Confessions of a Korean-American Man in New York City

Yesterday I woke up and decided to go watch the Live Earth concert at Giant's Stadium. I had not known about the concert until late Friday, when I happened to walk out with a coworker who told me her weekend plans of going to the concert. I must've been living under a rock this whole time because I had not even heard of it. To my surprise, the concert included: Kenna, AFI, Akon, Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Fall Out Boy, John Mayer, Kanye West, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, KT Tunstall, Ludacris, Melissa Etheridge, Roger Waters, Smashing Pumpkins and The Police. Guest appearances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Gore, Petra Nemcova, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Alex Baldwin, Cameron Diaz, Kevin Bacon, Rosario Dawson, Zach Braff, Randy Jackson and Rachel Weisz.

I perused through StubHub.com and found a pair of tickets ($115/each + fees) 2 hours prior to the concert. I threw down the credit card and rushed over to the StubHub ticket off office in midtown that handles late minute pickups. Soon as I entered the office, there was a rush of people after me to pick up their concert tixs. Unfortunately, they couldn't locate my tixs but after a 10 minute wait, they managed to electronically locate it and print them out. The tixs said 1:00pm start so I rushed over to the Port Authority to meet the only person I thought would say "yes" last minute. We hopped on the PA bus to the swamps called the Meadowlands, and we quickly found out that we arrived way to early because the actual start time was 2:15pm. Luckily there was a county/state fair going on next to the stadium, so we got some hot sausages and ate lunch.

When the concert did start, the stadium was barely half full. They usually throw out the young or newer acts out first: Kenna. For $115 (plus taxes and fees), it's a great deal. Sure I was up in the top section grilling in the sun all day, but I got to see a ton of great acts ie The Police, Kanye, etc. and they usually play their most familiar songs. It's essentially a "buffet of bands." The show really got started with Ludacris. He's a crowd pleaser and show starter. The Police concluded the night, and rightfully so. I didn't realize that my day at Giant's stadium would start at noon and end before 11pm. It was a long day, but I heard a lot of great songs and a lot of great acts. The hip hop artists are the best because their music is unviersally loved -- 99% of the audience was white -- and they bring it. They played the longest sets and since they don't have to carry a guitar, they sweat it out jumping and running across the stage. Akon gave the crowd a treat by jumping on the top of a bodyguard and walking a big loop around the front section.