Where's my Fire Starter - The Prodigy
Marco and I braved the 3 day Rock Im Park music festival this past weekend. It was a big effort and I thought I'd do a little comparison to the 70.3 race I have coming up this weekend.
Cost - Both events are roughly the same. Entry fee to a 70,3 is 195 euros and then there is usually food and hotel involved. Tickets for the festival were 135 e each. Parking was not going to happen anywhere close so Marco and I parked outside the city and took the metro in each of the 3 days. Roughly 25 e a day here. The festival didn't allow you to bring your own beverage. Well not exactly. If you were willing to make a sling out of tape (preferably duct tape) attach a juice box at the end, you could bring in your own drink. What's up with that, I can't bring in a bottle of water but they can bring in a Juice box filled with vodka. As long as it was outside your body no top and carried like a purse you were o.k. So no water meant we had to buy water inside. 3.60 e each. Yes that's right Beer and Water were the same price at 3.60. Food on the otherhand was good and cheap. Marco and I had a full Asian meal for 12e and it was excellant.
Post festival music. If you are going to a music festival you might as well see someone you've never seen or heard. You take the risk of seeing utter crap (All American Rejects) or you see utter brilliance (Kettcar). When I see brilliance I go home and buy. My estimation is I'll spend at least 50e on new music due to the festival.
Verdict: Wash on cost.
Time - In the 70.3 you only count the actual time on the race but come on it's a great deal more than that. There's the packet pick up, bike check etc. the day before. Super early wake up call that starts your day, the race itself and the post race recovery. Race Day is easily a 9 hour day. Let's not forget the time it takes to prepare for the race. That's a bit crazy don't you think (don't answer that Mary)? For the festival you've got 3 days and you can really manage your own time. If you want to spend 10 hours a day, you can or you can spend 2-3 hours. Marco and I managed about 4 hours each day. I will say this, with either one there is a lack of sleep. The festival makes for late nights. The race makes for early mornings.
Verdict: Festival - there is no training.
Event Effort - Lets face it, the 70.3 is hard. It's 5, 6 or 7 hours of steay effort. By the last hour it becomes just down right hard. Your feet hurt, your legs quiver, your fully drained of energy. The music festival is more like a slow burn. Especially if it's pouring down rain (like this weekend) or standing room only. Being on your feet for 6 hours at a crack for 3 days is fully draining. Your feet ache, your legs quiver.
Verdict: Wash
Entertainment - This is a tough one. The 70.3 is quite entertaining. You are generally reaching for a goal which is the purpose in the first place. Even though the effort is really hard there is fun just being part of it. People are nice on the course. Food is free and handed to you. Sometimes you get see some of the craziest outfits. Here in Europe you're going to see at each race a man or woman in a competition swim suit (Generic Speedo for the men) with knee high compression socks. This takes the sport to an entirely new level of WTF. The music festival is all about entertaining. That's the point. The big difference I think is at the festival you are passivly watching while in the 70.3 you are doing.
Verdict: Wash
This was a stupid attempt to keep the blog on the triathlon side of things. Marco and I spent the weekend playing at a music festival. He was by far the youngest attendee. By at least 6 years. He made lots of friends who were wildly impressed that he was rocking out. They were all drunk off their rockers but that doesn't matter, they were still impressed. They were either thinking I was crazy for taking him or wildly impressed that I introduced him a such a young age (wishing they had such a cool dad when they were younger). We had a great time and would do it again. As he gets older if he lets me go, we'll move our way towards the front of the stage. Not going to do that with a 10 year old but that's where the real fun is. I definately think the enjoyment experience with The Prodigy is much different at the back. At the back you just listen and they aren't impressive. At the front you feel and go wild and I think walking away you'd buy all their music because they are a great deal of fun. My short but sweet review of the bands follows:
Friday
All American Rejects - They sucked.
Totome - German band very impressive.
Ryan, Paul and John - Get a day job.
Kettcar - German Band (bought all thier music yesterday)
Chris Cornell - An absolute pleasure. Grammy winners are just plain good. They are far above anyone else.
Saturday
Papa Roach - Very entertaining.
Placebo - Huge. Great. Worth the price of admission. Buy their music and listen hard.
The Killers - Buy their music if you like it, don't pay to see them. Studio band only.
Sunday
Volbeat - Dutch band singing in English. I'm guessing their studio music is polished and good. Big crowd. They had so much bass it was difficult to make out the music. I give them a worth a second look.
Madness - You just have to go see Madness. They are pure fun.
Duf McKagen (former Guns and Roses Guitar man) - That's the only reason you go see him. Essentially they are an overpriced cover band. They should be playing the local street fair at best.
The Prodigy - As mentioned a wildly different experienc if you are drunk and up front. The only way they did what they did was either being really drunk or on a drug of choice. They were wild. Go see them if you are willing to get up front. Don't go see them to try to enjoy the music.
Rock Im Park - As festivals go it's way up there. I liked it because the international music. I could have done without all the rain but hey this is Germany. A good bet you'll get wet if it involves 3 seperate days.
It's a good life.....Rock On!
Dave
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