A Jersey Girl in...: ... the stinking mud

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I attended All Points West tonight for the second year in a row. Last year I had a great time, despite rain showers, and thought that Liberty State Park was quite possibly the best venue I've ever seen any concert in. Cat Power, Ben Harper & Jack Johnson were all awesome. I couldn't wait to get back this year, despite the hefty price tag ($100) and inconvenient commute to LSP (more than an hour each way!).

While last year was great, this year turned out to be unforgettable; for good reasons... and bad.

Let's start with the bad, and here's a hint: the entirety of LSP now needs to be re-sodded. That's

right, there is not a square foot of in-tact grass left because all this summer rain combined with hoards of people converted the park into a GIGANTIC MUD PIT. We're talking mud so viscous and deep that it would rip your sandals right off your feet and hold tight to your footwear, only to have later generations discover it during archaeological digs. The prospect of trudging around in the mud for 5 hours may not have been so horrible if the stink of cow manure didn't permeate the air. I'm not kidding, it reeked!! For all I know, I was literally walking around in dirt and cow shit for 5 hours. Hence my beautiful expression.

I tried to fight it for a good hour and a half after we got there, but it was futile. The mud won in the end, and

we all ended up sinking our toes into it (I dare you to pick out my sandals in the photo on the left). Yes, yes, I can now admit that it was freeing and felt good to let go of my footwear, but God did I do my best to fight it! To think how me, Roomie & Roomie's Man scoffed at the silly barefoot concert-goers as we walked from the Light Rail to the field. "Where do these hippie kids think we are, the beach??" Turns out it wasn't an act of stupid, willful youth after all; they had simply been here the day before and were smart enough to dress appropriately for the conditions.

Given the disgusting conditions, Coldplay was under a LOT of pressure to put out an amazing performance that would make this all worthwhile. As you can gather from the pictures, my positive attitude was DOA, and I kind of wanted to go home before they even got to the stage. However, I have to say I was not disappointed!! They really put out an amazing performance. I heard all the songs I wanted to hear, they were high energy, the camera & video work was awesome, AND... halfway through they marched out to the middle of the mud field to play a few songs right in front of us dirty, stinky people (they weren't standing IN the mud, but on a small stage of course). We were pretty close and it was definitely super cool, esp when they played my fav song (Green Eyes) and MJ's Billy Jean! And even though I think Chris Martin is crazy, I may have a small crush on him now...