My Neck Hurts & Other Observations from Saturday’s 311 Concert

Well Saturday has come and gone. And I’m now sitting in my office at work suffering from what Kasi and I have deemed a 311 hangover. This happens when the exhilaration of the concert wears off and you realize that your next event is many months away (in this case, 311 Day in NOLA next March). Saturday was truly wonderful. Not only did I get to share another 311 concert experience with the bestie, but it was Matt’s first 311 show. I was beyond anxious for him to get his first dose of them live. He was a casual fan before, but as my boyfriend quickly realized that was going to have to get stepped up. Well guys, he wasn’t let down! He had a blast. Here are my observations from Saturday-

Rain.

It poured here on Saturday. Shocker. It’s basically rained everyday for two months. It made for a soggy tail gate and some muddy feet, but thankfully the weather started to cooperate around the time the gates opened.

G. Love is a white dude.

Matty wasn’t too familiar with G. Love and was surprised to see a white dude on the stage. I got a good chuckle out of that. His other comment was, “Why isn’t this guy huge yet?” Good question. He’s had great success over the years but has never really broken through. He and the Special Sauce put on a nice show. The guy’s just stupid talented. I was sad to see his set end.

I still know all of the words to many Cypress Hill tunes.

It was just odd. I honestly can’t tell you the last time I listened to these guys, but there I was spitting out the lyrics word for word. I guess some stuff just sticks with you. They put on a good show. Their percussionist and DJ were on point.

The pit is not for everyone.

I’m not talking about a mosh pit. 311’s never really suffered from the standard hardcore mosh scene. If anything, you might get a little contact during “Do You Right” (dubbed the happy slam dance song). Mostly it’s just a lot of jumping and dancing and singing. But it’s still hot and it’s still very crowded. That said, I was fairly annoyed by the end of 311’s set due to the amount of folks going in and out of the pit. It’s hard to enjoy yourself with someone shoving their way through every 10 seconds. I think this stemmed from three things: they oversold that area, people without wrist bands were getting in, and people weren’t prepared for what it would be like. In my opinion, once the show starts, you’re in. 311 sets are normally only about an hour and a half long. So do without that extra $12 beer. It’ll probably get spilled anyway. And go to the bathroom while the opener is on.

One VERY sweaty guy that snuck in next to me proclaimed, “Hi I’m from Jackson, Mississippi and I’m sweating my ass off. It’s probably all the drugs I did.” And then a bouncer came and drug him out. He stood in the chair behind us and danced like a maniac for the rest of the show.

“SA’s an animal.”

Well technically, he’s a robot. But this was Matt’s quote. He’d never seen SA do his thing and was getting a huge kick out of him. And I, of course, got a huge kick out that! SA is my fave (by a narrow margin over my other 4 faves).

It was a great set.

Sure they played some standards , but that’s a given for any band. But they gave us some picks we don’t get to hear live very often. At one point I remember yelling, “So many songs from Transistor! I love it.” The guys immediately to my right laughed. The guy to my far right just continued to yell “P-Nut”……like he did during the song before…..and for the entire concert.