Alfaj0r.com

I’d never been to a big concert before, but a couple weeks ago, my cherry was popped in double, by Snoop Dogg and Incubus. Here’s a tale of how it all went:

Snoop Dogg played at the Grand Sierra in Reno, on July 9th 2009. Kelly, her brother Kyle and I went, and since we got in early we planted ourselves only feet away from the stage, hoping to be able to see a super-famous rapper from up-close.
The opening act was Stephen Marley (son of Bob). He put on a good show, with lots of people on stage, a little kid waving a Jamaican flag the whole time, and playing for almost an hour. By the way, he does sound a lot like his late father.

Since I didn’t know how things worked out, I expected Snoop Dogg to just come out as soon as the Marley troupe was gone from the stage, but I was told that they had to set up, and that it usually takes a good 30 minutes or so for the main act to come onstage.

Thirty minutes went by… four times. That’s right. A whole two hours later, Snoop Dogg showed up to do his thang. In the meantime, a lot of pushing and shoving went on in the crowd, and some drunk skanks got kicked out of the venue for getting in fights.

Regardless, as soon as Snoop showed up (he apparently was delayed because they were driving from California and got stuck in traffic), the crowd went wild.

Since he started so late, his setlist was cut in half and he ended up playing for less than an hour. He left the stage, and the crowd cheered for an encore. Staff started taking instruments down, and the cheering quickly turned into booing. It got so bad that they just closed the curtains to the stage.
I’m guessing this came from the GSR cutting it short, and it was pretty disappointing to have stood shoulder to shoulder with several hundreds of people for 5 hours, to only see a couple of hours of  spectacle.

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On Sunday, July 11th, my mediocre experience was absolutely redeemed. We flew down to Las Vegas for the weekend. Besides doing the Vegas thing -walk around with a huge adult beverage in hand-  we had one major reason for being there. Incubus was touring, and this was the closest they’d get to us, so we were going to see them!

On our way to the venue, the Hard Rock Hotel of Las Vegas, we walked past a door where Ben Kenney (bass player of Incubus)  was hanging out, smoking a cigarette with a security guard. We came up to say hi, and we was very friendly, and Kelly even got a picture with him.

The venue (aka the Joint) at the Hard Rock was far superior than the GSR’s ballroom. It was clean. The staff were friendly, and I didn’t have to smuggle my camera in my underwear, because they allowed them.

Incubus put on a great show, and I enjoyed it much more than Snoop Dogg’s antics. The sound was fabulous, they had a very cool light show that went with the music and there was an LED screen in the background that played clips to go with it all. Fantastic:

Now, I was able to say I’d been to a concert. A real one, with a band that shows up when they should, provide great entertainment, at a venue that knows how to accommodate concertgoers.
However, my favorite part of it all wasn’t the awesome show. It was having Kelly next to me singing her heart out. I felt so lucky to be able to share with her, as her favorite band rocked her socks off.

This all makes me very excited about Outside Lands, which Kelly and I are planning on going to this year. More concerts!

I think the Grand Sierra should make this one of their new rides, shooting you over U.S. 395, so you can puke into traffic. That’s something I wouldn’t mind paying $50 to do once!

On a seemingly unrelated note, check out beambrosia.com.
Sounds like quite the scam, and the only reason why I’m posting about it is because their contact information is “502 East John Street, Carson City, Nevada, 89706″. If I end up being bored out of my mind, it is likely that I’ll drive down there to have a sample.
Josh aka Shazburg did a little of his e-detective work, and found that this is a set-up by a company that specializes in operations where they set up, scam and go before they get sued. Or something like that. Let’s just say that they have a colorful legal record.