Live Earth

So Friday night I was in the car getting ready to go out to dinner with... somebody... ;) And my editor calls me:

"Shawn, remember those tickets I told you about earlier? Well turns out Doug's not going to use them so they're all yours if you want them."

A Smart Car dealer hooked up E with some tickets to Live Earth, the first annual concert aimed at curbing global warming. Kind of like Live Aid, but for the environment this time. The line up at Giants Stadium (in alphabetical order): AFI, Akon, Alicia Keys, Bon Jobi, Dave Matthews Band, Fall Out Boy, John Mayer, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, KT Tunstall, Ludacris, Melissa Etheridge, Roger Waters, Smashing Pumpkins and THE POLICE!

It took me like .00001 seconds to say "yeah I'll take them." Luckily I was able to get out to Westport to pick up the tickets from Doug's house before dinner. I was so excited but I wasn't sure how I was going to get out to Jersey without a car. I asked the roommates if they wanted to go but they had a wedding to go to. Called my cousin Audra who lives in Manhattan to see if she wanted to join... everybody was busy. Another big city adventure for me!

Yesterday, headed for the train station at at about noon. It'd get me to Grand Central by one. I could catch the 7 over to the Port Authority to get a New Jersey bus to the stadium. It was much easier than it sounds, surprisingly. Normally I'd never want to do a trip like that, let along a concert on my own. But you can't let opportunities slip by when they present themselves, I say.

On the train to Grand Central, two little boys and their mom sat next to me. The older boy was reading a really corny joke book aloud. Who lets their child do that on the train? And why was my mp3 player dead? We were about 20 minutes away from Grand Central and the boy turned to me and asked where I was getting off and when I told him he said, "Us too. We're going to see the Empire State Building." Then he started asking me all these questions "How old are you? Where do you go to school? What year are you in school? Why are you going to New York? What's your name? How much do you weigh?" At the last one, his mom smacked him lightly on the leg and said, "Patrick, you never ask a woman that." I was entertained.

So got to Grand Central and eventually to the bus which took me to Giants Stadium. I sneaked my camera in to make sure I got a lot of pictures for you guys. Following the other cattle to the stadium:


When I sat down (awesome seats), a lady came up to me and asked me if I was from E and I was like, uh yeah, and she gave me this:

Hospitality pass. Gets you free alcohol and food in an air conditioned room below the grandstands with all the other hoity toity types. I got a real good buzz on a couple of New Castle browns. Ah, the perks of being an unsuspecting intern.


AFI:


Zach Braff:


John Mayer (amazing guitar player. Wish he'd stop playing that pop bullshit):
Melissa Etheridge (she's kinda preachy):
Al Gore:
Jane Goodall!!!:

DMB! They only played two songs. It was lame.

Bon Jovi was actually way cooler than I thought they'd be:


Smashing Pumpkins did not dissapoint:
I just about pissed myself when they started playing "Roxanne."
Kanye West kept running across the stage so it was impossible to get a good photo of him. But he's an energetic performer. The whole shabang ended with "Message in a Bottle" with John Mayer helping out on guitar and Kanye West going "uh, uh, yeah" a lot.

I got home at 3 a.m. after waiting in line an hour and a half to catch bus back to the Port Authority, taking the 7 back to Grand Central and then waiting even longer for the train to Norwalk. I walked home from the train station and just as I was about to round the corner to my street, some Mexican guy goes, "Hey baby, how much?" I wanted to run but I just laughed and kept on walking.

WHAT A CARAZY AWESOME DAY. Today we're gonna get me a bike and go to the Italian festival. Oh and I did some laundry today and hung my clothes on the line outside. It was actually kind of relaxing. This is my underwear tree because I refuse to dry my delicates where all the crazy Mexicans who think I'm a prostitute can see them.


FIN.