July 28-30, 2001 — The KrazyFest entry, part two

Editor's note: This journal was written on September 26, 2001, almost two months after all this actually took place, entirely from memory (with the assistance of the band listing on my ticket stubs). It will be less funny, less detailed, and less worth reading than part one of the KrazyFest entry. Sorry.

Day two

Day two was dedicated to metal and hardcore and was the day that I looked forward to the least. The only bands whose music I was at least partially into at the time were American Nightmare, Stretch Arm Strong, and Bane. With emphasis on Bane. But this left eleven bands that I wasn't all that keen on seeing. It's not that Converge or Dillinger Escape Plan wouldn't be an experience to watch -- they just weren't among the bands that were giving me reason to go to KrazyFest.

So yes. With little interest in any of the first few bands, we were in no rush to get to Louisville's historic water tower. We ended up going back to the homie-dispensing machine and wasting more money there, and eating at fast-food places along that strip. (During the four-day trip, I ate only at Subway and Denny's; so whenever I say that food is involved but don't specify the location, think Subway.)

We eventually stumbled into KrazyFest. I didn't watch any bands until American Nightmare, spending most of my time at the merchandise tables at the back. Once Stretch Arm Strong had started playing, I made my way to the front, hoping to get a good spot for Bane.

Stretch Arm Strong ended their set with their cover of "I melt with you." Then the rain started.

These were not light showers. This was an all-out thunderstorm with rain coming down in sheets and lightning dropping from the sky in the distance. But the crowd, for the most part, stayed. I saw a person in Bane mouth, "Yeah, we'll play," to one of the organizers, and a few minutes later they were playing "Superhero" as the rain continued to fall.

They played a fairly short set that included one new song. The new song was interesting because while it was clear that it was definitely a good song, it was one of the least energetic moments during their set simply because no one but the lead singer knew the words. I've never seen a band that had so much crowd participation at their show, and I am very much looking forward to seeing them live again when they come to Toronto in November.

After Bane, there was a delay as they waited for the rain to clear up a bit. It was unanimously agreed that it would be a bad time to be a member of Ensign, as following Bane to a mostly empty field would be a definite blow to the ol' self-esteem. (Adam: "Who likes Ensign, anyway? I've only seen one Ensign t-shirt ever, and it was mine.")

I don't know if it was the fact that I was soaked in rain or the fact that I'd eaten nothing but Subway for three days (and that I'd only had one meal so far that day), but I started to feel fairly unpleasant late into Saturday afternoon. I ended up lying in the van for most of the rest of the day, willing to be called a moron for missing a number of good sets if it would give me a better chance of being healthy for the bliss that was to be Sunday.

Before completely passing out in the van, I went to the gas station across the street to call my parents for the first time since I'd left. While there, I ran into Unknown (or "Mike," apparently) from Makeoutclub. I was pretty proud of myself for knowing his real name. He'd recognized me first and was the only person to approach me and to talk to me over the course of the weekend.

I spent the rest of the afternoon worrying that the tent would be flooded by the time we returned to the campsite that night and that we'd be sleeping in the van beside the tent.

Unfortunately, the van wouldn't start when everyone made it back from the Dillinger Escape Plan set, and it began to look like we might be sleeping in the van in the empty KrazyFest parking lot.

Fortunately, Angela's car was able to boost the van and it started without incident.

And, miraculously, the tent, while not bone-dry, was little more than damp when we arrived.

Falling asleep was not a problem.

Day three

I had said that I'd like to make it to KrazyFest early on Sunday so that I could see Fairweather's set. But I don't really have the sway to get that sort of decision made. Luckily enough, Dave wanted to see Further Seems Forever, who were playing immediately after Fairweather, and he was able to rally the troops. It's all a bit of a blur at this point, but I'd imagine that I ate at Subway beforehand.

Arriving before the music had started, I ended up watching Fairweather, Further Seems Forever, Hey Mercedes, Elliott, Dashboard Confessional, Alkaline Trio, and Saves The Day. Breaks were taken during The White Octave, The Jazz June, and Hot Rod Circuit.

The rain had stopped by Sunday. In its place, the sun was out and in the mood to give me the worst sunburn of my teenage years. I had put on ridiculous amounts of sunscreen, doubling up SPF 25 and SPF 40 on my neck and face. But nothing helped.

