Summer concerts

Last Tuesday, I went to the Death Cab for Cutie concert at the McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn. "Death Cab" took on new meaning that night. (1) It was a HOT and humid day, so I arrived sweaty and in a marginally bad mood. (2) There were no bathrooms, and when I saw the porta-potties, got into a worse mood. I decided to use one before the show started because I figured it was only going to get worse as the night went on. (3) Then we sat on the hot cement until the show started, and after it started, stood on the hot cement. (4) An hour into the concert, the wind started blowing, stirring up a small dust storm which caused dirt and sand to get into our eyes and stuck to our skin. (5) A few minutes after that, they called the show off because of the impressive lightning storm coming in and the fact that the band was standing on a metal stage. (6) In addition to all of that, the lead singer had trouble with his guitar (seen in this video) and his mikes completely went out in a few of the songs.



After the early end of the show, we literally ran to the subway, hoping to get there before the rain started. We were about 2 blocks away when the skies opened, and the rain felt really good after the disgustingly hot day, but we still had a long subway ride home so we didn't want to get drenched. Good times!

Saturday night, we had a repeat performance, but this time it was REM at Jones Beach. Another outdoor venue, another hot day, another storm coming in. We sat through the two opening bands (The National and Modest Mouse) and watched the clouds rolling in. We started seeing lightning above our heads and I wondered what was going to happen this time... Well, this time lightning actually struck the building right behind us and they evacuated the venue. My friend saw the sparks fly, and another friend felt a little shock in her umbrella. They told us that the concert was not cancelled yet, so we should all go sit in our cars and listen to the radio to find out when the show would resume. But of course, we don't have a car, so we just went downstairs and waited it out with the hordes of other people. After an hour or so, we were told the concert was going to start around 10 pm, so we went to see if we could find some seats that were partially covered. In the end, we got to sit a lot closer and we were covered as it continued to rain the rest of the evening.