Sometimes We Go to Concerts

I didn't go to this show.

A couple years ago, Jamie and I came across Stone Temple Pilots Live in Chicago on Palladia. We decided right then that we had to see STP. I Googled their tour dates; nothing near us. We had forgotten about it for a while when, once again, we stumbled upon the same concert video on TV. This time, when I Googled it, there was a show! Jamie bought tickets for the late-February concert at small venue in Pomona and we were stoked.

Then my dad's cancer started to do it's thing a few days before the show, so I was en route to Ohio to be with him and my family instead of Scott Weiland and the rest of STP in Pomona. It was a good choice, and not difficult, but after everything, I still wanted to see them.

Fast forward and we find out that Stone Temple Pilots are headlining KROQ's Epicenter festival. Yes. In! Bought tickets. Stoked. Oh, who else is playing? Bush? I'm definitely all in now. My 14 year old self would flip her shit if she knew she was going to finally see Bush and STP when she grew up.

Jamie and the kid next to him were making bets on what Scott Weiland would be wearing when STP came on.
"There's definitely going to be a scarf involved."

I'm going to tell you that while I did thoroughly enjoy STP's set, it felt a little lacking in something. They sounded great, Scott Weiland was wearing a patterned shirt with a matching patterned tie, he did his typical terrible sway-dance with ill-timed shoulder shrugs that only he can pull off, they played a lot of great songs, but it was just, in a way, off. But this was the end of the show, and I'm getting ahead of myself.

My favorite guy at the show looked like a cross between Rob Zombie and Lemmy.

Chevelle was playing when we arrived. Jamie's a fan of them, and while I'm really only familiar with their two songs from 2002, they sounded great and I could appreciate their show. Scars on Broadway were next, which we didn't really give two craps for, so we left to wander around.

Bush!

We got back to our seats during the first song in Bush's set. After Machinehead and Everything Zen, they went into what is probably my favorite cover of The Beatles' Come Together during which Gavin Rossdale hopped off stage and made his way through the crowd. I took this as the typical lead-singer-in-the-pit experience and wondered how those people in the pit paid for their tickets. (Probably with a credit card.)

But then, the spotlight kept moving deeper into the crowd. Still singing, Gavin made his way to the center aisle of the amphitheater and headed up the stairs. He passed the loge and made it all the way up to the lawn seats, finishing their Beatles cover before turning around to head back. He continued down the path behind our section while singing the next song, something newer that I wasn't familiar with.  Then, much to my surprise, he headed down our aisle, which was about 6 seats away from me.

I kept my cool.

I'm lying. I totally let my inner 14 year old out, who saw the row behind me was mostly clear to run, so I launched over the seats and stood right in the aisle in time to capture this solid high five.

My brick was officially shat.

I also let my 14 year old creeper out and got a handful of sweaty, British bicep before heading back to my husband. I don't think my smile faded until they finished their set.

I look calm because this was before I touched Gavin Rossdale.

While I was looking forward to seeing Bush, my excitement to see STP overshadowed any expectations I could have had about seeing Bush. I was really only looking forward to seeing Bush for nostalgia's sake, but their set exceeded all of my expectations that I didn't really make. They sounded great and the energy was so high.

I woke up the next morning to find this on the inside of my left leg:

Left to right: thigh, knee, calf.

While I still may have my inner 14 year old, my outer is definitely (almost) 29. The bruise on my thigh is almost 5 inches long! I also have another on the inside of my right knee that is pretty gnarly, but they were all so worth it.