So yesterday, then. Early in the year, Lubly Auntie Jen had purchased Linkin Park tickets for the RDS in Dublin. Not exactly enamoured with the idea, but swept away by Madam’s enthusiasm (railroaded, moi?) and wishing to protect our offspring, we naturally had to go with them. Queue several months of worry, planning and plotting and plenty of ‘ooh, only [insert timescale here] to go’.
Yesterday dawned hideously rainy and windy (sign of things to come, perchance?) and I managed to borrow D-from-next-door’s sat nav (’It’s completely foolproof, honest’ *worrying pause* ‘er…I’m sure you’ll be fine’). To be honest, I don’t know if that made me feel better or worse, but actually it wasn’t too bad. There was plenty of girly squealing when we got into the centre of Dublin:
‘Look, Mum, I can see the Liffey!’
‘Don’t talk to me, I’m concentrating! Arrrrggghhh!’
and Mrs Tomtom-sat-nav-woman was blasting ‘filter left here’ then ‘prepare to turn right here’ instructions at me, but we made it in one piece to the parking area. Phew.
A rather long queue in the rain followed, but Jen and I rather enjoyed the people watching (’tartan leggings with those thighs? Uh uh’). #2 was my biggest worry, seeming rather teeny for an event populated by a scarily large amount of mohicans and piercings, but most were very friendly. We eventually got in, and after the warm-up acts, one of which, Coheed and Cambria, was quite good, although not really my cup of cha, and one of which, Queens of the Stone Age, the sound seemed very poorly engineered and we could hardly make out what the poor guy was singing. We could certainly feel the baseline, though, which was a big thump-thump-thump in our chests.
Anyhoo, finally Linkin Park came on, the crowd went wild, and we actually got into it a little bit. Jen and I took turns to have #2 on our backs (needing traction this morning, though) and I even recognised a couple of songs. The second half of their set was by far the best. By that time we’d moved to a less crowded area to the side (it wasn’t actually that packed), so we could all see the stage and the big screens well, and more recognisable songs came on. We were even taken by a small, far too ancient urge to dance about a bit. Shocking.
Gripes: mainly the fact that alcohol is served and several silly arses seem to want to pay extortionate amounts for a ticket, then spend the concert completely incoherent, staggering annoyingly around being a nuisance. Also that people were allowed to smoke. Not only is it bloody annoying to be inhaling someone’s icky smoke, but frankly, dancing with a lit cigarette is asking to take someone’s eye out (oh, hark at me, I’m turning into my mother).
Highlights: ‘What I’ve Done’, an awesome track; watching the kids dancing around and singing all the words until they were hoarse.
Biggest bummer: having to drive all the way home and not getting back until 1am as Mrs Tomtom decided to drive us all round County Meath by the scenic route.
Chances of us ever doing it again: slim to zero, but hey, me sprogs deserved a treat. That’s not to say that if I could choose the concert I wouldn’t go… who would you go and see live??