Hella Good

So my awesome friend Mary came down and went to the No Doubt concert with me and I don't want to spoil the ending for you, but it may have been the BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE! Getting to the amphitheater was a huge adventure. An adventure driven by Mary because when confronted by the unexpected Mary sees adventure and Jennifer sees plan-ruining complication. We're different that way. Anyway, the first adventure was failing to take the earlier offramp (you betrayed us, Google Maps!) We were stuck in traffic trying to get off the freeway for a good forty-five minutes. During that time, we watched the gas--which was low to begin with--get lower and lower and then the little gas light went on. When we were finally off the freeway, we tried to turn into a gas station, but were foiled by gridlock. We saw another station a little further down the road (and a little further from the road we needed to be on). It was a Sam's Club station, members only. At that point, Mary performed a very bold U-turn and we weathered some more congestion before finally accessing the first station from the side. I should mention that the concert had started by this time.

With gridlock on all sides, we had no choice but to go straight through the intersection, rather than turn left as we needed to do. Unfortunately, the road we were now on was under construction. No turning around for us. Finally, there was an intersection from which we could turn around. Except we couldn't because there wasn't any place to turn left and there was a lot on congestion because first off-ramp from the freeway fed into the road. Then we couldn't go straight anymore because the road was closed and our only choices were to get back on the freeway in the opposite direction or make a completely illegal U-turn and try to wedge ourselves into the congestion. Laughing hysterically we made the insane turn and finally after some 90 minutes stuck in traffic, we arrived at the venue.

By now it was 8:10 pm (concert started at 7:30) and my water bottle had been confiscated. Good thing too, or I would have used it to club to death the people in front of me. But more on that later. Paramore has already started playing, we're in a hurry to get in, we try unsuccessfully to find our seats and trudge halfway through the amphitheater to where we do find our seats. And they are awesome and perfect seats. Except for the two girls dancing and doing karaoke in front of me. Just so you get a clear picture, we are surrounded by 30 yr-olds with beers and Blackberries in their hands. Everyone else in the entire section is sitting down except for these two girls. I passed an executive order to have all fifteen year-old girls taken into the woods and shot, but it must have been non-binding because no one ever came to get them. Now, I don't know if you know this (I didn't), but apparently Paramore sings the theme for "Twilight" and nothing excites fifteen year-old girls more than Paramore and "Twilight." Blessedly, that was the end of the set list and the girls left to use the bathroom or harass the band or something. During the break between sets, the screens showed text messages sent to the concert. One said, "16 yr olds, go home and let the adults enjoy the No Doubt concert." This received a lot of cheers in my section.

The lights dimmed, the seats the girls had been annoyingly bouncing around in were claimed by their rightful owners (it was a sold-out show) and the No Doubt concert began. And what a concert it was. It was loud and they played all the songs you wanted to hear and a few older ones. They changed the songs a bit, but they still sounded great and the band was totally on. I saw No Doubt in a GA concert at UVSC for my eighteenth birthday when it was just them doing whatever they wanted and us moshing happily below. This was more of an 'event' concert; everything was all choreographed and had cool video backgrounds (including vintage, pre-Tragic Kingdom footage). It was so much fun and hardly seemed that any time had passed. The only acknowledgement that time had indeed past came when the band performed "A Simple Kind of Life." Originally a very melancholy song about how the lead singer still single and childless at 30, it took on a more upbeat, nostalgic feeling. (The crowd cheered wildly at the line, "I always thought I'd be a mom." I guess they're fanatical fans of motherhood.)

Speaking of the lead singer, it was great to see the Gwen Stefani of my youth, all tomboy with her wallet chains and combat boots and wife-beater doing boy-style push-ups. I much prefer the you-lookin'-at-me? Gwen to the trend-setting fashionista that's been around since she went solo.

In conclusion, getting there was awesome, fifteen year-old girls are stupid, and the No Doubt concert was awesome beyond words. Also, Libya is a land of contrasts.