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 Glasses and Electric Tape: A Global Richard Patrick Conspiracy 01/10/02 | The Fun and Torture of Making a Website 1/30/02 | Rich's Wonderful Way With Words...Or Well, the Mystery of Some of Them. 3/3/02 | Proud of Being An Amalgamut...3/8/02 | Rich and His Immature Ideas....3/16/02 | Boy Bands and Their Mind Controlling Ways(ARewriteofaPreviousRambleThatIStupidlyDeleted..) 3/24/02 | Family Organizations Who Think Way Too Much of Themselves and Family and What I Think They Should Do | The History of the Rich Facts 4/10/02 | LazyChristianReviewersandTheirLackofComprehendableAnswerstoQuestionsAboutTheirSloppyReviews4/18/02 | The Rich Fact Webmistress and Her Clumsiness 4/20/02 | Are You Lucky Enough to Meet Filter? Here's Some Tips You Might Need. 4/26/02 | Frank's New Look and That Guy Wearing the "I Am Richard Patrick" Shirt. 5/1/02 | Happy Birthday Richie!!!! Gee, you're getting OLD! 5/10/02 | Copyright CDs and You. Oh and that Guy From Nine Inch Nails' Birthday. 5/17/02 | Record Labels and How They Function And Farewell to the X-Files 5/22/02 | Where the FUCK is the MP3?????!!!!??? 5/31/02 | The Fred Durst Controversy 6/5/02 | Thank You Richard 6/7/02 | As the Shit Hits the Fan, remember this. . .6/10/02 | Beavis and Butthead Watch Take A Picture 6/14/02 | Where Do We Go From Here??? Let Filter Take You There. 6/21/02 | Bananas and Tea!! Rich is NOT Demanding! As If! 6/28/02 | Because I'm bored and feel the need to write about it. 7/5/02 | So I Still Have Nothing To Talk About. Okay, I Do. 7/11/02 | Pre Concert Rambles and Funny Stories About KKCK's Crazy Suckiness 7/18/02 | The RFW Gets Lucky In Iowa. . .A RFW Concert Tale 7/26/02 | Extra, Extra READ All About IT!!! 8/2/02 | The Rockline Files 8/9/02 | The Lost Cs: Conan and Carson. . 8/17/02 | The RFW Goes to Get Her Learn On 8/24/02 | How YOU can help Filter to do their job BETTER 8/31/02 | Wanna know what would be cool??? No really! Wanna know?? 9/7/02 | Walkie Talkie Mayhem. . .9/15/02 | Stations, what other stations?? The RFW Rants About Radio Hell that is KKCK. 9/21/02 | Another Pre Filter Concert Ramble by the RFW 9/28/02 | It's Been One Of Those Weeks 10/5/02 | Get Well Richie!! 10/5/02 | Would you look at THAT! A New Consider This! 10/26/02 | The RFW Wants You!!!! 11/9/02
The RFW Gets Lucky In Iowa. . .A RFW Concert Tale 7/26/02

I went to Iowa this weekend in hopes to simply see Filter live in concert. I got that and so much more. On Saturday morning I was rudely awakened to get into the car and make a 600 mile car trip from my humble, small Minnesota town(which is by the way celebrating 50 Years of Schwan's Ice Cream) to arrive in Council Bluffs, IA. Of course, since I was unable to sleep till four in the morning the night before, I ended up feeling pretty shitty the whole way up, my only hope and pray being that I would not feel so terrible during the concert the following day. I traveled with my parents and my little sister(I'm an only child folks) named Pooky/Cinnamon, a Papillion. She seemed amused and excited about this getting in the car thing for the first hour or so then grew bored.

Then we arrived Council Bluffs where I finally felt a bit better having slept in the car. We looked around where we were in our new surroundings and tried to figure out where the RockFest/Locobazooka festival would actually be so we could get our asses there to see Filter. We finally ended up calling Westfair Amphitheater and were given directions, though a little muddled, got us where we were going. Then we chilled out the rest of the night. The REAL fun would be on Sunday.

Sunday morning I woke around 8:30, got dressed and fucked around with the radio to see if I could find anything good(you know, better than that "Better Music Mix" bullshit.) which I did. A station called "The Damned" kicked ass the day before, but became Gospel for Sunday morning so I was a bit pissed. Then I found another station called "The River" and that was good. Not 93 X good, but good enough. Doors didn't open until 11 and our show didn't start until noon. Filter was set to take the stage at 4:30.

The first two acts were local acts from what I could tell, and there seemed to be a mix up, because the second stage had an act going on(It was smaller and for the local acts that weren't given the privledge to play on the larger stage) The act on the larger stage was an accoustical act with a female vocalist. What confused us was when she sang a Johnny Cash song. Then they didn't announce very many acts from there.

Audiovent was very good. I enjoyed seeing them live, even though I was sitting up way high on a hill(though my ticket said Seat 278) under neath a tree. Suddenly I saw an Amalgamut promo poster shoved into my face with a guy demanding, "You want this?" I said "Sure!" without thinking and took it to keep. After awhile, we wandered to see some other things and found some other trees to sit under. It was hot and I wasn't going to go out and bake my brains out until Filter took the stage. While we were under the trees, Mushroomhead played. Sorry if you like these guys, but I thought they blew chunks. I'm not sure if it was the sound system or if it was just their act, but I couldn't understand a word the singer said so I thought it was lame and sucked. Sorry, just didn't like 'em. While they played, another guy(possibly the same guy) found me again, shoving two sets of promo stickers in my hands, commenting, "This will complete your collection" and walked away. That was cool. More free Filter stuff. A little hint to get cool free stuff: WEAR YOUR FILTEROID SHIRT!

