November 22, 2003 The Network @ The Key Club
Gee...I suck at updating my journal. Have lots to write, but too lazy to actually compose them into sentences. I'll eventually be caught up. Just picking at it one entry at a time..

Went to the Network show on Saturday with my friend Alex. If you don't know about the whole Network/Green Day deelio, read this. I feel bad that I've never actually seen Green Day in concert before, and everyone I knew who went to the Pop Disaster tour last year were really impressed by Green Day. I wanted to go to Pop Disaster since Jimmy Eat World was opening but they were only playing 30 minutes and $50+ was a bit too much to have to put up with all the moshing and Blink 182 kids...bad nightmares about "blink me" I s'pose. And anyway, I really only liked Green Day of 1039/Smooth/Kerplunk, and I heard they hardly play any old old songs. So I guess seeing The Network was my way of making up for it.

Doors at the Key Club was suppose to open at 9pm so we passed by around 7pm and only saw 2 punked out kids in line so we decided to go to IHOP and grab some dinner. On the way, saw a really long line outside the Roxy and wondered who could be playing. Read the marquee which said "AOL BROADBAND ROCKS PRESENTS HILARY DUFF." Ack, kids on the Sunset Strip!!

Only one waitress at IHOP thus took forever. Alex found some street parking off Doheny which saved us the $5 parking lot charge. Walked to the Key Club and line was stretching to the end of the block. Ack. It was a bit cold that night so us weak SoCal kids were freezing in the 50-60 air. There was a couple, the dude wearing a Ronald Reagon mask over a ski mask with the chick wearing some sparkly masquerade mask over her eyes. Uh....ok. 10 minutes later, a Key Club security person started shouting "NO MASKS ALLOWED!" Umm...ok. Really lame considering this is The Network. Another weird thing happening while waiting in line was a buncha kids and their parents walking back to their cars from the Hilary Duff show. Weird.

So eventually we're let into the club. The show was suppose to be 18 and over, however no one was checking IDs. However, they were using the metal detector wand and scanning tix, something I'm not accustomed to at The Key Club. The floor was already 1/3 full by the time we got inside so we went to the left corner of the room where there were sofas and seats and sat down. Good thing considering how ultra boring the opening acts and overall waiting was. A camera was set up near our corner and another on the other side. 80s songs were being played and 80s videos like the Cramps, Depeche Mode and The Human League were being played on the big screen on stage. We waited impatiently for almost an hour before the first opening band started playing at 10pm. The band called Aerials or something like that consisted of some middle-aged people. They were très boring. I don't even know what they sounded like. Some more waiting. Then two chicks in bikinis were on stage. I thought they were starting the fashion show since this was also billed as an EC Star Fashion show. But then some blond chick who sorta looked like s/he was in drag came out and started singing like Siouxsie Sioux. Anyway, I find out later it's Theo from the Lunachicks. Alex and I were finding it increasingly hard to stay awake. We were so ready to pass out sleeping after Theo finished. Thank goodness we were sitting down. We did see people in various masks whenever the backstage door opened. And some dude wearing Neo outfit payed a visit to our corner.

So more waiting. I notice that the Network roadies are all wearing ski masks. Perhaps to disguise themselves from the hardcore Green Day fans. And then finally at midnite....a video intro on the overhead big screen and Green D...errr...The Network come out. In retrospect, I should have at least downloaded some Network songs so I could familiarize myself with their music. I'd heard song clips and saw pics but still it definitely would have made me appreciate the show more. Also would have been funny to read stuff the band actually posts on their message boards. Lotsa people are standing in our corner so we resorted to standing on the sofas and seats to get a better view over everyone's heads. It was great to be 8 feet tall although not good for the feet. So the Network comes out all in masks. There are actually 6 people on stage if I recall correctly. The first song was sung by Fink aka Billie Joe Armstrong or someone who does a really good vocal impression and happens to be short like him. I was really impressed by the on-stage choreography. Very Devo-inspired with the synchronized guitar moves!!! Songs also sounded very Devo-eque too especially with song titles like "Money Money 2020," "Hammer of the Gods" and "X-Ray Hamburger." Lead vocals were divided between Fink and Van Gough aka Mike who hmmmm.....I never knew sang. Van Gough's songs though seemed to be processed with some synthesized effect though. After a few songs, they left the stage and models for EC Star come out and modeled some clothes. Then The Network comes out again...well a few of them do. Snoo aka Très Cool comes out to sing "Hungry Hungry Models" while models come out on stage and prance around with the guys on stage. In retrospect Très was très funny with his "stage moves." The song's actually really funny now that I listen to it now. So according to the message boards, they played all 12 songs off their CD and two songs released on their website. The songs I seem to remember the most are definitely "Hungry Hungry Models," "Teenagers from Mars" (a Misfit cover), "Spike" cuz Billie Joe recreated the phone conversation exactly like he did it on the song, and "Roshambo" which sounds a lot like 1039/Smooth/Kerplunk Green Day. During "Spastic Society," Van Gough would throw out cards while singing the song. I learned later on the message boards that those cards contained the individual words in the song. The dude with Neo outfit was throwing out stuff too. It looked like stuff promoting the fashion show, but I read on the message boards it was a flyer promoting joining the Church of Lushtology. I guess you'll have to go to their website to read about that. Some time in the middle of the set, I called my friend Caroline on the cell phone so she could hear some of the show. Not sure how it sounded though. Every time I record stuff onto my voicemail, it always sounds like crap.

After the last song, everyone left except Fink who was making lotsa feedback. Then eventually he left. Now usually after a show ends, the lights go on and the venue employees try to kick you out. Nope, that didn't happen. So lotsa people stuck around thinking maybe something would happen. Like Green Day would come out and play some songs. But it was still dark and music was playing, specifically New Order. We stayed around for about 20 minutes or so until we realized the Key Club staff had already taken down the stage. So Alex and I leave and walk back to the car. So basically, I saw Green Day in masks playing buncha 80's synthesized songs acting a lot like Devo on stage. Way cool.

Oh...don't have any pics even though Alex and I snuck in cameras. We were prolly too far to take any decent-looking pics. Well, the pics may have turned out decent in normal circumstances but with all the pink and colored lights I doubt it. But what really prevented me from taking pics was the security. They were being super anal even with the media people with cameras. And I was near a videocamera and standing on their furniture a few feet from a security guard, so didnt feel like taking that chance.