Musing on Seether

This is the story of one of the worst days and best evenings of my life.

It was Rockfest 2005, hot as all fucking hell. They were doing Liberty Memorial for the first time, it had rained the night and morning before.

I was there to see Seether, Shinedown and Chevelle primarily, but I also wanted to see... I think it was Static X? (and they sucked hardcore because they got there late, had no setup time, their instruments weren't ready... oh, it was awful)

I'm allergic to the sun, so I got sun poisoning like I do every time I go to Rockfest. The ground was pure mud with leftover rain, piss from the portapoties, beer and probably some blood in there, too. I was FILTHY, my shoes were trash--tried to save them, but the mud destroyed them

what was left of the sock

During Chevelle, a mosh pit opened up about 5 feet away from me. Someone was crowd surfing, and I was off from the crowd, not facing it, and they threw him into the back of my head. I went down, couldn't hear anything for a half a minute or so, everything was swimming, and I was sick. Just as I got up, I was hit into the mosh pit, where I was trampled. While I was asking for help, someone yelled at me that I shouldn't be in the crowd if I couldn't take it and then walked off.

I finally got OUT of the crowd and sat down, unable to move, I was in so much pain. I had just wanted to see the fucking band and I'm blind as a bat, so I'd been up relatively close, but tried to stay away from the rowdier parts of the crowd.

I sat down so far back I couldn't see through Shinedown, and they did a great job (as did most of the bands). Then they announced Seether was signing autographs. They had just become my favorite band and I wanted that SO BAD, so even though I could barely walk, I tried to get in line, but it was about 300 people long already, and they were only signing for about 15 minutes.

I knew I didn't have a chance, but I really wanted it. I was basically on the verge of tears trying to walk over there when Shaun Morgan (lead singer) steps out onto the DJ platform to reach the fans himself.

I hobbled over there with my one thing I could ask for him to sign--my ticket. Keep in mind at the time, I'm 5'4", I was at my worst weight ever at the time--255, so I'm short, fat, covered in mud, could barely walk and nursing what was probably a concussion.

I hold up my ticket, and I'm right there. He's coming over to me and I get so excited.

Then this guy who's about 6'0" or 6'1" knocked me down, took my spot and held out his shirt for Shaun to sign.

I stood back up and thought, "There's no way for him to reach me now. I'm too short, and he's too far away."

I considered leaving, but I held my ticket up, and Shaun leaned far out over the railing to reach past the guy and take my ticket.

Then he refused to sign the guy's shirt. He completely ignored him. He'd seen him knock me down, and didn't let him get away with it.

...and that meant a stupid lot to me, considering everything I'd been through that day -- to have someone see a bully and virtually tell them to go fuck themselves. Not just anyone, but a singer I freaking loved. It was an act of kindness to someone not used to it at all. ♥

My BFF (yeah, those were my hand prints)

Then they covered Deftones and I'm in love forever.

terrible audio, but I was there, at this one, that night

better audio, but I don't know what concert

That was the first night I heard Burrito, too, for their (then) new album. Their whole performance was worth it.