MIA Paper Planes remix

Boy o’ boy. Where to begin…

How about the part where I nearly passed out? Or when the Centaur plowed through the crowd almost knocking my camera from my hands? For the few hours I spent at LovEvolution there seemed to be an “event” every 5 minutes or so. So where to start? I know… lets start at the beginning.

A trip…

I had known about the Love Fest for quite some time but have never gone to one. After I heard some friends talking about going THIS weekend I decided to investigate, ok, I Googled it. Like I mentioned in my previous post, Google didn’t have much information as to what I could expect once I had gotten to San Francisco. And I was definitely not prepared.

It wasn’t long after leaving Sacramento that I came across a group of girls and a dog just off the Highway. It looked to me that they were also heading to the LovEvolution so I offered them a ride. Turns out they were on their way to Oakland but decided to make a stop in San Francisco too.

Nat, Casper, Onion the dog and I made it to Santa Clara just under a hour and a half later where we met up with some friends and plotted our next moves; buy beer, stuff it in bags, drive to Fremont and take a train to San Francisco. Now, beer on a train? Yes! The train operator came over the loud speaker and let us know “THERE IS NO DRINKING ON THE TRAIN BUT WE KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO DRINK ANYWAY, SO PLEASE PICK UP YOUR TRASH.” The doors shut and we were on our way =)

I made it!

After a 2 hour drive, 8 train stops, 4 Coors Lights, 2 hitch hikers and a dog later… I had finally made it. My new friends Nat, Casper and their extremely patient and well behaved dog went their separate ways while several other of my friends seemed to vanish into thin air! And we hadn’t even made it inside yet! The 4 beers I had on the train had started having an affect well before I entered inside the gates so I knew it was going to be an interesting next couple of hours.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the people I had came with to dissipate as well. Shortly after arriving I found myself alone in a sea of pink tights, red hair and bellows of smoke. For as far as the eyes could see there were humans.  Alcohol, drugs and intense rhythmic bass blaring from every street corner transformed the Capitol area of San Francisco into the largest daytime night club in the world, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Except for me.

It was impossible to get away from the smoke. It lingered over the crowd like LA smog and even as the wind picked up the temperature remained the same, hot and stuffy. It’s 4pm now and I must have forgotten to eat because at 4:01 I only had the 4 beers I drank on the train to throw up!

After that 5 minute intermission I felt brand new. I figured by this time I should eat since beer alone didn’t seem to do the trick.  The food at the LovEvolution was like the food you’d fine at your local Art and Wine Festival. Corn on the Cob, Chicken Teriyaki sticks, Garlic Fries, Frozen Lemonade, BBQ, Beer etc. I grabbed a Coke, Chicken on a stick and some Garlic Fries. That set me back about 14 bucks. Not too bad given the portions.

Music and very little mayhem

The music being played at the LovEvolution was distorted and loud. Very, very loud. With way too much bass that seemed to drive out any of the song lyrics. Assuming you had been on the phone with me then this is what you would have heard: iPhone Recording

Horrible right? Well it certainly was. This thunderous, heavy pounding noise carried on until about 6:30 or so, which is when the stage shows began. Front and center was a large LCD screen, moving cameras, belly dancers, fire balls and of all things, a violinist. The melodic rhythm of drum and bass coupled with the sounds of the violin could be considered a musical description of the environment at LovEvolution. Fast and gentle.

The crowd seemed to double in size by now as well. And even with this large group of people packed into a space much too small for this large group of people… spirits remained positive and upbeat. Lots of commotion, dancing and smoke but very little mayhem. Other than the Centaur that had plowed through a crowd earlier in the day, most everyone seemed to be either dancing, or struggling to get from one place to the other.

Photography ended up on the back burner (even though I had went to take pictures). Instead I found myself walking aimlessly, listening to music, avoiding drunken butterfly girls and making my way through the several thousand “mini groups” that had formed throughout the day. Whenever the thought did occur I took out my camera, snapped a pic and quickly put it back into its bag. After all, my camera doesn’t like smoke either and I would have really hated for it to puke its pics out all over the grass.

Photos after the jump: (go)

Author: James

No Responses to “FedUp @ LovEvolution 09”

1. Joker says:

   October 26, 2009 at 7:10 am

   Hi, James! – da best. Keep it going!
   Thanks
   Joker