★ My Review of Live 105’s BFD Fest 2010

Live 105's BFD 2010
skip down to the horizontal page break to read the story of what happened tonight that made me leave

This was my first time at BFD which, I believe stands for, “big fucking deal.” so I guess that was intentional and it takes place at the start of summer at Shoreline Amphitheatre which is over the hill from Google HQ but the festival was nothing like Google even though you could pick up and use Google’s city-wide wifi which was a nice perk. I’ve camped out at Google HQ. It’s a nice area with tons of friendly mosquitos but this is the first time at shoreline and it’s a great amphitheatre. The area I was in was a tent with 2,400 capacity at the entrance to the park. In comparison, Ultra Music Festival in Miami was close to 60,000 people in a huge park over the course of 2 days. It was also an all ages event but nothing like this.

Live 105's BFD 2010

The story I’d like to tell is that of fighting, bloodshed, a broken camera and the biggest waste of money ever. I think it’s important to note, that while writing this, I don’t care anymore. I’m over it. Maybe I’m just tired but this is a part of life and I encourage you to read / skim through all 10 blog posts about Ultra in Miami that I did before and after the show. I had a phenomenal time and it surpassed all expectations for the trip and worth every penny that I spent so I feel that this not so good experience is just nature balancing things out because Ultra was too good and too amazing.

BT (Brian Transeau) at BFD 2010

First of all, Brian Transeau’s performance this evening was terrific. I’ve never seen BT play a day show but it was just as the sun was about to go down so as the set finished, it was completely dark. This was special after seeing him perform in clubs and night-time festivals for so many years. The set was absolutely perfect. He opened with Deadmau5’s “Strobe” and finished with Flaming June and Suddenly. In the middle, there was a bit of Tiesto and tracks from his new album. If I were to review his set, I would simply say, “perfect” and then hit the publish button on this post. However, the best BT set I’ve ever seen was at a club in Miami when Jes sang live on stage with him and I was standing next to the stage. That was the best but let’s move on to what happened.

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BT (Brian Transeau) at BFD 2010

I feel like I’ve already written too much but let’s FINALLY go over the events of this evening. See that pic above? That’s the best shot I got of BT while he was playing his set. I shot off about 50 shots tonight but only a few came out before he started because the following things were happening.

  • Three mosh pits started right behind me and I was being elbowed and punched repeatedly causing me to get into a few fights
  • Elbowed in the head as people jumping up and down were flailing their arms in this sardine can of a crowd
  • Pushed aside multiple times as men larger than me pushed their way to the front
  • Being swayed side to side as a group of guys decided to lean against the crowd with all of their weight forcing people in front row to be suffocated on the bars
  • Kicked, punched and sat on as people crowd surfed over me and each time they’d kick me in the head on the way up
  • Feeding a girl water as she overdosed on too much ecstasy (something I did over a dozen times in Miami)

I had to get a good shot of BT for a few projects I’m working on so I always arrive 30 minutes early and go to the front of the stage but far right so I’m not really in the tent but I’m first row, just 30 feet away and as people leave, I fill their spot slowly making my way to front and center. It took until BT was 10 minutes in to get center but 4 rows of people back. I was happy with this spot. In the process, I was being bum rushed by groups of guys. A rule for you young’n’s. If you’re 200 pounds, you can’t push your way to the front. The 5’2″ girls with pacifiers can do that because they’re tiny but you are a big guy and you piss people off (thus my strategy above). I’m a tall guy so I always look behind me to see if a short girl is behind me and I let her in front or I crouch down so she can see the stage. I hunch my shoulders forward and make myself small to everyone enjoys the show. It took 15 minutes for me to realize that I have to expand my chest and keep my arms out to be able to breathe. As guy after guy hit me to get by, I finally faced that direction and confronted each of them head on saying they can’t get by and I won’t allow it. Most of them gave up.

I continued to be big and tall the whole time just so people wouldn’t abuse the fact that I was being considerate. Then a mosh pit erupted. Yes, BT’s song about love lost and the world spinning around and how we’re all connected…yeah people were moshing to that. In a crowd already crammed like sardines, this was a bad idea. This is where I busted my lip (the 1st time). As more layers of people behind me entered the moshing, I finally was the only thing between a group of teenage girls and a bunch of big bullies and after the 4th leg kick and 2nd elbow to the head I had to put a stop to it.

BT (Brian Transeau) at BFD 2010

Before I go on, I don’t talk about this much but I fought daily with my dad and 20 other guys from 5 years old to 22 when I moved here. Not karate or judo but, “adam here’s a real knife. I want you to attack Matt.” kind of fighting. Equally as important and this is evident to anyone that’s met me, 50% of our training was compassion and using the knowledge for good so you all know my personality but I have that other stuff tucked away and I just turned around and found the guy with the most aggression and asked him politely to stop. I may have added an eff bomb in there. Naturally, he told me kindly to screw myself and tried to “mosh” me in the face with his fist. I took him down and picked him up over the crowd and “crowdsurfed” him out of the concert. The mosh pit stopped (for about 20 minutes).

As the crowd grew larger, girls and these freaking big 200 pound guys started crowd surfing. Guys. I’m sorry that you were born with a large frame and a penis. I really am but it’s impossible for you to crowdsurf. You just can’t do it. Maybe if you were 13 or maybe if you were a girl but big guys can’t crowd surf cause a size 13 shoe hurts when it kicks you in the head. Over 25 times, a guy or girl hit me in the head as they crowdsurfed over to the front. On the 12th one, I stopped helping. as I got hit in the head, I moved out of the way and let them fall. Yeah, compassion I get it but this was too much. This was to the point where I was going to have a concussion if this continued and enough was enough. I’m sorry your tail bone is bruised but this is a concert, not the X-games.

