Tick tick boom

So, I was going to have Ryan write this, since he's the big Boom fan, but I would hate to break my streak of writing every single entry. :) Remember kids - red words are links and pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Sonic Boom

Apparently almost 15000 people were there. That's a lot of damage done to those porta-potties.

Up at the front, waiting for it to start.


Here's the set list and my summation remarks:

11:25am to 11:50am KO - druggie. Smoked a blunt on stage while lamenting the drug problems of others in his songs. Inspiring. Or not.

12:05pm to 12:45pm The Dirty Heads - very Californian, very white boys reggae rapping type of deal, but strangely enjoyable. They had a good stage presence.



1:00pm to 1:40pm The Arkells - Wow! My favourite, after Weezer. Quirky, fun, awesome songs. Very engaging. Max got the whole crowd doing singing contests and snapping games.


Pulling Punches - great song

1:55pm to 2:35pm Mother, Mother - fun, but not as enthusiastic as we expected. Their songs are so good though.


Wrecking Ball - good song

2:50pm to 3:40pm Tokyo Police Club - good, it was fun to watch Graham do 50 things at once. Look at me, calling him Graham like we're best friends. Oh we are now.


Nature of the Experiment - good song

3:55pm to 4:45pm Wintersleep - kind of sleepy. Maybe it was the rain, maybe it was because we were sitting on bumpy concrete eating cheese buns.



5:00pm to 6:00pm Bad Religion - all their songs sounded the same after awhile and Rob almost got crushed to death in the mega mosh pit. Thankfully Ryan and I were safely in the wuss zone. Congratulations on punking out for 30 years though. Ryan realized that all the shirts proclaiming 1980-2010 looked familiar. Yeah, he's almost 30.

6:15pm to 7:15 City & Colour - very mellow. Seemingly out of place after the punk thrashing we had previously. My opinion fluctuated between appreciating the tenor of his voice and guitar skills and being really bored.

Sleeping Sickness - my favourite song of his

7:40pm to 8:55pm Weezer - Awesome. Basically the reason I went. Rivers Cuomo is very good at climbing on things and jumping on a trampoline while playing the guitar. Who knew? They played so many old songs and it was fun to sing along.







The Weezer boys, Kyle and Rob.


9:20pm to 10:35pm Rise Against - We were all very confused as to why the evening didn't end with Weezer. It would have been such a great parting note. We actually skipped out after 2.5 songs and got some free Dr. Pepper on the way out. Well, not me. There are 22 superfluous flavours in there for my taste.

Yoda backpack! It had to be documented. His girlfriend thought it was a bit weird that we were taking pictures of it.


On the way out, Rise Against on the stage.



Mosh pits = not my cup of tea. Reasons for this:
1. Unanticipated sideways crowd surges.
2. Foot stomps.
3. People who are too big to be crowd surfing.
3.a. Bums in my face.
3.b. Shoes in my face.
4. Rabid, chemically influenced teenagers.
5. B.O.
6. Rude people pushing through the crowd.

Hey Green Man! Thanks for wearing boxers. I think they were sewn on.


But oh, it's so fun to be at the very front! I only lasted about 3.5 hours up there before I had to drag Ryan to the outlying areas.

Rob stayed up front the whole time, even through Bad Religion, which was loud enough from half a kilometre away. What a trooper, even though he now has bruised armpits from being pushed up against the barrier. Kyle got paid $20 by some couple to give up his spot. Hilarious.



Remember the feeling of knowing that you're yelling, but you can't hear any sound? That's how loud it was the whole time. At one point Ryan was screaming in my ear but I couldn't hear him. Our ears were definitely ringing when we got home and it took a conscious effort to speak at a normal level... :)

We're already excited, wondering about who will be on the list for next year. Perhaps I will be brave enough to go crowd surfing? Yeah, probably not.