one of you favorite bands in the entire universe. Besides, it was during In My Place, Trouble, and Fix You. Definitely cry worthy songs.

It was roughly about two hours long and the whole entire time I was smiling from ear to ear in this weird place that was all warm, fuzzy, and had the occasional bunny rabbit that would hop by just to add to the absolute happiness. Nothing could go wrong. Coldplay was playing.

They played it all, a little bit from all three of their albums. At one point, Chris Martin hopped down into the crowd and ran to the middle in the seating and sang up there while being shown on the big screen. They did a tribute to Johnny Cash and played Ring of Fire, which was so awesome. Chris would ad lib some of his songs and he was always dancing or rocking back and forth on his small piano stool.

It had to end eventually though, and they did a kick ass job with Fix You. It was their last stop on this tour and it felt kind of extra special and cool. Or maybe that was just me. At the very end, after all of the singing and playing, they bowed to a standing ovation.

Then Mendy and me went to my house and promptly got drunk. Nothing says Fucking Kick Ass Friday than that.