My wife and I went to Shamrockfest to see GBS (been fans since we saw them open for Eddie from Ohio some while back.)  I had passingly thought about bringing the kids when I read about it on the Shamrockfest site ("come see our huge Kids Zone!".)  I can verify this is no place for kids.  It is basically a big frat party as other folks had mentioned.  We got there late and caught the second half of Carbon Leaf from a distance (sounds like that was a good decision.)  The band between Carbon Leaf and GBS sure was angry :) but entertaining.

 By the time someone announced that GBS had been held up by customs (LOL, tricky) I didn't have very high hopes.  The show was really cool though.  Lots of energy and, of course, great music.  Did you all see the older fellow who pushed through the crowd to the front and waved the green glow stick around with great vigor?  Man was he toasted.  Anyways, in the end I was glad I went and now if they play Shamrockfest again I'll be better prepared... assuming I try to brave the fest again.
 

Yeah, the wasted guy with the glow stick pushed right through us.  I was so glad when they pulled him out of the crowd.  There was another really wasted guy trying to get up front too, but no one would let him.  He could barely talk he was so cooked.  Oh, and the band we were listening to in-between Carbon Leaf and GBS we were joking sounding like Satan gone Irish Death Metal.  LOL!

Still glad we went; couldn't miss an opportunity to see GBS!!

Paulawalla - it was Cherry that said she heard two GBS songs at the Brogue.  I took it to mean she heard via a cover band or on a sound track; if GBS was really there I will croak!!!!  The Brogue is 15 min. from my house and we went almost right by there on the way home.  

 Cherry, please clarify!!!!!!! 

Robin

Robin4Song:

Yeah, the wasted guy with the glow stick pushed right through us.  I was so glad when they pulled him out of the crowd.  There was another really wasted guy trying to get up front too, but no one would let him.  He could barely talk he was so cooked.  Oh, and the band we were listening to in-between Carbon Leaf and GBS we were joking sounding like Satan gone Irish Death Metal.  LOL!

Still glad we went; couldn't miss an opportunity to see GBS!!

 Was that the guy who was trying to touch everyone inappropriately?
 

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Becca ~ The Girl with the Kitty Ears
S&DIII: 1283
http://www.flutterbydesign.org ~ http://annaonthemoon.livejournal.com

I didn't see any inappropriate touching.  We were over in-between Murray and Alan about 12 people back.

nova:

This Machine Kills Pints in blue duct date

Thanks, Nova!  And Kim, too, for the photographic evidence.  

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--Tina

Come on, now. Let's lock the world outside! Hang your jacket from the door...grab a chair and raise a jar!

now that i re-read the post i have come to the same conclusion.

the guy with the stick, i have to admit, has a special place in my heart only because he was rather entertaining. yes, he was a supreme jerk for puching through, but the glow stick was hilarious. it REALLY weirded out the band, i recall some entertaining rasied eyebrows from Sean.

other than the crowd surfers, i dont recall any 'innapropriate touching', there were some DC firemen who were hitting on my friend and me. we had an invitation to go with them to a bar afterwards, but the devastating news that we were only 16-17, apparently scared them off. they were really feeling no pain.

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

ChiTownKim:

I always find that GA shows are a bit of a crap shoot - you never know what you are going to get.  For the most part, if it is a GBS only GA show (like Friday night at the HOB), not too much of an issue - GBS fans are considerate and respectful of each other's space and that makes for a great time.   Need a bathroom break or a beverage run?  No worries, we'll hold your spot.  It's all good.  All bets are off when you throw in unknown variables.

Amen to all that, Kim. GBS fans may have spoiled me for all (or most) other concerts.

But I have to say, there were a few nice people there too. Notably, one very nice man in front of me who, even though he was only my height, gave me his spot in the middle of the show. He (and his family) was also on Ships & Dip III . . . think his name was Jim, but it was so loud, I may have misheard. If he's reading this - thanks again!

I didn't take too many pictures (literally, hard to move my arms), and the ones I took weren't that great, but I did get a few semi-clear shots of Russell Crowe . . .

 

 

 

 

There was a guy near us on Bob's side who was trying to push his way to the front and kept grabbing people's butts, so he got removed over the fence.  He was pretty wasted, too.  I thought maybe he was the same guy, but apparently not.

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Becca ~ The Girl with the Kitty Ears
S&DIII: 1283
http://www.flutterbydesign.org ~ http://annaonthemoon.livejournal.com

MuppetCoat:

In an entirely non-awkward attempt to change the subject, did the Tossers actually make it? From what I was told, "the band that was supposed to go on right before Carbon Leaf" had backed out. Not saying they didn't play, just that if they were indeed the band with the electric bagpipe, they were good. If not, who was that band, cause they were good. :D

Are you talking about the crowd of guys with a bagpiper who played on the Tenon Stage between CL and GBS? If so, that was "The Pubcrawlers". They were good in a kinda "destroy everything I like about Irish music" way. Not sure I'm their target audience, anyhow

BTW, does anyone know what became of the DC Irish Folk Festival? It used to take place at Wolf Trap, and before that, Glen Echo. As our kids got older, we stopped going and I can't find any mention of it since 1999/2000. Can't believe it just went away and now we've Shamrockfest instead. Seems like a bad trade.

Just wondering,

Huckleberry

 

Huckleberry, are you talking about the one that used to be held at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds almost 10 years ago?  If so, they stopped doing it.  Bummer, eh?  They had some great traditional acts come in for that.

As the rest...

