Thursday, July 9, 2009

All Good

Well, off to All Good this weekend.

I haven't been to a big ass music festival in years. The last one was the very weird, traumatic, but life changing Woodstock 99. I went alone, was miserable and sun burnt most of the time. I spent way too much money and ultimately ran for the hills when the cops showed up to quell a riot.

I still saw some amazing performances including (in no particular order): The Offspring, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fatboy Slim, Korn and Creed (yes, Creed did not suck live). I watched Trainspotting in a converted air force hanger while I was a bit under the influence, saw naked people until I was sick of looking at human skin. I played an overturned trash can with an iron pipe and along with others made savage music. I went to a rave.

It was a strange kind of communion and seriously, it changed my life. Choosing to go and to go alone was a big deal at the time. Afterwards, I wasn't so afraid to go it alone, to do things without committee approval. I found out I could get by just fine among a quarter million strangers and remain a stranger if I wanted to. I could work out the details as I went along. I wasn't a child. I wasn't an adult. I was just me and I was okay with that.

That was really the point when I became comfortable in my own skin again, after a long time of not being comfortable at all.

I don't think it will ever happen again, but this weekend, I'm off to All Good. It's smaller, not as loud or as plain crazy as Woodstock was, and I'm bringing company with me. I don't know if there are any lessons to gather. I don't know if I'll learn anything or if my partner-in-crime will get anything out of it other than some music. Still, just music isn't a bad thing.

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