Reid Harris Cooper

Going through Hell for 10 minutes of SFA Music
On Friday after a long 8-5 work day (so glad that will be over next week when I return to the 9-5) I made my way over to the South Street Seaport. Despite the rain earlier in the day, things had cleared up and the concert was rain or shine. I wasn't going to miss out on a FREE Super Furry Animals if I didn't have to.

I got to Seaport fairly early though and since it'd been a few years since I've actually gone down there I decided to walk around. There's bars, a Nordstroms, an Abercrombie & Fitch, a mall full of other stores, restaurants, etc. It's just sort of a cool place to hang. I found it more fascinating as a kid. It was interesting seeing it after a storm though. You know cause of that old term any port in a storm (or something like that).

At around I believe 5:45 PM the sky reopened. It stayed that way for a long time. I found shelter under the entrance of Pier 17 and ended up talking to this girl who'd come all the way from Florida just to see the opening act Dead Meadow. She said she was just in NYC specifically to see them, she didn't even know who Super Furry Animals were. It seemed like she was in quite a weird place in her life, but in the end she did get to hang out with the band. They never got to play though, since by 7 PM the rain was still hard and everything on stage was set for SFA. While I was talking to her, we also got entertainment from the prettiest pantomime I've ever seen. She was really fun and light hearted as well.

At around 7:20 I headed down to to the stage, despite the rain to see what was happening. They said they'd start at 8:30, so I decided to hang out around the stage. At around 7:30 the sky cleared up, it looked perfect. I spent the time talking to two fellows who were fun conversationalists.

The band made their way to the stage at 8:22. By 8:30 they started to play.

Then... the sky reopened. And reopened HARD!

For the next 10 minutes they played three songs and they were rocking, but then had to run "We'd love to stay, but if we did we'd fry" said the lead singer.

The crowd dispersed and I made my way to the subway. I got on an express, and then transfered to a local, where at 42nd St. they announced that only train back into Queens was the 7. I got on the 7, took that to Roosevelt Ave. When I saw that there were still no underground trains there, only shuttle buses and it was complete chaos, I went back upstairs and waited for another 7 to take it all the way into Flushing. It came eventually, and it was still pouring when I got out, walked the five blocks to the bus that got me home.

It took me three hours to get home... then today, I was planning to go out, but the rain happened just as I was about to leave.

Still got 10 minutes of live Super Furry Animals and the River to River Festival is offering up some amazing free concerts this summer. Hopefully those won't get rained out too.

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