*skip this paragraph if you don't want to hear lack of sympathy*
The Shamrockfest does say "All Ages are welcome in the Main Event areas."  Generally, this means you don't have to be 21 to enter those areas.  If you dig a little further the site mentions a Kid Zone.  The Kid Zone does not include the main event stage.  I personally do not view the site as advertising the event to be family friendly.  The website is seems, to me, to be geared towards primarily being a beer-drinking festival.  Bringing kids is one thing.  Expecting that there won't be drunk people doing stupid things is just unrealistic.  Anyone looking beyond one page of the website would see that the mixture of bands and the emphasis on beer and such means a lot of drunks.  Hardly what I'd consider family friendly.  I understand wanting to try, and wanting to have kids enjoy a GBS show, though, in truth, having kids up front at GBS show is probably not good for developing little ear drums.  I'm always baffled by people who bring young kids to loud concerts like that, even if it is something like GBS.  *shrug*
*end unsympathetic paragraph*

I staked out a spot at the front during the band that played before the Tossers were even supposed to be on.  I have a back injury and wanted to be able to sit down and lean on the railing, not to mention being up front.  Just before the CL show, a girl and her boyfriend started standing next to me.  During CL, the guy wandered off, and the girl stayed standing next to me.  She made the mistake of turning sideways near the end of the CL show, and a GBS fan shoved forward and pushed her out of the way.  That is part of why I staked out my spot early.  Some GBS fans can be ruthless when it comes to trying to be up front, and this one got really mad when the girl actually insisted on resuming her place on the rail.  *roll eyes*  Just goes to show you that you can't peg a group of fans by a few people because if I weren't there, I'm sure she'd have gone away thinking all GBS fans were complete jerks. 

Personally, I needed that railing.  Part of me would love a handicapped area.  Part of me would have pride rear its ugly head.  I probably looked silly just clapping with my elbows on the rail, but it was all I could do.  No vertical movement for me.  I'm glad the crowd surfers didn't come down over my head, but occasionally the crowd had to shift in such a way, that people tried to shove me out of my spot, and I had to hold tight to the rail.  Killed my back.  But I knew those things were likely and felt it was worth seeing the b'ys up close again.  My birthday present to myself.  At least there was no crowd surfing during GBS.  The price was a painful, tearful hour-long walk to my car (which wasn't far away), but I am still very glad that I went.  I needed my GBS fix. :)

That said, the show was great.  Russell Crowe was quite a surprise.  I was vaguley disgruntled since I'd hoped they'd bring Carbon Leaf out for a Mary Mac-off, but whatever.  Once I got past the being weirded out, I pulled out my phone and got a couple of pics.  Figured people who like Russell Crowe would get a kick out of it.  Thing of it is... after the performance on Saturday (I didn't know about his own band and such.)  I rather think I like Russell Crowe as well now.  :)  I got a huge kick out of Barry being all shy about Russell Crowe.  *giggle*

I am one of they lucky few to have gotten a set list.  Being there as early as I was, I became friendly with several of the security guys. :)

I'm sorry for those of you who missed it and for those who had a less than great experience.  It's a shame if any GBS show ends up that way.  I hope everyone who missed out gets to see them and enjoy them sometime soon.

Cheers!
Emerald

 

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The Sparkling Emerald
http://joelbissonnette.com

Emerald01:

[snip]...During CL, the guy wandered off, and the girl stayed standing next to me.  She made the mistake of turning sideways near the end of the CL show, and a GBS fan shoved forward and pushed her out of the way.  That is part of why I staked out my spot early.  Some GBS fans can be ruthless when it comes to trying to be up front, and this one got really mad when the girl actually insisted on resuming her place on the rail.  *roll eyes*  Just goes to show you that you can't peg a group of fans by a few people because if I weren't there, I'm sure she'd have gone away thinking all GBS fans were complete jerks. 

[snip]

Cheers!
Emerald

 

That's exactly what happened to me on the Ships and Dip Cruise in a venue with permanent seating. It was so bizarre. GBS ended. Guster was on deck. We were all standing at the end of the stage. A lot of people were still clapping after the GBS encore. I turned sideways to say something to my husband and in a blink a couple of pushy Gusteritas wedged themselves in front of us. They had to lean over the lip of the stage to fit. Lord love a duck!

They didn't move or have any intention of moving when asked politely twice. It wasn't until the man in our midst said "if you look beside you will notice there's lots of room to move down without blocking anyone. So do us a favor and move over. Sneeringly they moved their bully routine down the line. I chose to leave. I don't regret it. I didn't like the vibe. I know all Guster fans are not like that. Of course not. But, I can't say I have any real desire to see the band live. And, I'm sure that's the intention of all such bullies--less for you, more for me. The blessing and curse is we all have free choice in how we behave and respond and interact with strangers in a situation like that. Why can't we humans just get along? ZUT ALORS!

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Free Cruise Clocks

annaonthemoon79:

Robin4Song:

Yeah, the wasted guy with the glow stick pushed right through us.  I was so glad when they pulled him out of the crowd.  There was another really wasted guy trying to get up front too, but no one would let him.  He could barely talk he was so cooked.  Oh, and the band we were listening to in-between Carbon Leaf and GBS we were joking sounding like Satan gone Irish Death Metal.  LOL!

Still glad we went; couldn't miss an opportunity to see GBS!!

 Was that the guy who was trying to touch everyone inappropriately?
 

 

Becca -- I had THAT guy (Mr. Inappropriate Touch) removed.  I called security over, let them know he was drunk and touching women inappropriately.  They took his beer away and then plucked him out of the crowd as easily if he were a sack of potatoes.  Made the concert MUCH more enjoyable :) 

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"Wouldn’t it be great, if the band just never ended
We could stay out late and we would never hear last call ..."

Well, a girl can dream :)