Indio, California. Friday, October 6th.
The day was hot, the mood was high. The time had come to see the greats.
We checked out from the hotel and stopped to do groceries at a Walmart. I had smoked weed since the early morning, and was focused on getting good provisions for the three days. We briefly met Juan Pablo, a friend from school who was going to attend the festival with his nephew. It was nice to see him there and discuss the big expectations for the festival. Resuming my shopping duty, we finally bought two cases of beer, and a different spirit for each day: Jim Bean, Fireball Whisky, and Jack Daniel’s Apple. More than enough food for the camping site and whatever any of the four of us needed. Anyways, we don’t drink as much as we used to, and we had other ways of entertainment.
I didn’t have my ticket yet, as it never arrived to Bogota, so I was a little nervous about being able to have the admission wristband at last. We arrived early, so the line was pretty short and I was able to sort things up relatively fast, with the awesome assistance of the ladies who worked there. I was very happy when I received my PowerTrip box. The dream was true!
We still needed to pass security in the car, where any of our bags could be checked by the staff. Fortunately, they just took a quick look on a couple of the big bags and let us in. As it came to be, staying the night before in Indio and getting early to the Polo Club was a great idea, as the traffic later that day was going to be huge and many people weren’t able to see Iron Maiden on stage.
Next, was setting base camp. We had enough space for the car and two tents. Cars were parked one next the other, and this was another thing that I was looking forward too: hanging out for an entire weekend with the heavy metal community. I would trade fancy hotel rooms for a camping with hundreds of tents full of amazing people listening to music, drinking beer, having fun. Some of them brought their BBQ grills, inflatable swimming pools, and all the heavy metal decoration on their big trailers. That same night I would be hanging out with an amazing group of people that would also join us for the When We Were Young, a couple of weeks later.
Before going into that, back to base camp. We gladly noticed the festival bar (The Hooly Dive Bar!) was very close to our tents, so after setting them up and hanging out for a while, we went there to wait for time to pass. This huge tent, with a full bar inside and big TV screens on top would be the biggest ally for those of us who didn’t rent a tent to protect the actual tent from the desert’s heavy sunlight throughout the day. The open space was also equipped with cellphone battery docks in every corner, as well as bathrooms and access to an outer side row of fast foods options. As we had bought a lot of food I didn’t get to try any of that, but it looked delicious.
In the afternoon, after some drinks and puffs, the mood was ready to listen in the distance to the soundcheck of the first two bands: Iron Maiden and Guns n’ Roses. I was very excited to see Maiden’s Somewhere in Time classics live for the first time. Guns, on the other hand, is my favorite band ever. I think I was more excited about the soundchecks than anyone else around. When it was time to enter the venue, my memory gets blurry, but I remember we celebrated once we got in, took pictures of us shirtless, and went to the stage to see what it looked like. After a while we went back to a section where there were free energy drinks and a food area.
The festival took place in the same venue as Coachella, the Polo Club, so the popular rainbow windowed circular building was there, along with a Ferris Wheel and the festival merch with huge lines all the time. There was also a big cactus with the metal horns, which became the festival’s logo. The space for the people to watch was huge, including a big section where people took their portable seats and stayed behind. After all, the public of this kind of music is getting older..
I got to make a couple of short interviews right before Maiden came into the stage. As soon as the sun set behind the mountains, the show started. Caught Somewhere in Time was the opener, a song that hadn’t been played in 37 years until this tour started. It’s also the opening track of Somewhere in Time (1986), one of the finest albums. For me, one of their finest songs, with one of the greatest solos ever. Thus, I was more than thrilled to see the lights go out, listen to Doctor Doctor, then the Blade Runner theme with a clock counter and then….Boom.
I’ve just got chills while writing and remembering this, and Iron Maiden is a band that has the capacity of making you cry when they start their shows, because of the explosive entrance of the members, the full reveal of the stage, and of course, the music the play.