Seattle Was a Riot

From the top....

So me and Tasha picked up Clayton, Shawn (Snider), and Clinton at the ferry Sunday night. Monday morning, we raced to the ferry and barely made it, but it was a beautiful day, so it was awesome relaxing on the sun deck. We found our way thru Vancouver and arrived at the border without much time to waste, but we hadn't hit any obstacles yet. But of course, our good buddies at the Dept. of Homeland Security made sure to throw our schedule off a bit. We had stashed our remaining paraphernalia and pot in some bushes a few km before the border, so except for everyone but me being stoned, we didn't have anything to worry about. However, they decided to haul us into immigration for no apparent reason (presumably while they were simultaneously searching our car. They asked us a barrage of less-than-important questions, which was probably just used to start files on all of us since we were young. Questions like, "where do you work, what concert are you going to, have you been to the states before, have you ever been arrested (the only relevant question". So I had to explain to the guy how I had been put in the drunk tank for being too fucked up on mushrooms (without actually using the word of course), but there hadn't been any charges so he kept drilling me for details. Anyways, we admitted to having fruit with us (you can't take most fruit across the border), but they didn't seem to care, and luckily they didn't notice that 3 of us were wearing Anti-Flag shirts.
So 30 minutes later, we were back on the road, and I drove really fast to make up for lost time. We got to the venue in Seattle at 6:15 (we were aiming for 6), but the doors had just opened to the show, so me and Clayton went looking for tickets and it turns out, while they were sold out, they still had 50 tickets left at the door. So between scalpers and the door, we rounded up 5 tickets, thus enabling us too finally both relax and get very stoked at the same time. The venue wasn't huge, there was probably about 300 people inside. After the opening band finished, Alexisonfire came on. They only did 5 songs cuz they were using a backup bass played to cover for a band member that was very sick. Regardless, there were very enjoyable. The music was pretty good, but what made them totally cool was their demeanor. Very humble, but very appreciative of the crowd. The singer would kiss the heads of fans, and even crowd surfed during a song. They got a huge cheer afterwards, and I definitely have a ton of respect for them now. So I bid farewell to my crew as I made my way to the front for Tsunami Bomb. They were rockin and I wish I knew more of the words to their songs (I seem to have the funnest time when I know all the words to a band's songs), but everyone was lovin it and Agent M (the singer, female) was totally rad. During their set, I managed to move from the mosh pit into the front, where it was very very tight, but at least elbows weren't flying at you. I did know all the words to "Say it if you mean it" and "20 Going On...", so I definitely was getting pretty worked up. After they finished, there was definitely a bit of tension as everyone was trying to be as close to the stage as possible for Rise Against. Things became so tight that you literally couldn't scratch your own as. I had my crotch involuntarily placed right in the ass of the guy in front of me, but at least he was the only one between me and the stage, so I was in a good place. In claustrophobic situations like that, your options are too freak out and get out of the crowd, or just go with the flow, so I gave up trying to reposition myself and started making homo-erotic jokes with my new best friend. Girls were grabbing my butt and rubbing my hair too. Anticipation was high and after a few chants, Rise Against finally came out. It turns out I was in a very good position, cuz I wasn't getting squished as much as everyone around me, and crowd surfers didn't seem to come near, but pretty soon, all hell broke loose, and I somehow got promoted to front row and things really started kickin ass. By the third song, it was so loud (between the band and everyone who knew the words), that I couldn't even tell if I'd lost my voice yet, cuz I couldn't hear myself screaming.
Lemme take this moment to point out a few things. First off, it was a really awesome crowd. Within a few songs, everyone was really watching out for each other, making sure no one was too squished and that no one got kicked in the head from crowd surfers. A tight bong had formed, a true camaraderie, if you will. This is the hallmark of a good punk show where a mosh pit transforms from pseudo-violence to a beacon of positive, although still thrashing, energy. Even though there was a bar, it was still all age, and since the drinking age is 21 down there, there really wasn't too many people drunk. Now this is a big thing for me, and it wouldn’t take too long to fully explain, but basically I get really thrown off when really drunk people are around. But everyone near me seemed sober, so things were going really smoothly (well as smoothly as they can go with that density of people).
