15th
I Want My 90 Bucks Back [A Rant]
Seriously, did the organizers or Jones Beach or Nokia or whoever’s in charge expect us to sit unprotected from the storm (which included torrential downpours), inside of what was apparently acting as a giant lightning conductor, and stick it out? An hour before they were preemptively shutting down the food court, allegedly for safety purposes.
When lightning actually struck, around 15,000 people were evacuated and ran for cover to the one spot available which could probably cover less than half of that. Not one employee seemed to know what was going on, and the lightning bolts kept striking down around us. Reportedly someone was injured. Eventually, after making a dash through 6-inch deep water in the parking lot, we left.
Yeah, what a night. Watching sparks fly off the top of the upper deck was quite scary. The lightning seemed a bit off in the distance…until it struck 30 feet from where I was sitting. I’ve never been that close to a strike before. and never while sitting in the same metal structure. Then, waking through 6 inches of flooded parking lot to get back to our car…while lightning still struck all over the place…was equally nerve wracking.
“Welcome to R.E.M. Survivor 2008.” - Michael Stipe, a couple songs into the show. You should’ve stayed! It was amazing, and the only thing I have to complain about is how the rain delay forced them to cut “Disturbance at the Heron House,” “Life and How To Live It,” and “Harborcoat” from the setlist.
