I got free from my mother at around 2:15 and headed for Oneonta where Devon goes to school this year. We hung out there until a few minutes before 4:00, meeting roommates and catching up on things. Off to the concert! . . .

. . . or so we thought. We were cool following the MapQuest directions to Saratoga Springs, but from there they fell apart. As such, for the second time that day I got lost (took me a while to find my way on the Oneonta campus). Well, took us a while and like 3 gas station attendants, but we finally got to SPAC. . . 7:15 on the dot, unfortunately. Not only did that leave us with an uphill battle getting to good lawn seats, but we also missed the opening of the 12Stones set (the tickets said it started at 7:15, apparently they lied!). So anyhow, the set that I heard went:

Anyhow, about half of the people on the lawn got up and went back to get food during the setup and set itself, Devon and I included. Not before we spent a few minutes talking about the grotesque green banner with the severed hand on it and watching people playing with laser pens on the outdoor screens (They were only actually USED for the Creed set).

So they started their set at 5 of 8. A total of 11 songs. The fourth one was a short (<1 minute) parody of "Cat Scratch Fever". Apparently the band had been exploring the countryside and one of the guitarists came down with "Duck Sh*t Fever". 'Nuff Said. That's about when we went for snacks, compliments of Aramark, the same foodservice we have at Clarkson. And this Aramark service actually tasted good, thank god. Anyhow, they finally got to "Anger Rising" and then it was FINALLY over at 8:50, time for Creed. . .

Well, time for the Rodies to set up for Creed, who finally got their butts on stage around 9:10. Big pyrotechnic opening and such, if you saw the Tour Opening on M:TV you've seen them, still pretty damn cool to see it in person though. The set list is as follows, and God dammit, it didn't include Faceless Man! Aaaaaaaargh! Oh, and the occasional comment from Devon indicates that she too is hot for Stappy.

WAWO (This is where I really started noticing my voice going, BTW. No Jagger during this song, oh and as if you cared WAWO is the song that got Devon hooked [no, she isn't a Higher chick])

So of course the boys went off stage and we all kept cheering and yelling and some of us started to think maybe they WEREN'T going to do an encore. They finally came back though:

Don't Stop Dancing (Jagger DID come out for this, muscle shirt and ski cap. Didn't want to be there though, and at one point he even pushed dear daddy away. Laughter throughout the crowd)

And that was it. Like I said, I was kinda annoyed that there was no Faceless Man, but I really didn't expect they WOULD perform it. So we made our way out and. . . I got lost again, this time near Albany, missed my exit and didn't realize it for a good half hour at least. So at this point we were running really late and my mother gets really pissy about this sort of thing, so I was booking it at a steady 84 along I88. Yeah, so that was dumb. I was tired, late, and quite possibly a bit "Higher" on secondhand pot smoke, still should have known better though. Got all the way to Oneonta just fine. . .

. . .Well, almost all the way. About half a mile before our exit, I suddenly saw flashing lights in the median. "OH FUCK!" So anyhow, since I was way to tired to even try playing ignorant, not to mention that's not my style, I just played it cool, admitted it, and thankfully the cop was at least being a little nice, and I only got ticketed for 79. Took the cop forever to write the damn thing though, must've been there a half hour or so, just waiting, the exit only like 20 feet in front of us. So we got to Devon's dorm and I was DEAD tired (yes, emphasis on DEAD). So I call my mother. . . 5 times (local phone banks were screwed up this weekend, LOVELY timing) and finally get her, tell her what happened. Well, she made me drive home instead of crashing there like I had planned. Not that I was in ANY condition to drive at that point, but I made it home.

So I had about a half an hour to think about what the hell I was going to do for damage control, and finally decided that I could put some of my melodramatic skills to use. Walked in the door and immediately put the car key in mom's hand, turned on the water works, etc, and SOMEHOW managed to get out of it with car privileges still. Of course if I ever get so much as a ticket for an expired parking meter the car's gone, but hey, I fucked up, I deserve to live in fear I suppose.

Anyhow, yesterday I got out of the house around Noon, headed up to Cortland (Where Susan goes) and spent the day and night there (without my mother knowing about it though, I doubt she would have approved. So anyhow, drove back this morning, and now I'm here, exhausted, but done with the report. I hope it makes sense, my brain tends to misfire a good bit when I'm this tired. Goodnight