Kraftwerk Shell

[ateolf]

We went up to Overton Park quite early for the show to park near the Shell. It was pretty lovely out (there were clouds that made it seem like it might rain but it never did so it was just a mildly cool early sprint night). We walked around first just trying to see where the entrance would be but couldn't see it with all the screening they put up around the area. We finally noticed that there was a removable section right where the entrance would normally be. While this was going on, we could hear Kraftwerk doing their soundcheck! So that was pretty cool. (I believe I recall them playing "Showroom Dummies" which they did not play at the actual show!) We were gonna go wander down to the greensward to hang out for a while before it started but then we were hearing the soundcheck and it was kinda nice and we just sat on some benches nearby behind the Brooks. Mary Beth ended up talking to this lady who works at the Brook who was out there to listen to the soundcheck. Then it wasn't too long before people started to gather in line so we went to stand in the line. While waiting, there was a literal dumpster fire right by us! There was a big dumpster next to the Brooks and flames just started coming out of it (not too long before there was this guy going around asking for a lighter and I think it was this same guy who was playing guitar through a little amp over in that area...I think the fire started shortly after he left...my theory is that he lit a cigarette and then flicked the butt into the dumpster when done and it started something). Some people farther back in the line put it out. This lady had a plastic water bottle and judiciously poured it around while another guy grabbed a board from another part of the dumpster to stamp it out. It seemed to have put it out, there were no visible flames anyway. But after a few minutes another guy asked the staff just inside the gate for more water as it was still smoking, so they gave him a big bucket with water and after he poured that on it the smoke had stopped. Impromptu fire team! I saw someone mention later that the fire department showed up just after we were let in. So yeah, we were right towards the front of the line and got ourselves a nice spot front and center with out lawn chairs. Bought a couple of shirts before the show started (tour shirt, new design this time, and one for The Man Machine). The lady who announced stuff before it started said something about this being their final tour. I hadn't seen anything else about that, but I wouldn't be surprised either way. Ended up seeing just about everyone we know at some point during this show. So we had our nice front and center seats for maybe twenty or thirty minutes. There's a good sized strip of concrete between the stage and the lawn and we were seated at the verge of the lawn. After several songs, a few people started dancing up to the stage. So there were people dancing for about two minutes and then everyone just took the invitation to go and stand and fill up the concrete area. So after that our view was a bit more blocked. Could have stood or whatever but it's not like once you see Kraftwerk standing there at their podiums there's much variation. So I'd had my fill, and I'd seen them before as close as you can get. And it wasn't too bad. And I like being lazy so I figured I'd just stay seated. And I'm stubborn. But it was a good show. It was billed as the fiftieth anniversary of Autobahn, but the set was overall pretty much the same stuff they always play (they did play the song "Autobahn" as they always do). It was a fun time and the nice was night. They started playing during the twilight and that was pretty lovely. I think at one point a bat flapped up by the stage and was confused but figured out how to fly away (maybe it was a bird though?). Anyway so yeah, just saw Kraftwerk in the park!

Comments

[ifjuly]

i think you're doing that thing where you decide ahead of time, front loaded, you can't be negative in any significant way about, which might include suspecting intentions of, the guy because you have empathy for him. for me it's almost the opposite--i can suspect it was intentional _because_ anger makes sense, is understandable. and like many times before, you seem to think there's a given valuation that goes along inevitably with such a notion and since you don't want any part of that aspect it means you can't "allow" mentally and whatever else for the possibility--but there isn't. there's truth which is independent of what people do with it or how they misuse it. anyway. this is a familair divergence between us i've witnessed before, and feeling set apart in this way the older i get and the more i witness and feel i understand deeper than before when younger, the more i wonder at. because i don't think i am bad or wrong for my own thought process, at all. otherwiser actually. in multiple ways.

anyhow. a bit like the alienation i used to feel at K&P, the same multiple vectors of it, and being misunderstood, and frustrated, but now, older, more shruggo about it too. alone and/but "forget it jake, it's squaretown"