Once I was on the grounds, the blood pressure came down a little. The intensity of the human contact came down a little. People spread out, moved in different directions and there was room to move.

We checked out the grounds. I took a couple of pictures. We scoped out our seats, noting that the knotty pine would make for a painful seating arrangement. The general consensus was that we were hungry like ass, so we checked out the food options.

Right behind the wooden stands was a Western Pizza truck that sold tasty pizza for $6 a slice, and sold bottled Coke that was semi-warm for $4. I have an issue with $4 for a warm Coke. That's just gross.

So we've had some food. We're drinking warm, highly expensive pop. We're walking around inside the walls, not really doing anything because its a LONG time before the show starts. There is a general mass of humanity in front of what we assume was the merchandise tent. We had 45 minutes before what we thought was the start of the show so why not see if we can get a T-shirt?

H-oly Sh-it was that a bad mother-fucking idea!!!



This is a view from the back of the line when we started. For some interminable period this view never changed. We just shuffled in place, wondering to ourselves, and to the people around us, if the line was ever going to move.

Truthfully, I think we made more forward progress when people gave up and left the line. I also think the very center of the pile, and the very edge of the pile, progress faster than the inner quadrants. We never seemed to move. There was almost a girl fight to our right when a young brunette, who frankly was a huge bitch, ended up ahead of a 40's era woman. The older woman looked ready to pop one but I think she was talked out of it.

Minutes turned into a half an hour. A half an hour turned into an hour. The opening band came on and frankly, we weren't appreciably closer to the merchandise tent. The opening band did not sound like a great, screaming hell and we were committed now. A greater crowd had formed behind us, so while we hadn't moved forward, leaving now would mean we'd given up considerable ground.

So we were in for the long haul. And a long haul it turned out to be.

The pace seemed to get more frantic as the opening band played. AC/DC was going on stage within the hour and all this pointless standing around on the tarmac was not going to satisfy the rabid lust that was building in the crowd. Not helping matters were the drunk bastards sneaking in around the corner of the tent and essentially cutting the line. Tempers were getting frayed and there was a lot of tension.

We finally got close enough to the front of the line to see what was the problem. But now the opening band was wrapping up their set so time was truly of the essence.

The problem appeared to be: they had no staff in the merchandise tent!!! I counted three people selling hats and T-shirts. That mob was being serviced by three people. Its not just crazy, its fucking nuts!!! Who's running this piss-poor operation.

Now that we're near the front, and time is running out, things are getting wild. People are just crushing into the tent, forcing the tables back. They are running out of all the T-shirt styles so there's frantic decision making being made. Tempers are high because people are coming in from the side, people are taking too long deciding, and simply, there isn't enough time.

People want to get out and they have to crush their way from within the crowd. Its harder to get out then get in because no one wants to give up an inch. We get to the front and its lightning fast decisions. What's left? Give me something black. Pay the money. Walk away.

Total time spent in line? 100 minutes. That is fucking bat-shit nuts!