...I know I'm not going to fall asleep tonight unless I write about this disaster somewhere...forgive what's going to turn into an angry rant...
So, Red Bull and New York City gvmt got together to put on a free-to-attend, all-day snowboarding tournament followed up by a performance by Anthrax in East River Park on the Lower East Side. To my knowledge, this is the first event of its kind for my city...and a free performance by a once mega-famous hometown band sounded like a wicked treat.
A free show? In a huge venue? In my hometown? And it's fucking Anthrax? Hell yeah I'm there! What could go wrong!?
Heh. I'll start off with the good, what little there ended up being:
- Anthrax sounded, I shit you not, fucking amazing! Because of the way the event was organized, they had no soundcheck...that said, all the mics dropped out halfway though Chuck D's surprise cameo with the band.
- Yeah, I just fucking said it. Chuck D. When would you figure you'd ever see that happen again?
- Attendance. There was a reasonable sized crowd here. At least half of which I'd say were the kind of people I wouldn't mind seeing shows with again. There were a surprising number of normal, well-adjusted grownups at this show who were not drunk and rowdy and had a genuine interest in seeing the band. It wasn't even a sausage party either, I'd say it was a pretty even mix of people.
Unfortunately that's where the good ends and where I start to rant a little...I'll start with the minor annoyances and rage at the end:
- Cold. Okay, we all see the weather and know it's at a venue on the water and it's 15 degrees out...I was dressed warmly enough. Lots of other people didn't seem to be.
- Scheduling. Anthrax posted on their site that they'd be going on at 7. Red Bull said Anthrax would be going on at 9. Time the band actually started? 9:50. While there were snowboarding events going on until maybe 20 minutes before the band started, it seemed like they were dragging those on longer to fill time rather than be running late.
- Security. Red Bull had woefully inadequate event security. Around the stage, behind the fence, there were 4 security guards basically keeping the vips from getting rowdy. The sea of 700 or so people sticking around for an Anthrax "concert"? Nothing. Outside of the park there were HEAVY patrols by NYPD. More on this later.
- Red Bull. For the two reasons above and the one following this, RB really dropped the ball for this event. What seemed like could be an awesome recurring winter gig turned into utter, uncontrollable chaos likely to make the City Commissioner strongly rethink his position on this next year.
- RANT ALERT: STEREOTYPICAL DOUCHEBAG METALHEADS AND THUGS. There, it felt good to say that. Wow, where do I get started? So...I knew things were going to be interesting when I walked by the massive NYPD presence to get into the park and saw drug and alcohol busts happening EVERYWHERE. Big groups of teens were getting busted for pot smoking and drinking in public. They couldn't keep those party buses coming enough to handle the load.
Then getting into the crowd and seeing a substantial number of kids (16-25) dressed in sleeveless denim jackets wearing headbands and studded and patched to the gills. It's 15 degrees outside and we're on the water and there's a good 50 or so of these idiots...things are gonna get ugly...
So here's how they compensated for losing all that body heat to the cold: Beating the shit out of anyone and everyone. This wasn't a pit. I'm not being a pussy. There was all-out brawling going on in the crowd. People were hitting each other with liquor bottles, people were getting jumped and stomped out by groups of thugs... It was an abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous mess.
NYPD took one look at what was going on and decided they didn't have the manpower to control the situation...so they told everyone to pack up and go home. After three songs.
Yep, asshole, douchebag, meathead metalheads ruined what would was supposed to be a unique and special night of metal...one sanctioned and encouraged and heavily promoted by the City of New York. This is what the "local scene" is like here. This is what I'm so fucking sick of... ...and I know that because of the antics of tonight, something like this will never happen again. Not for a long damned time.
Metal (at least here) needs an image makeover. I really wish I could just snuff the life out of the overwhelming majority of assholes here (I know who most of the offenders are, unfortunately...and it's well represented by local show regulars.) who are making it impossible to simply just ENJOY MUSIC.
