I did a lap to access situation; the food in Chowtown smelled soooo good. I found my way to a big grassy area near the 2 main stages. I sat in the grass and watch various groups of people gathering, most of them drinking the very expensive Aussie beer. I caught end of ME- which I decided were very "Queen" in their sound. I checked my program and saw that they listed Queen as one of their main influences- nailed it. I started to watch the next band called Everytime I Die, but all they did was scream, and I wasn't into it. I walked around to another stage and listened to Delta Force- they were good, but kind of upset the crowd wasn't as into it. It was early in the day, so the crowd was sparse and mostly sitting on the ground. The lead singer yelled at everyone and asked them to stand up. I obliged, even though I knew I would be standing all day. After Delta Force, I watched a little of Against Me. I couldn't tell if the lead singer was a man or a woman, then read in the program that it was a man that used to be a woman. I walked back to another stage and got to watch Gary Clark Jr in its entirety. He was so good, and the crowd was total fans. They knew all the songs, and it was funny to hear them chant "Gary" in Aussie accents. I am now a fan too. Before his set was over, Donald Glover, or Troy from Community, walked by with some of his crew. He was so close I could have touched him- I freaked out.
I decided I needed to eat something now, as this is the only time I would have a gap between bands that I wanted to see. I went to the Chowtown section, which specializes in cool eats. I got a beef cheek, lemongrass & tamarind soft taco w/ cucumber lime salsa. It was sooooo good! I took my meal back to the lawn section and ate while listening to Band of Horses. After a short bathroom break in a long line, I got a frozen banana on the way to Childish Gambino, aka Troy aka Donald Glover. The crowd was insane. They knew all the words and were all about dancing and pushing and singing and I quickly got claustrophobic (such a wimp). I managed to push my way out of the crowd and listened from the outside for his whole set. He was awesome and fun.
Next were the headliners, so I made my way back to the main stages. I sat in the grass at the edge of the field to wait for The Killers to start. They came out and started with Mr. Brightside. As soon as everyone heard the beginning of the song, everyone came running toward the stage. I stayed back again, not at the very back, but in a nice gap space in the middle of the crowd. Their show was so fun, everyone was dancing and singing as the sun went down. It was great. There was a short break between before the Red Hot Chili Peppers came out. Everyone got situated to where they wanted to be for the show. They came out rocking immediately. I knew every song by heart and screamed all the words. I was near someone who looked exactly like Freddie Mercury from Queen. He even had the tiny mustache and was dressed in a skin tight leopard print shirt. I thought he was gay, but he had a wife. Anyway, the reason I am even telling you about the Freddy clone is because I witnessed he and his friend fight someone. They decided they did not want to let people continue pushing through the crowd, so the stuck their elbows out and elbowed people that tried to go by. A few drunk people occasionally scuffled with them when they did this, but one guy would not let up. He seemed to keep asking them why they were doing this and Freddy kept pushing him violently away. I moved away at this point, as they had no regard for people around them. The guy kept coming at him, and Freddy flipped the guy over his head and his friend kicked him in the face as he hit the ground. I said "I'm out" at this point and go to a completely different place in the crowd. Aside from the Freddy Mercury fight, it was an awesome show and a great day.
Bad things about the day:- people that push through crowd (usually drunk, so they had no concept of how hard they were pushing), long lines at bathrooms, and those new high waisted, underware-like-with-lower-butt-cheek-showing shorts girls are now wearing. They were everywhere and they are like everything that can go wrong with shorts combined into one pair of shorts. After a long day, I was tired, my feet were killing me, I smelled like beer and smoke, even though I partook in neither. The crowd, with the exception of a few bad apples, was overall friendly. I gave some high fives to strangers, took pictures with strangers, and danced with strangers. It was a good, beautiful Australian day.
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