Kari's Concert Collection

Nick Carter Makes My Head Hurt

I first got an email announcement of the line up through me being a KDWB VIP. At the time, the line up was P. Diddy, Avril Lavigne, BBMak, Mario, 3LW, and Dirty Vegas. Once they announced it to the general public three days later, DJ Sammy was also added. A few weeks after that, Wyclef Jean was added. About three weeks before the concert was to be held The Dave Ryan in the Morning Show decided to have a contest called "Twin Cities Idol." The final was to be held at Last Chance, where audience members with cellphones can call and vote. Two days before the show it is told that Wyclef cannot make it but he was replaced by Naughty by Nature. Also added was a local act named A/X and a special guest host by the name of Nick Carter. Yes, as in Backstreet Boy Nick. Through my mind went plans, some which involved tomatoes. Those plans never came through, sadly.

Morning of show, Lisa and myself arrived at Canterbury Park around 8:30 in the morning. There was already several people sitting in line waiting for doors to open. So we spread out our tarp (it was rainy the day before and thought it would be too muddy for a blanket, being the concert was in the center of a horseracing track. It wasn't muddy) and sat with everyone to wait out the next two and a half hours. I brought a cat's cradle, but we spent more time trying to take the knot out of the string then actually playing the game. One girl sitting in line asked me about the DC Promo Team laminate that I was wearing. So a talked about that for awhile. Slightly before 10am, the KDWB station van pulled up and set up speakers to play music. They must have been using the radio in the van to broadcast, because the sound was very staticy, and eventually went out about 15 minutes after it was turned on.

Nearing 11 o'clock, when doors were scheduled to open, the guy with a megaphone came out to list rules and stuff like that. He also made bad imitations of the Verizon "Can you here me now?" guy. Finally the doors (well, actually they were gates, but that's beside the point) opened and eventually we were through and walking towards the stage location. We had to walk through the building to get to the track. As the track came to view, a group of girls wearing matching neon bandannas took off running. One guy near us yelled "And there off!" and began a track announcer announcing a horse race imitation. Much better than the Verizon guy.

After out fast walk to the track (There was a rule about no running), we made out way to the stage, which was on one end of the center. We past various food and merchandise stands, which included Mardi Gras beads and a stand selling cheese curds. Many people were spreading out there blankets near the back on the lawn, but we decided to go up to the standing room only area in front of the stage. It was then another wait of an hour, 'cause the concert wasn't to begin until noon.

It was very hot, and they even had a rule that you could only bring in one unopened bottle of water. There was supposed to be a breeze, but at this point there wasn't much of one. Right as they began introducing all the DJs, I felt light-headed from the heat, so we moved back a few rows where there was enough room to move and even sit down if wanted. I had my back to the stage as the DJs came out, but with my hearing I knew Angi Taylor and Scotty Davis were the crowd favorites, because they got the most screams.

The first act out was A/X the local act. He was a rapper, with breakdancers and lots of guest vocalist/rapper people. It was a good act for someone I had never heard of before that moment. Lots of energy and a great open to the day. The next act was Dirty Vegas. I always thought they were a DJ type group, so I was surprised to see they play guitars and keyboards. One guy had one of those guitar piano thingies. Don't know the technical name of it. They also did a nice acoustic version of "Days Gone By." There was a guy I saw out on the lawn dancing like the guy in the music video.

Between acts the DJs came out and talked a lot. Most of them, and most of the acts, started audience sing-alongs to Nelly's "Hot in Herre." Plus between acts music was played over the speaker, and that song was played at least three times. Needless to say, I'm sick of that song and wouldn't mind if I never heard it again. The next act was Mario. He kept repeating to the sound guy, "Turn up the mic turn up my music on the speakers." He did an a cappela version of "Just a Friend."

There was a bit of a set-up time for the next act BBMak. At this point members of the audience discovered they could sit up on the barricade things, thus blocking the view of everyone behind them. Three girls decided to do just that directly in front of us where we previously had a good view. I asked them if they could not do that because we wanted to see, and they completely ignored me. So I just handed each of them a DC Promo Card, and Lisa and I moved up a few rows to where we could see. BBMak was enjoyable. They were the first act to actually use the drum set, and also had four guitars going. They sounded the rockish, which I liked. During their final song our view was again blocked by barricade sitters, so we moved out to go and buy water.

