June 9, 2000 - A Perfect Circle / Nine Inch Nails - The Gorge Amphitheater
Having been a complete rabid fan of Tool for many years now.....when I heard that APC (A Perfect Circle) was coming to a venue near me....I could hardly contain my excitement. Having never seen Reverend Maynard live in concert before...this was truly an event I would have killed to get to.
Having never been to central Washington either, this concert/trip was gearing up to be a wonderful start to a tour filled summer[0]. We left Seattle roughly around 3pm (concert scheduled to start at 8pm), a belly full of mexican food and enough excitement to kill a horse.
We arrive at The Gorge Amphitheater roughly around 6pm. I do believe this was the funniest moment of the year.....a bright sunny day....mid 70's (and dropping)..... take a festival amount of goth's in black/leather/pvc/vinyl/etc.....them watch them sweat. It wasn't pretty.
Found a very cushy piece of grass to plant the ol' keister and soak up some UV rays while listening to the guitar/drum techs get everything situated for the show. Parusing over the crowd.....I notice the VIP section fenced off with picnic tables for the uber musicians. God bless Bushnell.
We won't go into my Maynard stalking evening...so, on with the concert, shall we??
APC took the stage promptly at 8pm..on the dot...
The crowd was just itching for one chord..any chord..to be strummed from Billy Howerdel's guitar. The first chord hit...a pit ensued sprinkled with all the crowd surfing one could ever want. The sound was simply amazing (for lack of a better word). Hearing Maynard's vocals echo off the cliffs behind him.....watching him contort his body with the hypnotic trance of the rhythm section.....becoming part of the music as he always has.....drawing the crowd into his world...feeling the words roll out of his mouth before a vibration is ever made. Truly euphoric....or was that the alcohol...jury's still out.
APC's set roughly lasted one complete hour.....just as they were leaving the stage..the sun had set and the tempature promptly dropped 10:15 degrees....perfect for all these leather endowed NiN fans.
NiN took the stage......sheer pandamonium.....
If you don't believe me....*heh*.....after Trent's 3rd song (March of the Pigs).... the crowd is going nuts.....a sea of bodies weave back and forth....Trent addresses the crowd:
"guys...I need you to do me a favor.....be cool down there. No one wants to get fucked up at a show.....if someone falls, help them up".
Roughly thirty minutes go by while security gets the crowd to back away from the stage.... freeing those poor souls from the suffering of boots pounding their ass into the concrete.
All in all.....a damn good concert. Well worth the ticket price, as well as, the 350+ miles driving to and fro.
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