Not Slayer

Beyonce & Jay Z
AT&T Park, San Francisco
August 6, 2014

Sometimes Umlaut finds himself in places where he's completely out of his element.  Anyway, one thing led to another and I found myself at AT&T Park, not for a Giants game, but for the final U.S. show of the On The Run Tour featuring the world's favorite celebrity power couple.  The only other times I've seen shows at this stadium were Green Day and the Rolling Stones / Metallica which were both in 2005.

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words... so here are several thousands words about my experience on the run with Beyonce and Jay Z:

"All Access" 

Catering

"PYRO"

After show escape Escalades

Prior to the show I spent some quality time in Catering with a couple of old school crew friends listening to their war stories about being on the road with AC/DC.  Unfortunately, the only other people in the room were roadies and stage dancers; no sign of the night's stars of course.  I also took advantage of the magic paper All Access wristband and, after 14 years of coming to AT&T Park, I finally saw the stadium's fancy luxury suites that are reserved for important people like Google (who have their own suite).  Interesting.  However, I kept my professional hat on and did not try to scam any free food from a suite.  Regrets.

 The Luxury Suite view of the civilians

What?  Oh right.. THE SHOW.   So I found myself in a seat 27 rows from the stage.  The Royal Couple came onstage and the entire stadium went nuts and I felt completely out of my element.  By the time the dynamic duo were into their 4th song I was down the street at 21st Amendment enjoying excellent food and a good beer.   After this pit stop I made my way back to the stadium, flashed the paper wristband, and watched more of the spectacle.  

 Row 27 pre-show

Row 27 panoramic during show

The sound mix was all bottom end so it should have been no surprise that there were noise complaints all over San Francisco during the shows.  I did not see any band onstage but evidently there was one "somewhere".  Evidently.  Umlaut didn't know one song the entire time he was there... However, at one point while in Row 27 I turned around and watched the rest of the stadium from the floor all the way up to the upper View Reserve seats go bat shit crazy for the Royal Couple.  It was not my scene, man... at all.

If you bought one of every Beyonce merch item you would have paid around $620.  On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag... which I was since I had just went to see Beyonce and Jay Z.   All in all it was a night of easy adventure into a world that is not mine.  Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.  SLAAAYEER!