Kristin: So, what’d ya think of the festival tonight?
Joe: Oh, I thought it was great. I had a great time the entire day, actually.
Kristin: Yeah, good, good, me too.
Joe: Y’know, I thought it was a great idea for us all to meet over at Tim’s place. I mean you and I were obviously running late because he lives out in the boonies. But, uh, y’know, better late than never.
Kristin: Yeah, I agree. When you get a group of people together to go to an event like this, it just adds to the enjoyment, y’know, the fun. And it’s kind of like the saying goes, the more the merrier.
Joe: Yeah, I totally agree. And, y’know, I, I think it was really important that we all went to the concert together in one group. Because, y’know, it was so large it would have made it really difficult to find, uh, people in our group if we would have all gone separately.
Kristin: Right. I mean a-…
Joe: It actually, it actually surprised me because, that the crowd was so large. I mean the tickets cost an arm and a leg. So I was kinda thinkin’ that maybe the crowd wouldn’t be as big.
Kristin: Yeah, but, price doesn’t usually deter you from going to hear music, right?
Joe: No, it’s true. You’re right.
Kristin: But, um, speaking of us staying together, it just was making me think of the crowds. And I just didn’t think that in general the, the festival was laid out that well.
Joe: Well, there were four different stages.
Kristin: No, there were six.
Joe: Oh there were six stages?
Kristin: Yeah.
Joe: S-, see we only went to two of ‘em.
Kristin: I know.
Joe: But, the, uh, stages were kind of far apart and y’know what the, the most impractical, uh, design was? I thought that they, uh, they had very narrow walkways between the stages.
Kristin: Yes.
Joe: And sometimes you had to go through a little tunnel, like a foot tunnel…
Kristin: Yep.
Joe: …and, uh, there’d be thousands of people trying to go through a space that only maybe twenty people could go through at a time.
Kristin: Oh, yeah. The crowd would get completely, completely bottlenecked.
Joe: Yeah, exactly. So tryin’ to go from one stage to the next was just, uh… It took a lot of time and effort.
Kristin: Yeah, I agree.
Joe: So that was one thing that was, y’know, just not properly planned for on their part.
Kristin: No! And then there’d be all these random trails through the woods that people were trying to forge their way through.
Joe: Yeah, true. Y’know, another thing that, uh, was a real hassle was tryin’ to get a beer.
Kristin: Oh my god, yeah.
Joe: I mean, the wait, the line was like, y’know, a hundred and twenty people long. Every time you wanted to go get a beer.
Kristin: Yeah, well first you had to stand in line just for them to check your ID and get the wristband.
Joe: Yeah, and…
Kristin: That was bad enough.
Joe: Oh, that was an even longer line.
Kristin: Yeah.
Joe: Yeah.
Kristin: I mean once you had the wristband, though, then it was battling the lines just to get a beer. Each time. Yeah, it was ridiculous.
Joe: Yeah, and if you wanted to go get a beer while the band was playing, you basically had to decide whether you wanted to see the music…
Kristin: Yep.
Joe: …or you really wanted a beer. Which was more important to you?
Kristin: Right.
Joe: You had to make a choice, y’know?
Kristin: Yeah. Make a list of pros and cons [laugh].
Joe: Yeah, yeah…how thirsty am I versus how much do I want to hear this music. And the lines to the bathroom were really long also.
Kristin: Yeah, the lines in general were just a hassle, I have to agree.
Joe: Yeah. I mean, I remember when we were leaving the event. It took us over an hour just to get out of the, uh, the stadium.
Kristin: Oh god.
Joe: Remember, there were all these people who were startin’ to climb the fences…
Kristin: Yeah.
Joe: …instead of going through the little, uh, tunnel. I mean…
Kristin: Yes.
Joe: …and the, the fence, it looked like it was gonna break. I mean it was totally an accident waiting to happen.
Kristin: Right. That was something I didn’t understand. Like, at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass I never, I didn’t remember seeing fences like that.
Joe: Well, y’know, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, that festival is free… So, y’know, I don’t think…
Kristin: Oh yeah…
Joe: …they had to put up the barriers to, uh…
Kristin: …that’s, okay…
Joe: …to entry.
Kristin: …that makes sense. I was wondering what the deal was with the fences.
Joe: Yeah. S-…
Kristin: Okay.
Joe: So that’s why that’s, y’know, that’s why you never have that problem at that festival.
Kristin: Right.
- festival: here it means a music concert
- running late: late
- boonies: an area where there is not a lot of other things like restaurants or stores
- better late than never: it is better to do something late than not at all
- the more the merrier: the more people with you the more fun you will have
- cost an arm and a leg: costs a lot
- deter: prevent
- laid out: organized
- kind of: sort of
- impractical: not useful
- tunnel: a place that goes through or under a blocked area
- bottlenecked: unable to move (because it is too crowded)
- random: scattered
- forge: to push through
- hassle: inconvenience
- ID: short for identification
- wristband: something that you wear around your wrist
- battling the lines: waiting in a long line
- pros and cons: the good and bad points
- stadium: a large place where they have sports or music concerts
- an accident waiting to happen: dangerous
- Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: a music festival in San Francisco
- barriers: something used to keep people or animals from entering
- what the deal was: what was happening