Official Coldplay Tour 6.5/6.02 Red Rocks
Wed Jun 11, 2003 1:26 am
"Mountains come out of the sky...and they stand there"
I honestly don't think my words can do justice for we experienced at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado. I can try.
Just keep in mind that when I throw this stuff down, it's usually days later - in the early hours of the morning - after I've done the following: 1.) brought 5 personal bags up to a hotel room, unpacked and hooked up all the modules, usb chords, power chords to my Apple, my
video camera, my phone charger, my wacom tablet and my zirconium laced, plutonium generator (PG-620), and logged on to AOL. (it takes a while to complete this phase)
On top of that, we've just driven through 3 states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York), eaten enough junk food at gas stations to filled the combined bellies of 6.5 midsized, gorilla-albino mountain goats...and, of course, our skulloidial tissues are being sucked dry of the necessary hydrolomes for our reason lobes to process data at 20,000 tetra-watts, which is 2.5 times faster than a sasquatch; in essence, it's drying up out brains; seriously, there is so little activity upstairs - I can barely hold my eyes open .... only free-radical randomizers are functioning at this hour. Creative perhaps....no content. I can't do content.
So...Red Rocks; legendary, historic; My digital clips will not cover the enormous, expansive, "God Bless America - the Land I Love" visage one beholds upon seeing it's splendor. And to get to play on the same stage where U2 recorded their live record....where Led Zeppelin and all the classics played.... you guys know - that's just...it's a sic opportunity. We're still on a rocky mountain high.....(Joe, not John's version)
So, onward through the verbal visage...you're driving through these beautiful, green mountains, right?...heading further off the beat and path...narrow, two land road rolling through the twists and turns.... finally you see the sign - "Red Rocks Amphitheatre"....you look up...and there's this massive outcrop of off-red boulders scattered, layered, piled high on top of each other....what happened here? a red rock meteor shower?...it's so cool.
There are these flanking diagonal crags forcing their way into the sky - high above base camp where man has erected edifice hewn from the same, off-red stones...creating a transcendental "one-with-nature" look; both form and function in concert.
The long grey-haired, pony tailed, Red Rocks, "official" tells us to wait for the van that's now loading in to come down before we head up. (no problem....we've got time) So, after 20 minutes or so, here comes Ron's rig down the hill; "ok, you can go on up". (are you getting the feel for these descriptors? "head up"...go on up".) He say's, "once you get to the plateau, just take a hard left and back her up the hill". (I'm thinking...ok, hill.....I can do this...who cares if there's an incline) I throw it in low, push the "Tow Haul Package" button on our dashboard and begin the ascent; she wants to climb this hill....all the power I need; I plateau, crank it left, throw it in reverse.... have JUST enough room to straighten her out, begin backing up and....hmm, I can't really see where to point the trailer....these guys are motioning me on back...one of them comes to the window and says, "it's very narrow so you're gonna have to really watch both sides and the road turns up and around the hill, so you're gonna have to follow her pretty close". Turns out, I'm having to back up our 40 ft. rig almost straight up around a winding narrow road with about 5 inches on each side of the wheel wells. The mountain is leaning over the road towards the van all the way up...
Anyway, I did it and gloated like a kid who hit a home run in front of his best friends. I felt euphoric. "Dad...you're awesome"...."you did it!!"
I'm way off-course....this has nothing to do with the band. i told you there was no content...just random processing. I have ram right now, but no storage.
uhhh....ok, we did the usual....unloaded, went to the dressing room, (looked at all the posters that line the halls of all the greats who've been there....Sherri and Stacy kissed the Radiohead poster....of, I guess that was Thom), then we headed to the top of mount crumpit; gosh, I hope I can find an image that makes you feel like we did at the 7,000 feet. Even with my aging, buff body, I had to try to look like I wasn't out of breath so nobody thought I was any less than a Triathelete. It was splendorous at the top. (a word?) And much later....there was that one mistake where I left my cell phone at the top and remembered it an hour later only to have friend Ben Pasley dash to the top to retrieve it as thick crowds began to pour in.
.....the place was jammed packed; by the time Eisley took the stage, there was just this sea of people; he sound check had gone well; everything was set....UNTIL, Suddenly from nowhere:
TO BE CONTINUED...
no, I'm just kidding, but....it's 3:00am here at the Niagara Falls and I can't think anymore. We're on the fast track here toward the end of this tour and I have to get up at 8:00am. I tried to look over this - proof it, but I'm sure it's laced with mistakes...I fel asleep 3 times and woke up typing
will post pics tomorrow or as soon as i can. nothing but jibberish and random phrases....sorry . goodnight.
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We're up early...and are going by Niagra Falls on our way out this morning.
Probably we'll do a bit of barrel surfing. Check in later....from Canada.
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We left Canada the same day (late) and headed back toward New York. At 3:30, we landed in a small town somewhere in New York about 5 hours from New Jersey where our hotel is. (total trip 10 hours) The kids have been doing a "Filter" magazine shoot outside; I'm forfeiting getting video of that event so I can bring to you a bit more of the tour before it's over. Our schedule hasn't given me any time to do what I've tried so hard to make happen. sorry. Here's the first of many pics covering Red Rocks.
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Well, it was over 1000 miles from San Diego to Denver if I remember
correctly...we're almost there.
The tunnel is a symbol of our journey....very literal since we had to
tunnel under the ground with a powerful robotic arm...
The tunnel offers safe passage. As it's creator, we control the outcome
of all entrances and exits. Here, we chose to enter the dangers of wet
mountain roads as we forge our way to Denver.
If you don't think it was a treacherous drive...take a look at the
signage. This is real. We didn't create this sign. Trouble in Grizzly
Creek. Guess what else, in Vale, the road had been closed due
to rain "washout". But they changed the rules for us. We drove
straight through.
We pulled into Denver. That's exactly what we did after we saw this.
I capture shots I like. It's that simple. I am in control of what we all see.
The night before, it was scarey...they didn't have a place to park our van...so, no
problem...walk down a scary alley to a semi-safe parkinglot.
This is the 14 year old in the band.
I had to back the trailer uphill around a mountain. It was hard.
Jon is a skinny man but carefully fits into the narrow space between
the van and the mountain.
It makes it look like the girls help us unload. They unload their make up
bag...but that's not really fair. They've busted their buns over the years
moving gear; and still do back home when we load in and out. Sherri
could probably lift a small horse. She's that good.
These are actually the grandparents of the eisley girls in 1948.
Striking resemblance to their grandparents shown at almost the same
exact place decades earlier.
Just walking around after arriving.
I didn't do a panarama...but this is the venue empty. I think it's important
to always show empty venues when possible.
here's a glance from the top. I have more...
I title this shot anvil revigne.
This is a shot of the wall in the catering room. wierd huh.
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We didn't go into the big city...plans got messed up. We're just staying in Jersy tonight and are about to find something to eat here. Friend, Eric Nicholson is trapped in Manhattan walking around by himself; we're trying
to find a way to get him here. Gotta go. bd
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