San Bernardino "rock the bells" Review
I show up w/ my lady to Rock the Bells San Bernardino at about 12:00 pm. The doors opened at 11:00 am. We chilled in the parking lot for about an hour drinking beer from the cooler since many people were tailgating. It was cool because a lot of people were bumping wu-tang from their cars while they threw down some alcohol (and weed) before heading in the venue. After throwing down a few beers, we head to the hyundai pavilion which accommodates 65,000 people. It took a lousy hour just to get in, the lines were insane.
We finally make it in and I buy my first 24 oz. beer for 10 dollars. A bit expensive but I was expecting worse. We start heading towards the main stage and are feeling screwed because we see there is a shit load of people already here. We didn't have VIP tiks so we were going to be far as fuck from the stage. Again, there were 60,000 people at this show. The pavilion is huge. Behind the last row of seats is a huge grassy hill that inclines from the seats for about 200 yards or more. By the time Rage and Wu got on, it was full. Anyway, security was having a hard time keeping general admission out of the VIP section, so me and my lady cleverly got in the VIP area, which easily sat at least 7,000 people, probably more.
We arrived during Talib Kweli performance. He later joined Mos Def and they did some Black star tracks. Super Natural and Rahzel hosted in between acts. Supernatural asked the people up front to grab an item out of their pocket and show it to him, he would then incorporate it into his rhyme. He went of for a while, it was impressive. Funniest thing I remember him saying was "The only time you'll see a white guy give a black man his wallet."
Public Enemy came on and put on a good show. Chuck D was dressed like he just came from the gym. Flavor Flav gave a shout out to his cousin ODB. He also mentioned there will be a Flavor of love season 3.
Roots rocked it well. Nas came out with the roots and performed two of his personal tracks.
Then, Cypress Hill came on. The crowd as a whole really started participating from this point on. The weed smoke consumed the whole venue. It smelled like a giant skunk had pissed on California. Wherever you looked, you could see a smoke cloud. B-real came out wearing a classic yellow and black Wu tang shirt. He was representin. When they performed "Hits from the Bong", Sen dog took a big hit from a giant bong they had on stage. It seemed to instigate more weed smoking from the crowd because the smoke around me was getting thick. Dj muggs wasn't there.
Wu-tang finally comes on stage. By this time it is dark and they turn the projectors on to the big screens. This made it easier to see detail for those of us who weren't so close. When Wu came on I had the chills because I've never witnessed so many people giving it up for WU. There was solid crowd participation throughout. A lot of the people there were for Rage, but they definitely knew their Wu-Tang. When we threw the W's up, it was just a sea of hands in every direction I looked, 60,000 people with the W in the air chanting Wu. At one point they had every body turn on and raise their cell phones in honor of ODB. Shit was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
I don't remember all the tracks they played but they opened with Wu tang clan aint nuthin to fuck with. They did Its yours, Fish, Incarcerated scarfaces, one blood, Duel of the Iron mic, Liquid swords, click click, Do your thang thang, Tearz, Bring the Pain, da rockwilder with no Redman. Then, Method said the more energy the crowd gives, the same they'll give back. After screaming "energy" 3 times, the wu broke into bring the ruckus. That shit had Rage heads jumping all over the place. I also remember them playing 4th chamber that had 60,000 people rocking pretty hard. Meth did his classic m-e-t-h-o-d man joint, every one knew the words to the "I got my self a 40" lines. They ended the set with Shimmy ya and Triumph. Afterward they played a very short snippet of Watch yo mutha fuckin mouth, but they didn't announce it was new shit, so most people didn't know what the fuck it was. They asked the crowed if they wanted another wu album, but I don't actually remember them saying they were coming out with a new album. Cappadonna and Street life were there too.
I left from the VIP section and went up in the grass area after wu performed. Then, Rage against the Machine came on stage. These guys fucking killed it. They had some hard core fans going crazy. In the grass area people had 5 or six bonfire's of trash burning with flames reaching at times, 12 ft. high. These mutha fuckas were dancing around the fire like they were at a witch hunt. It was basically a mosh pit around the fire, shit was crazy. I have to give it up to Rage, they put on a dope ass show. The lead singer went on a rant about the Bush administration and how they are stealing away the power from the people. He said we need to take that power back. Every one of course agreed and cheered, especially me because I think about that shit every day. Anyway, He later gave props to Public Enemy for being the inspiration for Rage against the Machine.
I took pictures of the night, but with a disposable camera. I didn't bring my digital because the venue restricted them. I know I could have got one in like I know others have, but I didn't want to chance it. I wish I had pictures to share with you. I'm sure someone will post some pics. There were 60,000 peeps there for piss sakes.
Oh, I ended up staying at the same hotel as the WU. The next morning I seen masta killa walking back to the hotel with another guy. Looked like they were walking back from Ihop. I wanted to say whats up but he was in conversation, I didn't want to be rude. I also met 2 guys from Ice water. They gave me a flyer for their album dropping aug. 28th. I let them know I knew of them and the album. They were supposed to perform at rock the bells but their flight was late for the show.
I wish Wu had a longer set, but considering all the great acts I was able to see, I am happy with this experience. The shit was really unbelievable. It was great to be around so many people who appreciate this music, because I swear we are a minority. Ha ha, that just reminded me, most all the performers commented on the state of music today and how its shit. Even B-real commented on how great of a night it was because you could have so many great artists on stage at one time representin the true shit, "This is a legendary night."
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