This is going to be a review of both the show and my time helping Volunteer with The Surfrider Foundations "Rise Above Plastics" campaign at the show on 8-15-2008 at Sandstone Amp in Bonner Springs, Kansas.
So the day started out early getting to the venue 1 1/2 hours before the gates open to help out volunteering for the Surfrider Foundation to talk about
Rise Above Plastics to ask people to take the
Plastics Pledge and to educate them on how to reduce the number of plastics they use by getting reusable bags instead of plastic ones and to get a reusable bottle for water instead of buying bottled water. There are many options out there from bags at the store to other options like
Chico Bags to use. There are many websites that give out great information on this topic, so just do a search or link through the ones in my text.
THE PLEDGE
I commit to do my part to rise above plastics and protect the world's oceans, waves and beaches from plastic pollution. I will do this by:
- Using reusable bottles for my water and other drinks. By using just one reusable bottle, I will keep 167 single-use plastic bottles from entering the environment.
- Using cloth bags for groceries and other purchases. For each reusable bag I use, I will save approximately 400 plastics from being used.
- Recycling the plastic bags and bottles I already have. For every thirteen plastic bags I don't use, I will save enough petroleum to drive a car one mile.So now getting back to my time volunteering. I met up with Elizabeth Willes, from the San Diego Chapter of The Surfrider Foundation. She is the one coordinating the effort on the whole Jack Johnson tour for the summer. I stopped by to see them at Alpine Valley and ended up helping out in Kansas as a result. There were to others that volunteered with us that were really awesome people as well. I didn't to put there names in here as I haven't asked them if it was ok, but I did post the picture of all of us meeting up with Jack before the show.
One of the cool things is that if Jack has time, he likes to come out before the show and meet and take pictures(I'm the one on the left) with the volunteers. So we all had the opportunity to meet Jack and get a picture as a group, it was pretty cool. Jack was a very mellow dude, wearing his typical green Sprout T with jeans and flip-flops. That was really cool of him to do. The whole Village Green thing is pretty awesome and he really does a great job getting the word out to people through this. I hope he will continue to do this on future tours.
For the first 15 minutes or so when the gates opened, people were more concerned with getting into the front GA section as there was going to be a 5,000 person limit. So after that people started coming up and asking a lot of questions and taking the pledge to reduce plastics.
At first I kept thinking that I'm going to fumble over my words, but it all just started to flow. There were a lot of questions about things like "What can I do to help" answer is simple - stop buying single use plastics and use reusable bags at the store. Stop buying beer, soda and water in single use bottles. It's better to buy them in cans if you are going to buy them ast all. Personally I buy beer in bottles and take my empties to a recycling facility. People asked about the
Great Pacific Ocean Trash Vortex which I've linked an article on it. All sorts of stuff came up, but the overall feeling was of support and many already started doing their part.
At the end of the Village Green area, Zach Gill put on a little show for the fans around 6pm as a warm-up. He sang a couple of songs from his new cd
Stuff that just came out on Brushfire Records a couple weeks back. I highly recommend it. After the third song, Jack Johnson joined him to play three more songs, which included Family & Girl I Wanna Lay You Down, which is a song he sings with his other band
Animal Liberation Orchestra that he plays with when he's not playing with Jack. It was pretty cool to hear. I only saw part of it since I was volunteering.
Afterwards, Zach came out and signed posters and cds for people and I had a chance at the end of his signing to ask him to take a picture and chatted a minute about his new cd. It was pretty cool. It was kind of funny not seeing him with his signature hat on. Very nice guy and a great entertainer, he really does add that little bit to Jack's performance that makes it just that much better.
So we finished up out time volunteering and we really did meet a lot of interesting people and it was a great experience volunteering and helping out. I would certainly do it again at any show in Kansas City regardless of what band it was. Just getting the word out about Rise Above Plastics is helping every little bit it can.
So my wife, who happens to be 8 1/2 months pregnant and my daughter, who is almost 2 1/2 came out to the show to see Jack play. My daughter will not take a nap unless we are playing the Curious George Soundtrack that Jack did with a bunch of his friends including Zach Gill, G. Love, Ben Harper & Matt Costa. I would pick it up if you don't have it. Kid or Adult, it really is a great CD.
So we went up and sat in the grass and Jack came on ans started it off with Hope and into Taylor. My daughter was excited about hearing Jack sing. She clapped her hands and spent most of the time sitting up on my shoulders looking out to see Jack and hear the songs. She was really happy to get to hear Upside Down, that got her fired up. She recognized it right away and bounce up and down to it. She really had a blast.
I tried to keep track of the setlist, but was having so much fun playing and dancing with my little one that I lost track sometime about 10-12 songs into the show. Still I did my best to keep track of the songs at least. So my setlist listed below will be out of order and it ends at the first song of the encore. I will make updates as I see a full setlist pop up.
The crowd was pretty cool. Some people tried to keep from blowing smoke at my daughter and we did move around a bit to avoid it. A lot of other folks we just having fun saying Hi to my daughter and playing around with her. She was fired up and then just before the encore she crashed big. So it was time to go. Fortunately I had already seen Jack on this tour at Alpine Valley, so it was alright to depart.
Jack and the band really played some good stuff and had some fun out there and the crowd was really into it. It was a sold out show with some 18,000 fans there. Great place to see and hear a show if you get there early enough to put yourself in a good spot.
Jack keeps doing amazing things on the stage and off. I really respect him as an artist because he's a good guy and really does do his part and uses the music and concerts as a way to educate people on the issues of the environment. I think it's great, he's not preaching politics but just asking people to do their part and get involved however you feel like.
Great show again. If you can make a JJ show this tour, please do. Many are sold out, but if you can get out there and see it and stop by The Village Green do it. Don't forget to stop at Surfrider and take the Pleadge.
Setlist - Subject to Updates and Correction:
8-15-2008 Sandstone Amp Bonner Springs, KS
Hope
Taylor
Sitting, Waiting, Wishing
Sleep Through the Static
Go On
Mother and Child Reunion
Do You Remember?
Flake
Upside Down
Bubble Toes
Wasting Time
Where Do the Children Play/Fall Line(w/Zach Rogue & Neil Halstead)
Constellations
Breakdown
Banana Pancakes
Same Girl
Family (Zach Gill Song)
Staple It Together - with some rap from bass player
If I Had Eyes/ Time Is On My Side
Good People
Encore:
All At Once
Times Like These
Gone
Home
Angel
Better Together
The full setlist is now in order thanks to Ryan Hoyt who recorded the show and it can now be found at 08-15-2008 Bonner Springs, KS Live On Archive.org . Download it and have a listen, you will enjoy it and I'm happy to be able to play it over again.
Cheers!
Dave P.
