Yesterday, the guys at work and I took a half day to go out to the burbs to catch this concert. After getting violated at the entrance to the Tweeter Center, we made our way over to the lawn seats (yes, I'm a friggin cheap ass). Unfortunately, it had rained all morning and the ground was all muddy and shit. Why does God hate me? We brought some blankets to sit down on though so it wasn't too bad.

The crowd was typical white suburb madness. All the guys were tools and all the chicks were hooched out jail bait. Everyone was kicking off their shoes and dancing in the mud. Nothing is cooler than chicks grinding on each other and shaking that booty all over the place. Conversely, nothing sucks more than watching some dumbass guy trying to act cool to impress all the ladies. At one point this guy thought it would be cool to take a running start and slide through the mud. Actually, it was pretty funny watching him jump and slide a whole... 0 inches. Just fell down face first in the fucking mud. Afterwards, everyone was telling him to get the fuck away or they'd kick his ass for getting them muddy. Tweeter Center... pfft... more like Tool Shed.

The concert started at 3:30 PM and we were about 15 minutes late. Some chick named Nelly Furtado (or some shit) was on stage. No talent ass clown describes her quite nicely actually. Perhaps that's a bit too harsh, but this chick didn't have much going for her in the voice department. Her only saving grace was that she looked and acted a lot like Gwen Stefani. The fact that she isn't actually Gwen and can't sing to save her life sorta kills the whole image though. What a poser.

After she finally got off the goddamn stage The Roots began setting up and played about 15 minutes later. Not bad. I wasn't too familiar with these guys if you can believe that, but I enjoyed it for the most part. Anyone who mentions Chi-Town or IL at least 10 times per song is alright in my book. Seriously though, I enjoyed the music. That's saying a lot coming from a man who was forced to listen to Hip-Hop and Rap 24 fucking 7 back in the dorms at U of I, but I digress.

After they stopped playing I got a call from Dave on my cell. Our conversation went a little something like this..

Dave:	Sup, man! What did you think of The Roots?
Me:	Sup, D! Not bad actually, I enjoyed it.
Dave:	Cool, cool. So where you at?
Me:	I'm out on the lawn. It's kinda muddy, but we're managing... how you doin?
Dave:	Not bad. I've been back stage most of the time.
Me:	... Oh...... cool...
Dave:	Actually, if you look up and to your right you should see me on the stage.
Me:	...
Dave:	I'm over by all the equipment and stuff.
Me:	... *looks at mud on clothes and shoes*
Dave:	See me?
Me:	... *looks at all the teenage MORONS running around*

Heh, just playin, D. We talked a bit more and then pretty soon It was Incubus' turn to play. I don't know much about these guys either. Mainly came to the concert to see Moby and hang out with the guys at work, but I've heard about most of these other bands and was willing to give them all a chance. I would classify Incubus as mainstream rock. They were pretty damn good. I enjoyed their performance a lot. The lead singer was a total crack head, but that made it even better. "You guys are......... really cool..."

Next up was Outkast. First off, dude needs to lose that wack ass hair. Second, dude needs to put on a fucking shirt. Third, "mutha fucka" is a cool phrase and all, but come on, man. I've only heard two of his songs: Rosa Parks and Bombs over Baghdad. I like them both a lot. I was stoked to hear what else this guy had to offer, but by the end of his performance I still only liked two of his songs (yes, the ones I already mentioned, dipshit). Too much like typical hip-hop or rap... (whatever, I don't even know the difference between the two anymore). Just not my style. Their catch phrase was cool... for about 2 min. "Crowd check, mutha fucka, crowd check."

During the break we walked around a bit. The Tweeter Center reminded me of a carnival or theme park. There were concession stands and other stages and tents. They had some DJs spinning in another tent during the concert. Only name I recognized though was Paul Oakenfold. I wanted to check it out, but the line to get into that tent was mad long. That and I didn't want to get stomped by rave-ing lunatics. Hurh hurh... doh. Intel had a tent and they were passing out glow sticks and showing off some cool computer equipment. Camel had a tent that you needed to be 21 to get into... awww... I was curious to find out just what the fuck was in there (prolly just a bar with smoking propaganda).

Finally, time for the main event. I like Moby. From his old dance stuff to his new... um... dance stuff, I really enjoy his work. Anyway, I heard he was awesome live and was wondering how the fuck a DJ (for the most part) puts on a good live show. I'll just go on the record now of stating that Moby does in fact put on a kickass live show. He starts out with "Hymn" which is actually the music I used in my flash project at work and goes on to play most of the good songs from his new album "Play." He also played a song he did for a James Bond movie and 3 songs from his old raving days. The lights and set were pretty kickass. Nothing too extravagant, but the lights and lasers were synced to the music really well. They had some cool smoke effects also. Moby himself was really energetic. He was running around the stage playing the guitar, keyboard, and drums. He talked a lot between songs and teased the crowd with a few cover guitar solos (didn't play any of them the whole way through). The finale was just plain weird though. He dismissed all the other musicians off stage and took off his shirt. Then this dramatic music started playing and it looked like he he was getting himself psyched up to play the piano really fast or something. In the end he ended up just standing on some platform with all these lights and stuff flashing and then the music stopped. Umm... yeah. Still a kickass performance. "Thank ya, thank ya, thankyathankya..."

Overall, I had a really good time. It was fun hanging out with the guys at work and the music, for the most part, was really enjoyable. My only complaint is that stupid bitch Nelly Furtado who, even after sucking it up during her own performance, kept running out on stage during the other bands' performances trying to sing along with them. Enough already. Oh yeah, the crowd sucked ass also, but what are you gonna do? If you get the chance to go see Moby live... do it. It's a good time. Just pray Nelly won't be there.

- Haro