We figured out, just days before the concert, that it was actually in an outdoor stadium here in Auckland. Luckily, pre-purchasing the concert tickets provided us with free bus transport to the stadium. After resting yesterday afternoon, we walked to the nearby bus stop thinking we would be able to get right on the bus; it was 6:30, the concert doors had opened at 5, and the Counting Crows were set to take the stage at 7:30. The line to board the bus was a city block long! Luckily, it moved pretty quickly, and soon, we were packed onto a bus with lots and lots of other fans, driving the half hour to the stadium.
It was a huge venue, and our seats were in the top tier of the stands. Normally I would consider those nosebleed seats, but it was a great view, surprisingly. While waiting for the Counting Crows to perform, we watched a beautiful sunset behind the hills behind the stage, and sighed with relief; we couldn't believe that we had finally made it to the north island!
The Counting Crows came on, and gave a lackluster performance. The interaction between the lead singer (Adam Duritz) and the crowd was virtually non-existent, and he talked most of his lyrics in a sing-songy voice rather than actually singing them. And to top it off, they
didn't play Omaha! Oh well, it was still pretty cool to see them play in NZ of all places!
Next up was The Who, and the crowd was going wild in between sets. Finally they took the stage, and totally lit up the night sky. They out-performed the previous act by miles, and played greatest hit after greatest hit! They didn't miss a beat, and they meant business...their first night of the New Zealand/Australia tour was off to an amazing start!
After the show, we were completely knackered, and ready to settle in for the night. We ducked out during the encore, in an attempt to get to the buses first and get back into the city ASAP. We were successful, however, upon returning to the busy downtown hostel, we realized that our room was right above the sports bar downstairs, and it sounded like a speaker was in our closet. Ugh. And bars pretty much stay open all hours of the night, so between that and the drunk backpackers in the streets, it made for a pretty noisy night. I popped in my headphones and attempted to drift off to a fulfilling sleep.
We figured out, just days before the concert, that it was actually in an outdoor stadium here in Auckland. Luckily, pre-purchasing the concert tickets provided us with free bus transport to the stadium. After resting yesterday afternoon, we walked to the nearby bus stop thinking we would be able to get right on the bus; it was 6:30, the concert doors had opened at 5, and the Counting Crows were set to take the stage at 7:30. The line to board the bus was a city block long! Luckily, it moved pretty quickly, and soon, we were packed onto a bus with lots and lots of other fans, driving the half hour to the stadium.
No comments:
Post a Comment