Nonpoint was good. I liked them. They rocked out and were understandable so I liked that about them. Then we sorta had a bit of down time while they set the stage for Earshot and Filter. Earshot was funny when they came out, their lead singer(I don't know what his name is) said, "It's fucking hot out here! Have you seen what they're charging for water! They should give this shit out for free! I'm gonna throw all this water on this table out!" And that was cool, though I was still in the trees at the time, waiting to go down the big hill under the full sun to get into the pit. I went down during the song "Get Away" and got set for where Filter would play when they were done. Earshot was good. I enjoyed them quite abit.

After they left, the pit started to fill and I was sure I had my spot so I wasn't wandering very much from the left side of the stage. We saw some stage hands moving some equipment and setting it up and then the crowd saw Rich in his white cowboy hat, sunglasses with a cigarette in his mouth and then it went crazy. Everyone yelled and screamed and a few guys shouted "FILTER KICKS ASS!" Then Rich, Geno, Frank, Alan and Steve took the stage. Then I felt the crowd push in on me and the moshing began.

They started the set with "The IVth/World Today" and then started the crowd up with "Hey Man, Nice Shot" and "Dose." Then they played "American Cliche" and went into "Jurrassitol" which really got the pit moving. I watched people as they moved them over the top, but was too short to help them along. Rich then asked how many people had ever been to jail, then commented, "Jail sucks ass, doesn't it?" That lead right into "My Long Walk to Jail" which ruled live. It rocked out and made the crowd even more frenzied. With Rich, Geno and Alan all playing guitar, it made the sound that much better and that much cooler.

They started "So I Quit" after that, and I think the reports that it hurt his voice to do it were true, because he didn't scream "MOTHER FUCKER!!!!!" He simply said it, which sorta made the song playful and fun for the crowd while saving his voice at the same time. Halfway through the song he must have hurt himself some how because in between his middle finger and pointer there was blood and on his other pointer was blood from the cut. He didn't seem fazed because he just looked at it and swore under his breath a little before continuing on like it wasn't there.

Some one managed to throw the supersoaker into the crowd which made Rich point to the stage to get it back. I saw it fly into the crowd and then fly back onto the stage at some point. While Rich was drinking some of his beer, someone heclked, shouting, "I want some mother fucking beer!" Rich replied, "You want some fucking beer?" He drank some more of his beer cup, setting it back down instead of pouring it on the crowd. Then they played "The Best Things" which got the energy of the crowd flowing again and made the place jump. Rich dumped water on the crowd and since by then I had been pushed up within two people of the stage I ended up getting water poured on me as well.

Then Rich took a moment to tell the story of Take A Picture saying, "Man I got wasted once and ran around naked on a plane." He was smiling then put the Shiny Monkey Theorie on and Geno, Alan and Rich all played the song together, the crowd really getting into that as well.

"Where Do We Go From Here" was played and I really thought that it kicked ass live. It was a lot of fun to dance to and hear Filter play it live instead of the shitty radio edit that we've all heard on stations near us. It was a fun song and started the mosh pit going again. Rich told us to jump for awhile and we all did and I thought I'd lose my balance but I didn't but it was fun none the less. At the end of the song, Rich said, "Be the first kid on your block to get the new album. It rocks." Then he introduced the band, starting with Steve, then Alan, then Geno and then said, "GIVE it up for my bassist. . ." before he could say Frank's name, the crowd went crazy. Then Rich said, "Frank Cavanugh!" and the crowd went even more crazy.

When they started "Welcome to the Fold" everyone in the pit went ape shit crazy. We jumped, we screamed, we sang along, we danced, we shoved on one another and it was well worth it. Rich really wanted us to get involved so he told us that he wanted our arms up and that he wanted us to jump. Since it was the last song, Rich really wanted us to get into it and took out all the stops on the song. The crowd really went nuts and towards the end of the song, Rich slammed the microphone down, picked up the stand and smashed it onto the stage, signifying they were done. Alan came out throwing guitar picks out, but I was too slow and short and small to get one so I left in frustration. Ah but the story is NOT over!!

I wandered back up the hill just as Sevendust took the stage and looked around, when what do I see? Rich in his cowboy hat walking behind the fence. He was shorter than it, while Geno was not, and I spotted Geno taking something from a fan, signing it and handing it back. Me and my promo poster got our asses over there fast and I jumped up at the fence, being too short for it, just as Rich was. But when I jumped up, what do I see? RICH! He looks puzzled for a moment, seeing me jump up and then I disappeared back down. I jump back up, handing my poster over the fence, seeing Rich shake his head and laugh as he signed it handing it back to me as I jumped up again. I couldn't talk and neither could he since Sevendust was bringing the show to a close and the house down. Then I saw Geno was being nice enough to give autographs out on the side of the stage, still behind the fence. You walked up the side of the stage on these bricks, handed it to him and he signed it, handing it back. He was very nice.

Then as I was about to walk away from the stage, I saw Alan peek his head over the fence at the crowd so I trucked on back over, handing my poster to him which he signed with his name and behind that "F. N.G." and I have no idea what that EXACTLY stands for, but the best guess is "Filter New Guitarist" or something along those lines, but feel free to make up anything you want for those letters!

Alas, I saw no Steve and no Frank. I think they were too shy or they were too hot so they were at the bus or some other place or down right hiding. Either that or I'm too short and didn't know they were there. It was a blast and I must say this RFW is a very happy RFW. I never imagined when I went to Filter would I a) Get a bunch of free shit and b) Get the band's autographs and laughed at by Rich. If he ever remembers a blond girl jumping up and then disappearing and you happen to hear him asking, tell him that was the good ol' RFW. She's just too short at 5 foot 3 and 3/4 inches. It's not my fault I stopped growing at 13!

Until next week guys! Hope you have your Filter dreams come true soon too! I tell ya, one helluva show.