HFStival 2005

It had been some time since the last Foo show, so when I heard that they were planning to play the HFStival in Baltimore May 14, 2005, the wheels began to turn. How was I going to get to Baltimore? I have a high school friend who lives in Maryland that I had wanted to visit. I began to compile a list of friends who would be willing to make the twenty hour roundtrip road trip in a weekend. I was able to convince my friend Mel that she must go with me. I baited her by telling her that she had not lived until she had seen a Foo show, and then reeled her in with the mention of Coldplay. We called our friend R in Maryland and he said he and his wife L were totally on board. I’ve known Mel since the 9th grade. She asked me as we began to drive how long I had been a Foo Fighters fan. I responded that I knew all kinds of facts about the band. But in order to not freak her out, I would simply pepper factoids throughout the trip. She laughed. The drive out Friday was catching up talk about work, friends, family, etc and scouring the iPod for songs from our past. We arrived at R & L’s place in Maryland that evening and caught up with them. They are always so much fun.

Saturday we hit the concert venue at around noon. Interpol was on stage. We got to hear a few of their songs, which was quite enough. They’re okay, but everything kind of sounds the same. Highlights for me were Garbage, a very drunk Echo and the Bunnymen leaving the stage after about 3 minutes of performing, Social Distortion, and Billy Idol. Billy Idol had everyone on their feet. Don’t even get me started on how much Good Charlotte sucks! I’ll never get back to my main point of discussion.

After Billy’s performance, concern began to creep in. The rain began to fall. We were hot so the rain first felt okay, but then sheets of rain with thunder and lightening began. The crowd began to thin out, leaving the very drunk from a long day in the sun, and us. We continued to sit and watch.

Coldplay was delayed but eventually took the stage. After Coldplay, there were more delays. In fact they made everyone move under cover within the stadium because of lightning. The security folks were telling the crowd that the show was going to be cancelled without the final act performing. I was sitting there in knots. Did my friends want to leave? Here they were, soaked to the bone but still smiling that weird plastered on courtesy smile. Mel told me later, she sitting there in knots afraid I was going to be so disappointed after driving ten hours then not seeing my favorite band. I knew I would go to another Foo concert, especially with In Your Honor hitting stores in a matter of weeks, so at the moment I was more worried about my friends sitting there being miserable but afraid to say they wanted to leave. Just when we all thought we would have to pack it in and head home, the rain subsided, and the show went on.

When we got R & L’s house and I took off my St. Louis Cardinals cap that I had been wearing all day, I notice that my hair was stained bright red due to all of the rain. The next day, Mel and I had a ten hour drive back to her home in Chicago and then I had five additional hours to St. Louis. It was all worth it. What a show!
--J