Red Hot Chili Peppers – Gigography
Live in Indjija
The climbing continued… It wasn’t climbing really but we did have a hard time walking and maintaining our balance, even though we had comfortable shoes – no high heels that is. While working our way towards the stage we saw a couple of guys that looked like they were working here or like they had something to do with the organization of the concert anyway. The guys were eager to say hello and show us the way even though we’ve been on the right one already. ‘You should just keep going till you reach the gates’ – the voice echoed inside my head as we were getting closer. As we approached the gates we saw a lot of people that have been sitting on the ground, talking, laughing, and having a good time. Unbelievable as it may sound, but there were a lot of them here already and I’ve been wondering why they didn’t get closer to the gates, as I have been expecting to see the line, or something. We walked back and forth and I counted the gates – around 70 of them. That looked good enough. But why is there no one around. Should we enter already? Like an answer to my question a guy in a red t-shirt that had a funny ‘security’ sign on it, walked towards us and told us they won’t open the gates till 2pm, which I already knew, but he also told us that we should move away for now, which I comprehended as a polite way of saying ‘just back off the fucking gates’. We did so, but haven’t moved completely back because there were still some people near the gates, and why should they enter before us when we arrived at around the same time? So, we decided to stay there for a little bit and just listen to what people around us were saying. My attention attracted a not so attractive woman, in her thirties that has been shouting something to a small group of people around her. She looked like someone who had more information so we decided to come closer and figure out what was going on and what was that we needed to know. My roommate tried to ask her something but got interrupted by her quite pathetic story that she told very quickly – in the same breath (you’ll understand my negative attitude towards her as the story goes):
-You guys all need to back off the gates! They didn’t arrange everything because they didn’t expect there will be so many people this early… – and then facing my roommate – I have nothing to do with the organization actually. I am a journalist. Well, actually, I’m still not accredited. Not yet anyway…
…and blah, blah, blah. Her story went on, but I don’t think anyone listened to her anymore. My roommate suggested that we stay there just in case ‘miss unaccredited’ – she’ll appear later on in the story by that name – has actually been laying and trying to insure herself a place in the front row by pushing all of us back. She did look and sound trust worthy but we couldn’t know if that was real or just a charade and good acting… She was, after all, a journalist! So, instead of sitting there, near the gates, we decided to take a walk, going back and forth, increasing our chances of staying there longer, because those that have been sitting had already attracted the attention of security guards. What an organization – I thought to myself – seeing how no one knew what to do and each and every guy in the security had different information. After a while, or to be more precise, after we got tired of walking we decided to sit there and just wait to see what would happen next.
People around us were bringing cartons to sit on; some brought very huge pieces of those so they could actually lie down, like they were on a beach, getting ready to take a sunbath, and the most creative ones got so many cartons that they had managed to make a tent…or something that looked like it anyway. My roommate was trying to get some sleep and that was a perfect opportunity for me to do a quick psychoanalysis of the people that were around us. I could never just be a part of the crowd – no matter if we shared the same interests. It simply couldn’t happen. Never, ever, ever! And that was really annoying sometimes… But, in this case, it was actually a good thing, because it helped me kill some time by making myself extremely busy putting together the psychological profiles of three guys that almost shared the carton with us; well they had theirs right next to ours (and no matter how corny that sounds that was enough to make us close… just by the distance of course!). They reminded me of those Hollywood gangs you’re seeing in the movies. They thought they were way too cool to be here with the rest of us ‘mere mortals’ so being in the bad mood they just kept arguing over some stupid things, like ‘why did you put the carton here instead of there’ ‘where is my bear? Oh my god, cant’ you see you just spilled it’ ‘I feel uncomfortable, move your fucking leg’ ‘why don’t you two go and find a better place’ and then when they go and obviously find a better spot he shouts ‘now come over here and help me with the carton, I ain’t bringing it by myself all the way to there’ and so on and so on. Endless silly quarrel by three, I’d say high school boys. It was not too long before they ‘left us’; and that’s been after they found, what they have called a ‘better spot’, I guess. Pretty likable guys I thought to myself, without them, there was not much left to analyze. Either that or I was way too tired already.
