it was surreal with lightning striking in the distance, planes flying overhead and the pumpkins rocking out on stage. their set was shortened due to weather conditions, leaving me with the urge for more. sure, cypress hill was bona fide bad ass, but i’m not into the whole “smoke at 4:20″ thing. we could smell the hella chronic in the air. i told ladyfriend it’s such a sad thing to be a pothead. they always have to have people to smoke with, because they don’t want to be alone. and the truth of the matter is that they probably have separation/abandonment issues where they want the drug to keep them happy and docile while at the same time being surrounded by their community of fellow smokers. if it were legal, many of them would probably realize just how pathetic the whole thing seems.
the pumpkins played a variety of songs from the past and present. i believe the setlist was as follows:
- united states
- bullet with butterfly wings
- that’s the way (my love is)
- hummer
- stand inside your love
- tonight, tonight
- ——rain intermission—— (during this time people were getting upset and throwing things at the stage and the band off to the side, so billy came out in a poncho and yelled at people to stop throwing shit. it was great. aging rock legend lectures infantile concert fans.)
- tarantula (after which, billy asks, “are you fucking happy, now?”)
- glass and the ghost children
- superchrist
- heavy metal machine
i know they didn’t have a lot of time to play, because of the whole festival deal, but it felt really short. still, they played wonderfully well. and the reworking of old classic songs made it a great experience. plus, i loved looking around at the a-holes in the audience who only came to hear “today” or “1979″ and were visibly distraught with long renditions of songs from machina that they probably had never even heard before.
I’m jealous
Smashing!! simply smashing!