The guys pushing everyone back and forth. That was annoying. After half an hour of that and once again, seeing the girls being squished by this group of people pushing, I finally took all of my weight and pushed back. Granted I had just moved with it for so long but my ankles were in such pain that I couldn’t take the pressure anymore. I pushed back and when I saw the guy pushing the hardest, I had the girl hold my camera and pushed through to him. I grabbed him by the shirt, kneed him in the balls and threatened his family with terrible things. Was that too much? Maybe. Maybe it was but one of the girls was about to pass out from being unable to breathe and he was the only cause of it and needed to know he was causing harm.

When I returned, I saw the girl had turned on my camera. It was an innocent thing I get that but as she reviewed my photos, someone pushed her and it fell to the ground and with the lens fully extended. The lens broke in half. I have no way of measuring the amount of anger I had at that moment but right after I grabbed my camera hearing her apologize profusely, an elbow hit me right on the glasses and my glasses flew off onto someone’s shoulder and now they are permanently bent.

BT (Brian Transeau) at BFD 2010

At this point in the show (half way through BT’s set) I wasn’t smiling. I wasn’t happy. I actually had missed the last 4 songs he was playing and it became an all out battle to just stay alive in this crowd. Giving up would have meant destroyed property, bruises, broken bones and suffocation. Moshing was still happening a few levels back and in an attempt to save my gear, I stuck the camera in its bag down my pants, put my iPhone and wallet in my front pocket and spent the next 5 minutes trying to decide if I should just leave but realizing I have nowhere to go!

I couldn’t dance. I couldn’t sing. I couldn’t put my hands in the air and I couldn’t even watch BT. I had to look over my shoulder constantly and usually I’m thankful I did as I was just about to get hit with another crowd surfer or 200 pound rushing guy trying to get to the front.

Finally. I jumped the fence at the stage and ran out. I waited around the side to hear the last song of BT’s set and I left giving my water to a girl who had overdosed and her 15 year old friends had no idea what to do. I knew what to do because I’ve seen it a hundred times but they were too young to be popping pills.
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The Ultra IBiza Space tent
This spray cools everyone off.

Where things went wrong and how to fix them.

  • Hire real bouncers. The stage-hands, security, bouncers or whoever they are at BFD were dancing, chanting, hitting balloons and throwing water all over the crowd. Kids were being trampled and guys were starting fights and one of the guys who pushed past me was congratulated by a bouncer who said, “you got skillz man.” The bouncers are supposed to be babysitters and these guys were partying just as hard and sometimes not even facing the crowd.
  • All Ages events are a mistake. Everyone goes. parents drop off their kids and drive off. Bad idea. Adults go to drink beer, smoke pot and do some X. The kids go and do the same thing but they don’t know what they’re doing and someone gets hurt.
  • Larger tents with ventilation. Ultra had these. They had liquid nitrogen type stuff that was sprayed on the crowd and huge commercial fans at every corner of the tent (seen above)
  • More security, police and people checking for drugs and people using drugs. Stop being reactive. Be proactive
  • More time between sets. 15 minutes between sets. People will clear out, more will come in. Back to back is a way to only make things more congestive
  • Kick people out. Don’t point your finger. Kick them out. If 10 punks want to hang out at the house, play Metallica and drink PBR and mosh, they can do that. I don’t care. Or go to a Metallica concert but don’t mosh in a crowd full of teenage girls in a tent where everyone is packed like sardines.
  • Better speakers. Half of the vocals on BT’s songs I couldn’t make out what they were saying. The speakers were atrocious. yeah I’m spoiled but it was bad. That’s the only feedback about the show at all that’s negative.
The Crowds at Ultra Music Festival
See the open air? BFD's tent was half the height.

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I left BFD with a mashed nose, broken camera, broken lip and bruised arms. My legs are sore and my head is pounding. My glasses are bent and I discovered on the bus home that my pants are covered with blood (on the back of my pants). How that blood got there, I have no idea.

I got to say hi to BT before and after the show which made it worth it. It’s good catching up with him and chatting. He’s not responsible for the crowds. BFD and the people it attracted was unlike any other concert I’ve been to. I was there for 1.5 hours and I left. It was extremely disappointing.

A final note: a lot of people that don’t know me personally do read this and they’ll have criticisms like this was not my crowd and I shouldn’t be punching people for being themselves and that I was too harsh and too judgmental and a party pooper. To be absolutely clear, this was an all ages events with music from electronic, trance, metal, alternative and even ska (sublime was there) and a few acoustic indie bands. There was something for everyone. BT’s music may be interpreted differently by different people but when it’s just him performing, the people that show up all have a common style and lifestyle. BT fans just fit together. We all come to shows ready to feel and be loved by the music. It’s positive and uplifting. I’ve never ever had this happen to me at the 10 times I’ve seen BT starting in 2004 at Ultra in Miami. Hell, when This Binary Universe came out, he toured the country doing performances in movie theaters so everyone could feel the 5.1 surround sound. We all sat in seats, watched the films he helped create to go along with the music and smiled because it was so beautiful. This is BT’s fan base. The fact that I was punched and kicked and got into fights was in defense of what the music means to me, not because I’m right but because every show he performs doesn’t have that stuff and I won’t be punched or elbowed and NOT defend myself. it was clear that I was defending myself and I did nothing to cause trouble. I’m very low-tempered and I was there to have a good time.
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Finally, BT really caught me off guard tonight. I was in the VIP area parked right by his car. He totally twitpiced me drinking beer before the show. This kind of made my evening.

That’s the full story. Sorry to spend 2,500 words writing it but a lot happened tonight. I had a great weekend and took a lot of photos. You should check them out.

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