Farewell Fiddlers: Between The Covers
by Torch
It was the last night of the 2013 Fiddler’s Green concerts. It has been one memorable, slippery summer, as I’ve learned so much, watching… listening, and making mistakes. Serving up to you now a quick retrospective:
Food: Bob Dylan by far had the best food. His caterers travel with the show, and are executive chefs making beautiful, healthy food. Oh my, the little pumpkin puffs were sinful in all the scrumptious ways. The worst food goes to the Kid Rock Tour, mac-n-cheese, canned corn, and barbequed road kill of some sort; it was the most reminiscent of old school lunch food. I felt sorry for the crew traveling with that tour.
I won’t go into best crowd, because when people are all singing along and having a good time, they all win. Worst crowd however I have to go with Lil Wayne; dang everybody was Kung Fu fighting!
Moment: I was back stage at Lil Wayne watching the show, there were dancing girls, guys on skate boards, big fire balls going off it was a great production and ran right on time. I stood a little back from the stage entrance so I could see the folly. I noticed a few mountain sized guys dressed in black, hanging out near by. A blast of sound explosion caused me to do a full body shake from top to toenails. It literally scared the breath out of me. One big guy kindly put his arms around me and said, “Hang on baby, there’s two more.” Boom! He held me tight. Boom! He told me I was all right, then he walked out on stage and started rapping with Lil Wayne. I asked one of the other guys who that was. He smiled at me, “That was Two Chainz.” In my most caucasional manner I just thought, “Thank you Mr. Chainz.” Dang, I know nothing about rap, yet in the midst of a show of full production, I was gallantly guarded with a moment of humanity.
The greatest act devoted to the art of Rock and Roll for the summer was definitely ZZ Top playing in a huge downpour, after an hour long black out. The rain fell in sheets and the pit was turning into a pool; I was hoping we could do cannonballs off the stage but that was my dream. The crowd danced and cheered all sloppy wet, clad in plastic garbage bags, and drinking expensive cheep beer. The ZZ boys had on their full sparkling garb, doing their signature guitar swing moves and playing the hell out of that rainstorm. Yeah baby that’s Rock and Roll!
Moment: Locura Festival, some guy lost his wallet backstage, so I figured I would ask production if they knew the name. I saw this guy with long hair running around all day, and spotted him from behind in front of the production door, so I asked him if he worked in production. It wasn’t him. Dave Navarro of Alice in Chains turned around and told me to go on inside. (Forehead slap) I was so happy he didn’t hear me correctly; there is some benefit to musician’s deafness. Of course like an idiot I told on myself and my boss did not find my story as funny as I did, and banned me from back stage for the rest of the day.
Funniest moments came answering the lost and found phone calls. One guy called having lost his car. Now it was not in my lost and found bin, obviously but he wasn’t sure: if he just can’t remember where he parked, or if the car was towed, or if it was stolen. I told him to call the police, which he hesitated, making me muse over the contents of the vehicle.
Oddly lots of women called in missing shirts after the Heart concert?? And there were several girl fights at that show, as a few called the next day looking for their IDs; they had turned them over to security and eventually the police. The show however was a blast, I had forgotten how many great songs they had.
Heart had the best meet-n-greet (industry term for a lap dance). Their staff created The Black Dog VIP Lounge. The walls were tie-dyed tapestries, and accented with plants and candles and incense. The fans who paid to have a picture taken with the Wilson sisters all tried to peak around the fabric walls. The big moment came when one of the assistants hit a large gong and the sister’s entered with true pomp and circumstance. They sat at a table, and one by one each fan stood between them and smiled for the camera. Parting gifts included a butterfly fan, and a hat for the Jason Bonham experience.
The most missing cell phones goes to Lil Wayne.
The most missing driver’s licenses go to Luke Bryan.
The drunkest crowd… and the award goes to Mayhem, along with the most incident reports!
It was a sweaty summer filled with music moments that take us through our cold months, a summer of watching and absorbing the energy of thousands of fans dancing and singing at the top of their lungs to music that is so loud it leaves us deaf for days but soaks our souls for life.
Here at the end of the season, the end of Live Nation at Fiddler’s Green, we pass the torch on to AEG in our own little way in the form of a burn barrel and a few beers. In true basic human gathering in a vague circle around the fire, we bonded and said good-bye to the Green.
Category: Buzzworthy
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