Our rating system based around Homies was in full effect by Sunday. A girl we had seen on the first day had been dubbed the Original Ten Homies (or O-Ten for short), and Nathan snuck pictures of her with his digital camera. It seemed like everyone had a story explaining why they were owed Homies by the end of the day. I don't think any actually ended up changing hands. (Not that I would've minded if that had -- my quadruples of the Japanese homie are a little excessive.)

The best line of the day was, "The problem with ten-homie girls is that they're always surrounded by ten of their homies." My homie moment involved a joke before the Elliott set along the lines of, "While you'd think that wearing both SPF 25 and SPF 40 sunscreen would be cumulative and prevent me from getting burned, it would seem that they actually cancel each other out and possibly make me all the more susceptible to turning a bright-red colour." A couple of girls laughed, and Dave mouthed "Homies" to Alex. Then one of the girls started smoking and points were lost all around. But for a moment there...

As far as the music goes, Fairweather were a lot better than I'd expected, but they've got to cut that spitting-water-into-the-crowd shit out. The highlight of their set was the second guitarist playing several riffs from "Rock you like a hurricane" as the rest of the band waited for him to go back into the song.

Further Seems Forever were decent. I bought their album, but it I haven't really been able to get into it. Not having heard much of them before KrazyFest, I had kind of hoped that they would be a bit... louder, I guess.

Hey Mercedes were great. I can't wait to hear their new album. I was hoping they'd have it for sale early at KrazyFest, since it was supposed to be released in August, anyway. But it wasn't, and since then the release date has been pushed to October 23. So I still haven't heard it. But I look forward to seeing them live again, and I got a lot more out of it this time than I did when I saw them in Buffalo awhile back.

Elliott shattered all expectations that I had for them. I'd heard their album countless times last year since Johnston was keen on listening to it before he went to sleep, and their live versions of the songs were unbelievable. They made excellent use of sequencers and drum machines and the like, too. It didn't seem tacky or out of place even in the context of a festival mostly free of electronic music. A definite highlight of the day.

Dashboard Confessional get a bit less worth watching each time I see them. At some point it all seems to blur together. Twice is enough. I still like older Dashboard Confessional songs a fair amount, but the newest album doesn't do as much for me. I'll give him another chance if (when?) he releases another full-length, but I've seen enough for a decent length of time.

Alkaline Trio were pretty boring, actually. Nathan got upset at us for saying as much, but they honestly didn't do much for me. I only knew two or three of the songs they played, which didn't help. Luckily, we'd been listening to a lot of "Radio" in the van, so I had one song that I could partially sing along to.

And Saves The Day. It will be a long time before I get enough of Saves The Day. I honestly don't care what anyone says -- their newest album fantastic, and while they could have easily sold out and tried to ride the pop-punk wave into the mainstream, they didn't. The new album is easily their best yet. My only problems with their set were that they didn't play enough songs from Stay What You Are, and that they didn't play an encore. I hope that they come to Canada soon.

And with that, KrazyFest was over. Everyone did a final merch run to try (unsuccessfully) to spend the last of our US dollars, and we returned to the camp site to spend our last night on Stoney Square.

All in all, I'd do it again in a second, and I hope we're able to figure out a way to go next year if the lineup is anything like it was this year.

The drive back to Ottawa

Johnston, for some reason, slept in the van on the last night. We set an alarm for 5:30 am and were on the road soon after. I ate Combos for breakfast. (I'd just like to say that Combos are the best snack ever. It doesn't get any better than hollowed-out pretzels filled with [extremely processed] cheddar cheese. I've never been to a fancy restaurant, but I'd imagine that the good ones serve a bowl full of Combos before every meal instead of bread.)

We were rushing back to Toronto so that Jeff, Johnston, and I could meet with the owner of a house we were trying to rent for the fall. This meant sending everyone but Alex back in Angela's car. We split up just outside of Toronto.

The meeting was, thanks to the landlord, a complete waste of time. We never heard back from him, really, and we never got the house.

We made it back to Ottawa in the small hours of the morning. I collapsed, took Tuesday off from work, and returned to a far less interesting existence.