Again, I have to say it- the Coheed and Cambria show was AMAZING. I am so glad that we braved the terrible heat/storms/then cold weather that night. Besides that, my hips and back were off that day and I was in terrible pain, AND a check that was supposed to arrive didn't and we had very little money for the day.

We arrived at Summerfest around 3pm, after walking from downtown (since it costs about $15 to park in the lots, and parking downtown on the street was free. We are those people- we will do anything to get something for free). The next few hours were spent meeting up with friends, running from one side of the grounds to the other to see various local bands performing that day, window shopping for things we could never afford, and hiding under tents to avoid the various downpours at different points that day. We ate a quick cheap dinner at Crawdaddy's, which is the most amazing place to eat on the Summerfest grounds, and I recommend the restaurant to anyone in Milwaukee with a decent amount of money to drop on dinner. (The one time we went to the actual restaurant, we left as soon as they brough the menus. It was prohibitively expensive. However, at Summerfest, it's pretty cheap for some reason.)

It was getting close to the time for the meet and greet, and that is where we made our first mistake. A band that Damien has been looking to work with was playing a set on the local stage, and he wanted to watch them (since they knew we were there that day, it would have looked crappy had we not shown up to see them). Their set ended about a half an hour before Coheed was supposed to be at the booth. By the time we got over there, there was a mile-long line, which I suppose I expected. What I didn't expect was that at that moment, the sky would turn pitch black and it would start pouring like crazy. Also, my hips were ON FIRE. (Ah, the joys of pregnancy-related hip-spreading. I knew I shouldn't have been walking all over the place, but I did it anyways. My bad.) We ducked under a booth that was next to the Coheed booth, where a woman was selling sunglasses. After standing there for about 30 seconds, this woman started yelling at us that she was trying to run a business, we were blocking all her customers, we needed to move on, etc. Which I would totally understand if anyone was actually trying to get to her booth, but at this point, people were hiding from the rain under tents, and I don't think there were many people interested in purchasing sunglasses while it was dark outside. I digress.
So, everyone decided to head to the stage and forgo meeting the band.

The stage was already crowded when we got there, of course. Generally, at Summerfest, you have to stake out your spot for the night very early in the day, the one exception being a few years back when Damien and I snuck into a front and center spot to see Ray Charles. Coheed fans, however, are a little more aggressive than Ray Charles fans, and so we made our way to the back of the crowd. Luckily, by standing on a picnic table, we could see the entire stage (also- the new addition of screens at the stages was a good idea. Whatever we couldn't see because of the distance, we could watch on the big screens over the stage.)

The band came out, and I don't even know what to say about their set. They were fantastic. Very high energy show, though Claudio seems really fidgety- he was constantly asking for his glasses, putting them on, taking them off, pulling his hair back, letting it out, etc. The show seemed to be "Strictly the Hits", which is pretty normal for a festival, I  guess, even though I was a little disappointed that they didn't do either one of my two favorite songs (Wake Up and Mother Superior). Ther performance of In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth was fun, with the audience screaming along.
(At other shows I've attended, the audience singing along can be very irritating. For instance, when we went to see Regina Spektor last year, we had a hard time hearing her over the people around us. I was a little pissypants about it, because I didn't pay to listen to hundreds of 20 year old girls butcher her songs. But the Coheed show was different- for one, we could still hear the band. And who can resist screaming along to lyrics like "Man your own jackhammer! Man your battlestations!"?)
Then came Welcome Home, which has now taken a spot in my favorite concert moments of all time. Claudio, playing guitar, behind his head, with his teeth. Holy crap. I've always thought that drawn out guitar solos seem like self-indulgent bullshit, but this was awesome.
After that, a 20 minute version of The Final Cut, complete with solos by each member- including Chris Pennie, the drummer, which caused Damien to die with happiness on the spot.

I guess there is only one word to describe the show. "Amaaazing", my brother repeated several times on the long walk back to the car.

So that was it. Not a very eloquent or involved review, and no pictures, sadly.
But it's hard for me to put these experiences into words sometimes. As cheesy as it sounds, I feel music, so I have a hard time talking about it. It's like asking someone to define their belief in God or love for their child. There are words that you can use, but they pale in comparison to the actual feelings brought on by these things.
I guess that is my own backwards compliment, but it's the biggest one I can give- if asked to describe the music, the best I can do is "Oh God, it's...I can't...Just Listen."