It was so hot the water we brought was so nasty hot, we thought it would begin to boil at any moment. And the water we bought had ice cubes that melted within a minute. We sat in the back of the crowded area for the next part, which was the Twin Cities Idol Final. The contestants were all awesome singers. We watched this on the Jumbotron, which also showed phone numbers to call and vote.

We made our way towards the front for a good view of the next act, which was Avril Lavigne. We actually found a spot where no one was sitting on the barricade. I overheard a girl in front of me asking the guy next to her to sit on his shoulders to get a few photos when Avril came out. I asked her to take one for me too. Of course once she went up, everyone in the area just passed their camera's over as well. Avril was definitely the highlight of the entire concert. A ton of energy and everyone was just rockin' out. There was some crowd surfing action as well.

A girl had a sign that said it was her birthday, Avril got her name and everyone sang Happy Birthday. One of the guys played the tune on his guitar. During "Complicated" the crowd was singing so loud you couldn't even hear Avril, which was really cool. During another song, the drummer partially knocked over his drum set. Also, Avril had to stop to tie her shoe, and the blue-haired guy switched guitars. Avril also announced it was Mark's, also known as dreadlocks guy, last time performing with them. Mark was an original member of Sum 41, just a little tidbit I learned. And at the end the drummer threw his drumsticks into the audience.

After Avril we bought more water, and wandered by the vendor tents. Then we spread out our tarp on the lawn. While sitting, I noticed a grasshopper also on the tarp. I shooed him off. Then I stood up to stretch, and I saw him resting on my knee. I tried to get him to crawl up on my hand, but he wouldn't. Instead he hopped onto my backpack. So I shook him off that. We had a good view of Naughty By Nature via jumbotron. We stayed there through their set, although I went up to the front to snap a couple photos. They also say the birthday sign and sang happy birthday. I must say it wasn't as good as Avril's version. For the last song, they brought several audience members up on stage, apparently also including the birthday girl. After Naughty by Nature, Nick Carter was brought out for the first time. He climbed up the stage scaffolding, and I yelled "Jump, jump, jump!" Unfortunately the chant didn't catch on. Waiting for DJ Sammy to come out, the grasshopper reappeared, this time on Lisa's shirtsleeve. We then decided it was time to go back up to the front.

Like I already mentioned, DJ Sammy was next up. Technically it wasn't DJ Sammy, but Doe, the girl that is singing it his song. It was okay, not exactly the best part. Doe was a very good singer. At this point the sun was setting, so during 3LW there was usage of the stage lights. It was the two remaining girls and a bunch of dancers. I really couldn't see, because everyone in front was either on barricades or shoulder sitting. I could tell they were lip-synching, which did not impress me. I cannot stand lip-synching, especially the obvious kind. Next they announced the Twin Cities Idol winner. Nick was brought back out. He sang a bit of his solo song. I covered my ears and screamed "MY EARS!!!" I noticed a couple of hands in the air in the thumbs down position.

Lisa and I decided that we were gonna leave during P. Diddy's performance to beat the crowd, so I called my dad to let him know to come early to pick us up. We sat towards the back so we could watch off the jumbotron. The bugs were out in full force, and I got bit good. P. Diddy came out around 9:00 PM, with an intro of a Metallica song. There was a lot of pyro and cool lighting. They shot out glittery confetti, and it looked very pretty floating in the air with the colorful lights hitting it. I took some distance photos of the stage because it looked good. He had the audience sing different songs to see how loud they could get. The songs included: "Ms. Jackson", "Move", "Hot in Herre" (Oy!), "I'm Real", and "How You Remind Me." My personal favorite was the Nickelback one. He did a lot of dancing during it.

After that we headed for the parking lot. All in all it was a good show. Even with the blocked view, heat, bugs, and my sunburned nose. Plus I think my hair is now a shade lighter. And by the way, when I woke up the next morning and turned the radio on, "Hot in Herre" was just beginning to play. Yes, I screamed. But it's all good.

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