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Just got home. Wow. Amazing concert from beginning to end. I had a floor seat in the 11th row. There were people I met from all over, from Boston to Albany to Philly, and everywhere in between. I was surprised how far many folks came.
Many of the folks I talked to were there simply for the music - not the message - especially the younger ones. I hope a lot of it did get through.
Al Gore came out to personally introduce Bon Jovi and he mentioned that they were from New Jersey, JBJ didn't mind reminding everyone they were in his home state. I'll tell you, Bon Jovi had the entire stadium on its feet and singing and dancing. He was by far the crowd favorite here. It was pretty intense to see Giants stadium that full and everyone singing at once. The women all whipped out their cell phones and stood on the seats to get pictures and video of JBJ. It was pretty funny. One girl right in front of me had Bon Jovi tatooed across the small of her back.
All day, I actually felt like a little kid who didn't want to miss anything. From KT Tunstall to Al Gore coming out every so often to Roger Waters who was amazing. The huge inflatable pig float with graffiti all over it was a surprise when it floated out from behind the stage.
My favorite part of the show was when Melissa Etheridge just electrified the crowd. She was incredibly moving. She really was trying to wake up the crowd. I think she did.
The sound could have been better for Kanye West. The thumping bass during his set drowned out the orchestra musicians with him.
Most of the under 30 crowd knew all the words to the rap and hip hop songs, but it was at the end of the concert where the older ones - like me, knew all the words to the Police and Pink Floyd songs. There was truly something for every musical taste. Alicia Keys was just beautiful and incredibly intense. John Mayer was fantastic even when he came out again to play the lead on Message in a Bottle - the last song.
There were just no bad acts. The only thing louder than the music was the applause. The applause was actually deafening sometimes. I often turned around to get a view of the crowd because it was pretty intense seeing Giants Stadium that full.
The music started at 2:30 and went on for 8 hours. An unbeleivable show. As a musician, I was just blown away by the talent on stage. I don't think I'll ever see that many excellent performers on one stage again. Truly historic.
Lets pray that the message really gets through. After the show, I admit I was dismayed at how much garbage people left behind, but trash cans were hard to find, probably for safety reasons.
Anyway, that's my report. Gosh, am I tired. Taking the shuttle buses wasn't bad getting to the stadium but they really need to work on the after the show crowd control. Luckily environmentalists are a patient lot, but some folks were ready to punch someone after waiting for an hour and a half to get onto a shuttle bus from Gate A. The crowd control guys in yellow only showed up an hour into the wait. No rhyme or reason to it - just a really long disorganized wait. Anyway, that's why it took me 3 hours to get home after the show. During the show, I was proud to be from NJ, while trying to get on a shuttle bus, I was embarassed.
It cracked me up that folks from NY said that nobody in the rest of the world would know where NJ was - that is how they rationalized having New York plastered all over everything official for sale. No mention of NJ WHATSOEVER. I felt like asking for my money back after I bought a program for 20 bucks. The T-Shirts all say New York on them too. Well at least Sting knew where he was when he said hello to the crowd. And so did Jon Bon Jovi and Zach Braff, and Kevin Bacon. Thanks guys for making this Jersey girl proud.
It was uncanny how much Dave Mathews reminded me of Blue Jersey's very own Jeff Gardner. Tell me you don't think so.
UPDATE: The spin is already beginning with Faux News spewing on the web. IMHO the best article the MSM put out regarding the concert was the Boston Globe http://www.boston.co... They even got the point that New Jersey's Meadowlands was the perfect place to have the event.
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