Once I was at the very front, I could seriously lift both of my feet off the ground, it was so packed and I was pinned to the stage. But it wasn't too uncomfortable, in fact, it definitely added to the whole experience. Anyways, back to the show....
Rise Against was completely fucking awesome. They played for more than an hour, and they even did shout-outs to Canadians AND vegetarians. During one song, Tim (the singer) looked into my eyes when eh said the word 'revolution', that was sweet of him. Meanwhile, I'm rocking out harder than I've ever rocked out in my life, full body thrashing (even though I was trapped from the waist down), and screaming at the top of my lungs every single word I knew. Some songs were totally awesome cuz there's lines that are just made for everyone to YELL at once ("so push us down...... AND WE GET RIGHT BACK UP AGAIN"). So things were going flawlessly and after what the said was their last song they left, but we were chanting the name of the band for so long that even if they weren't planning on coming back up, they would have had to eventually. So Time comes back on stage alone to a massive cheer and says that since it's Valentine's Day, he's gonna do a song they don't usually do at live shows. It was already completely obvious he was going to sing 'Swing life away', but he went on to say he was dedicating the song to heartbreak, because it makes us who we are and stuff like that. So he started playing and even though it's a solo acoustic song, the energy was still as high as ever. I swear, every single person there knew the words, and everyone's voice was quite nicely in tune, so it was really fucking awesome. When he was done, and the applause died down, he said they were gonna do 3 more songs. They ended with "Black Masks & Gasoline" which was totally rad and although they didn't play Generation Lost, Tip the Scales, or Torches, that just gives me even more reason to see them again in April when they come to Van and Calgary. So as the crowds were dispersing, I got to shake Tim's hand, and I got handed half of their set list and I got autographs of everyone except Tim and they gave me to guitar picks too. As I started to stumble away, I noticed I was drenched in sweat from chest to knees, not a dry spot to be found in between. I felt high afterwards, like I was just floating and it took me quite a while to catch my breath. So I found the rest of my crew and we made our way towards the car and they had totally loved it too. I drove them around Seattle looking for a liquor store, and after more than an hour, we'd finally found a store and been followed by some cops. Once we got back at the hotel, I still felt elated and I treated myself to a bath as I contemplated the evening. I decided to have a few beer as a gesture of good will and we sat around talking for a while. After a while, it was just me Clinton and Clayton talking and we talked for about 4 hours. We had very good conversations about all sorts of shit and I was really stoked on it. We all had different perspectives, but we didn't argue at all. We talked about spirituality (which I've NEVER talked to them about), the merits of subtlety vs bluntness, and I even got to educate them on the foundations of quantum mechanics (what I know so far). We went to bed at 6am, and in the morning we went for breakfast, but on the way, we noticed Rise Against packing up their van at a nearby hotel. My voice was still totally gone, so all I managed was a cracking cheer and afterwards, I felt pretty stupid (having managed only a Neanderthal-esque holler), since they ended up eating at the same restaurant as us at the very next table! Well, it wasn't the whole band. A guitarist, and two stage helpers or maybe a manager. After the meal, I said a few quick words and managed to repent for my earlier embarrassment. So the drive back to the ferry was uneventful and after a cool sunset, were were on the ferry. The ferry was totally dead, so I made everyone play hide & seek with me. Then Shawn showed me a spot he'd found. You could go up a ladder and walk around on top of the ship (out of bounds of course), above the sun decks. We went to the front of the boat, and looked down on the waves, Titanic style, then we climbed up the mast a bit. It was pretty fuckin gnarly and I'm definitely gonna do that every time I'm on a night sailing. Too bad we didn't get any pictures though. Anyways, we got to my place, made and ate some curried veggies and cous-cous, then tasha and shawn fell asleep again, as me, Clayton, and Clinton, were left to talking again.
So yeah, that's about where the story ends. My expectations were blown away and I'm still in awe. Rocking out to Rise Against while driving is even more fun now and I still have the concert to look forward to in April as well.

Nar Nar

Fuck yeah:
Anti-Flag - Seattle Was a Riot
Rise Against - The First Drop, & Swing Life Away
Tsunami Bomb - Being Alright