Well, that was quite a whirlwind day. I was feeling a little ill at lunch time and debated whether or not I should go out, but I figured I am not going to just sit here in the hotel my whole trip no matter how nice it is.
So, I took a taxi out to the second day of the festival. Those Thai lessons actually came in handy when I had to tell the driver to turn left (layao sai).
I didn't think anyone ever went on ahead of schedule at these things, but unfortunately Supersub did so I only got to see 3 songs of their set. It's a lucky thing I went out there a little earlier than their advertised time or I would have missed pretty much all but one song.
Then I had time to head over to stage 5 for Armchair. They were surprisingly mediocre. The singer has a great voice but he insisted on talking and talking and talking between all the songs. If he had shut up they could have done another song or two. The kids seemed to enjoy it though. After that I was hot from being packed in there so I went out to get some fresh air.
As I was wandering aimlessly I happened to, by total chance, run into May-t Noijinda the guitar player for ModernDog with his longtime girlfriend. He looked at me in that way like "hey I know you" and I did the same. We chatted for a second and they were on their way to see another band play.
I got some ice cream and a bottle of water to cool down and sit for a minute. Then I went back to stage 5 to plot my course for where to stand for ModernDog's set. The band onstage at the time was really good but I have no idea who they were. The crowd was kind of small so I walked right up to the front row to stake out my spot and I didn't move thereafter. Some other band came on that I didn't know but they seemed fairly popular. And then it was time for Saliva Bastards which is one of the stupider band names, but I suppose no stupider than any other one. You expect some sort of heavy metal group with a name like that, but instead they play fairly mellow pop-rock songs. Their singer is just about the cutest boy I have ever seen in a band but they were all pretty cute.
And then the moment we were all waiting for....and waiting for...and waiting for. I guess ModernDog are pretty perfectionist. They have this tech who I used to call (to myself) "white glasses" because he used to where white sunglasses but now they are orange. He is very persnickety and everything being just right. I could tell that the festival techs were getting a little exasperated by it all. Anyway, the band came out to a roar. The people were totally packed in behind me. And in a sign of how well loved and respected they are, I think every band that wasn't playing at the time was at the side of the stage watching. It was quite a performance and one of the punk-rockest things I have ever seen. They opened with a new song that I suppose will end up on a new album one of these years. After playing a couple of their most popular hits, they did another new song that was pretty good. And then the punk rock moment(s) when they played Dtim and invited a bunch of people from the crowd up onstage to join them. So there were all these kids jumping over the barricade to get onstage and dance around. And then people started taking over and playing the instruments. There was an enormous white guy wearing all white and some sort of military hat who was up there too. After all the Thai kids were ushered off-stage the giant white guy apparently asked if he could sing Gon. And of course they let him. I think he got most of the words and the crowd was singing along to help fill in the rest. The band was smiling and laughing the entire time. After it was over the guy, who was clearly thrilled, gave Pod a big hug and said it was a "f-ing dream come true". It was actually very sweet in a way. I think they could have played for hours and everyone would have kept going nuts the whole time. It was pretty special, I think.
After that I managed to get the shuttle bus to the subway very quickly and it all worked out like clockwork.
Turns out my photo issue has to do with my card reader refusing to read any of my 2GB cards. So I guess I will go shopping for one of those tomorrow. I saw one today for about $3 so I may just do that.
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