When I arrived at the Sanborn stage where Bad Brains were scheduled to perform at 9:30 pm, tons of people were already packed in the area, and trying to make my way to the photo pit took me a few minutes. There, I got a surprise as the security guard would not let me pass because they had suddenly limited the number of photographers allowed in the pit. He told me I needed a white wristband! Come on! The pink one I was wearing had let me go everywhere during the whole day and now there was a new rule? I desperately screamed at the guard I had just interviewed a guy from the band, so he had to let me in, but he said he had orders to follow.
I went to the other side of the pit to get the same answer, but at least there was no guard blocking the entrance and I found a spot at the end of a barricade, almost stepping one foot in the pit, with the menacing eyes of the bouncers inside the pit glued on me. I have to say they expected a rowdy set, so had limited the number of people in the pit for security reasons, and I know now the look of the bull before going in the arena, these security guys were expecting a fight, scrutinizing the crowd before the battle, with a touch of worry and toughness in their eyes.
However, I thought about what could happen a little bit later, and it happened exactly as I had predicted. Bad Brains began their set with 2 Reggae songs and the crowd was relatively quiet and calm, but at soon as they started their 3rd song with its hardcore furry, the crowd went crazy, people were just waiting for this moment, like a time bomb, and the security guards were too busy holding the barriers against the strength of the human tsunami to pay attention to me making my move inside the pit. It was safe, at least safer than on the other side, and I was jubilating to be there.
Bad Brains were so powerful, launching fiercely their hardcore riffs and playing so fast the crowd could not believe it. Each of their strong and aggressive guitar assaults was felt so deeply in the flesh of hundred of people at the same time, that a human wave was rising each time, bodies were flying, guys were running into circles. It was becoming to look like a riot, people surfing other people, crushed girls being evacuated by the guards over the barrier, the huge security people putting all their weight against the barricade to maintain the pit safe. There was a feeling of exciting danger in the air, a rush of adrenaline in the body that makes you do stuff you would not normally do. Some guys were climbing a bus stop pole and falling flat over the crowd below.
Meanwhile Bad Brains were playing, dominating what was happening although they were well aware of the scene. H.R. (aka Human Rights) stopped in the middle of a song (it must have been the 4th one, I’m not sure) looked at the crowd, pointing to his ears with his 2 hands and repeating affectionately many times ‘Listen, listen to the music’. Later on, he addressed someone in the crowd, pulled his wallet out to show handcuffs, menacing a guy that was misbehaving? I am not sure!
But as soon as they started again, ridding their tunes at the speed of light, people were rising other people, climbing above each other, pushing, crushing, screaming and not listening to the music!
I was able to read Darryl Jenifer’s lips at one point, saying to H.R. ‘Wow,… awesome’, may be he was referring to the fury that had unleashed, and the ‘positive’ energy he talked to me about.
They were partially calming the crowd during their Reggae intermedes, it was hardly not long enough to relieve the security people. More people, which were carried over the barricades by them, wanted to stay in the pit and some did for a while, so it was becoming crowded there as well, and so chaotic it was harder and harder to take pictures. At this point, I had lost count of time, but the music continued for about an hour, with speedy guitar accelerations which sounded like a sporty car rushing to the arrival, H.R.’s monochord and almost calm voice which could speed up like a tommy gun, frenetic drum beats and an explosive sound.
Calm voice? Yes there was such a contrast with what was happening on stage and in the crowd: H.R. (vocals), Dr. Know (guitar), Darryl Jenifer (bass), and Earl Hudson (drums) were stoic while facing the chaos, completely inflexible! H. R., all army kaki dressed, with a long white towel that he was wearing at the top of his head under his kaki knit cap embroidered ‘Jah army’, looked like some kind of sage prophet of punk rock, smiling all teeth outside, posing with praying hands, making peace signs, undisturbed and looking almost drugged out by what he had produced. You have to wonder how this peaceful aging man (he is only 54 but acted older) could trigger such a stormy reaction. His towel was falling out of place at times, but he kept putting it back in place, and I thought the whole thing was very funny.
They played some of their classics (‘Pay to cum’, ‘Attitude’, ‘Sailin’ On’, ‘I and I Survive’, ‘Right Brigade’ in no particular order) so tight and so fast, it feels now like a dream. I wonder what all these people get from this madness, may be it is just excitement, a feeling of danger, and a way to really feel alive for an hour or two.
I learnt today they were supposed to play longer but the LAPD shut down the show for obvious reasons! H.R. came back on stage while people were screaming for an encore saluting the public with jointed hands, thanking and blessing people, rising his arms to proclaim ‘Remember, one love, one aim, one family’.
Some epic show.