The Download Festival (Shoreline Amphitheatre, 8 October 2005)

To be honest, I wasn't too excited about this festival. It just reeks of commercialism and a lot of corporate b.s. It was just too much. It's not that festivals aren't corporate sponsored events, but this one just takes the cake. Plus, it's at the Shoreline and I hate that place. I'm convinced that unless a really, really good band plays there (Oasis or Radiohead, for example), I'm never going there. I guess the other caveat to that is if I have good seats, I will make an exception.

I was at the lawn for the Download Festival which wasn't a bad thing since I wasn't really into the whole thing and just wanted to relax and take in some good music. The Arcade Fire were there, and that's the only reason why I even considered going. I didn't care for Modest Mouse. I already saw The Killers. So, it was just Arcade Fire that prompted me to go there.

We got there just in time for Arcade Fire. We were really far, and I felt so detached from the show. I just couldn't bring myself to be into the show, especially since they were so far. I wanted to be up close and personal for Arcade Fire and I wanted the sound to be booming in my ears. But it wasn't. Granted, they played a great set, even with a cover of a Bruce Springstein song I think in there, but it was just way too much for me to take being so far away. Plus, Owen wasn't there which actually made a difference with the sound of the strings.

At this point, I was bored with the music but the company I was with made things great. Plus, the drinks were good too. I needed more of it after this festival.

Modest Mouse came on and they bored the fuck out of me. I like Modest Mouse, but my knowledge of their discography is very limited to a few albums and random radio singles. So, I could've slept at this point of the festival.

We decided to roam around a bit and just see everything from afar. So, we were way up top of the lawn to see The Killers. They were good and all, but they didn't really wow me like their Fillmore show. Plus, I guess they were just itching to get the hell out of there since they're wrapping up 2 years of touring Hot Fuss. I mean, how many times can stand playing "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me"? I think at that point, they were like doing covers of their own songs. They did play a David Bowie cover, which was quite good, but I still wasn't into it.

Overall, the festival had a promising bill but just sucked. The suckiness of this festival was displayed by tons of people just chucking Dentyne Ice pillow cushions all around. Yeah, good job Dentyne Ice, giving away tossable materials. Didn't they already learn about this sort of stuff? Giving away baseballs when the Chicago Cubs are in town? Are you crazy?

Not even the Arcade Fire can save this festival from being one of the most mundane shows I've seen all year.

Worst festival ever.

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