As the sun rose higher a fight for survival began! It was a bloody one… well, not literally. But it was getting hotter and more people were coming to the field as the time passed, and there was an obvious lack of cartons and shade of course. And the field was turning into a desert; you could actually see the evaporations from the ground even though there was no water but it was covered with rocks and sand instead. Left to ourselves and to merciless sun that was burning harder and harder, our lives were hanging by a thread.
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(After some 6 hours of sitting here and there – being constantly moved by security guards because we were ‘not supposed to be that close to the gates just yet’ and while trying to find the shade that would save us, we somehow, God only knows how, managed to hold out till noon, when the crazy crowd all of a sudden began moving toward the gates).
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It was almost like a secret bell rang somewhere, showing it was the time to get in the line and wait for the gates to open. I checked my clock, it’s was a couple of minutes past 12, and I began to wonder if we’re actually going to be standing here, on our feet, for two hours. Something’s been telling me I was right, but the other side of me simply didn’t want to believe in that. Luckily for us, we managed to be almost the first in the line. Well, actually, our position has been changing a little bit as the time passed but we have always been among the first ones to enter. After an hour of fighting to maintain our spot in the first line, they put a security fence in front of us and pushed us all back. That was when we lost our advantage and I’ve found myself directly behind miss unaccredited! Oh, was she huge! Getting back to my previous spot was not possible anymore.
So, while we’ve been standing there, behind the fence, like prisoners, security guards have been strutting around like a bunch of peacock. That was really annoying; they’ve been drinking water, while we’ve been starving as they made us throw all the bottles for security reasons, they’ve been even using that water to cool themselves by pouring it over their heads. I could clearly hear a repeated cry for water somewhere behind me in the mass, people were begging, and only once they threw one bottle in the crowd. It was like we were in a concentration camp. They found our suffering very amusing and they even laughed at us. Ok, I admit it, it’s not like we didn’t enjoy in turning all this into a circus as well. It was the hottest part of the day and we’ve been on our feet for two hours now, so the only thing we could do, to make sure we’ll remain standing, is try to keep the morals up. It worked well for a couple of comedians a few rows behind us. They kept shouting words of encouragement so the whole mass could hear them, while others found a relief in singing. We’ve been quiet for the majority of the time, saving our breath and our strength, for what we brought it here – the main event, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ concert.
Then, at 2pm, when we thought they would let us in (as they were supposed to) they told us we’d need to wait for another half of an hour. Because of some stupid mistake in the organization things were not ready yet. People started stirring up, everyone has been nervous, but protesting wouldn’t help so we decided to stay calm, shouting a simple ‘boo!’ whenever we got the chance. Although, this had nothing to do with the security guys as we knew all too well, we did have to vent our rage at somebody, and choosing the victim wasn’t hard – they’ve been the only ones, somehow connected with this whole organization thing, near us. The weather started changing a little bit; it’s been getting windy and that wind, although weak and rather warm, like a hot air shower, helped us pull through, or to use a more appropriate word – it’s been essential for our survival!
Anyway, let’s get back to the crowd, where I was constantly fighting for air which was really hard because the mass has been pushing me from all sides. A funny thing was that we found ourselves exactly in between miss unaccredited and her friend that was trying to get to her by all possible means. He fought hard, they held hands, but that wasn’t enough to help him make his way through the crowd. There were people around them (including us), but they acted like they see no one nor care about anyone but themselves, he was having a hard time accepting that there was no way he could go through, instead, he thought that he has almost succeeded – he should just push a little bit harder – how inconsiderate! We fought back of course, but that wasn’t really necessary as there was no way he could squeeze through – he was too huge. But even if he wasn’t things wouldn’t have changed – we’ve been packed in like sardines, no one could move back or forth or anywhere for that matter. In order to breathe, I couldn’t even stand normally but on my tiptoes. God, I’m too short for this!
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(After some 30 minutes of fighting back and constantly pushing a friend of miss unaccredited, explaining how there is no way he could go through even if two of us moved somewhere… didn’t know where though, that time has come. They announced everything’s ready and told us to stay calm and slowly approach the gates at they move the security fence…)
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