FUCK!!!
So, Red Bull and New York City gvmt got together to put on a free-to-attend, all-day snowboarding tournament followed up by a performance by Anthrax in East River Park on the Lower East Side. To my knowledge, this is the first event of its kind for my city...and a free performance by a once mega-famous hometown band sounded like a wicked treat.
A free show? In a huge venue? In my hometown? And it's fucking Anthrax? Hell yeah I'm there! What could go wrong!?
Heh. I'll start off with the good, what little there ended up being:
- Anthrax sounded, I shit you not, fucking amazing! Because of the way the event was organized, they had no soundcheck...that said, all the mics dropped out halfway though Chuck D's surprise cameo with the band.
- Yeah, I just fucking said it. Chuck D. When would you figure you'd ever see that happen again?
- Attendance. There was a reasonable sized crowd here. At least half of which I'd say were the kind of people I wouldn't mind seeing shows with again. There were a surprising number of normal, well-adjusted grownups at this show who were not drunk and rowdy and had a genuine interest in seeing the band. It wasn't even a sausage party either, I'd say it was a pretty even mix of people.
Unfortunately that's where the good ends and where I start to rant a little...I'll start with the minor annoyances and rage at the end:
- Cold. Okay, we all see the weather and know it's at a venue on the water and it's 15 degrees out...I was dressed warmly enough. Lots of other people didn't seem to be.
- Scheduling. Anthrax posted on their site that they'd be going on at 7. Red Bull said Anthrax would be going on at 9. Time the band actually started? 9:50. While there were snowboarding events going on until maybe 20 minutes before the band started, it seemed like they were dragging those on longer to fill time rather than be running late.
- Security. Red Bull had woefully inadequate event security. Around the stage, behind the fence, there were 4 security guards basically keeping the vips from getting rowdy. The sea of 700 or so people sticking around for an Anthrax "concert"? Nothing. Outside of the park there were HEAVY patrols by NYPD. More on this later.
- Red Bull. For the two reasons above and the one following this, RB really dropped the ball for this event. What seemed like could be an awesome recurring winter gig turned into utter, uncontrollable chaos likely to make the City Commissioner strongly rethink his position on this next year.
- RANT ALERT: STEREOTYPICAL DOUCHEBAG METALHEADS AND THUGS. There, it felt good to say that. Wow, where do I get started? So...I knew things were going to be interesting when I walked by the massive NYPD presence to get into the park and saw drug and alcohol busts happening EVERYWHERE. Big groups of teens were getting busted for pot smoking and drinking in public. They couldn't keep those party buses coming enough to handle the load.
Then getting into the crowd and seeing a substantial number of kids (16-25) dressed in sleeveless denim jackets wearing headbands and studded and patched to the gills. It's 15 degrees outside and we're on the water and there's a good 50 or so of these idiots...things are gonna get ugly...
So here's how they compensated for losing all that body heat to the cold: Beating the shit out of anyone and everyone. This wasn't a pit. I'm not being a pussy. There was all-out brawling going on in the crowd. People were hitting each other with liquor bottles, people were getting jumped and stomped out by groups of thugs... It was an abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous mess.
NYPD took one look at what was going on and decided they didn't have the manpower to control the situation...so they told everyone to pack up and go home. After three songs.
Yep, asshole, douchebag, meathead metalheads ruined what would was supposed to be a unique and special night of metal...one sanctioned and encouraged and heavily promoted by the City of New York. This is what the "local scene" is like here. This is what I'm so fucking sick of... ...and I know that because of the antics of tonight, something like this will never happen again. Not for a long damned time.
Metal (at least here) needs an image makeover. I really wish I could just snuff the life out of the overwhelming majority of assholes here (I know who most of the offenders are, unfortunately...and it's well represented by local show regulars.) who are making it impossible to simply just ENJOY MUSIC.
FUCK!!!
