a good weekend.

That is was. You can bet that this is a 360 turn in tone from my last post and much needed. Please excuse the length. An epic weekend calls for an epic post.

Saturday...well, I can't quite remember what I did during the day. What's worse is that I'm trying to backtrack on my tweets to remember my activities. But Saturday evening I was able to catch LMFAO on their Party Rock Tour since I missed out during Bruin Bash. The lineup was entertaining and I will describe them to you because what else am I gonna write about on my blog?

Space Cowboy: himself was weird and you could tell he had the low budget backup dancers. I couldn't really figure out what he was...a European Sean Paul to describe it best? Put on a fun set, though.

Paradiso Girls: Spice Girls + Pussycat Dolls. Thoroughly enjoyed them. Good eye candy for the boys as well.

FM (Far East Movement): Like, love, gotta have. They're amazing live and I'm proud that this group of four Asians are dropping hot beats and competing with the best of all the hip hop/EDM/rap music out there.

Shwayze: Wasn't entirely their fault, but I had a bone to pick with Shwayze during their set. Changes took forever and their set was an hour, maybe more, of basically an eclectic Uncle Kracker + Fresh Prince rap duo singing/rapping about everything illegal to tunes that sounded like tracks you'd hear on Kidz Bop. The length and the fact that they were a bit of a buzzkill after FM's far-too-short set and before LMFAO, didn't sit well with me.

LMFAO: They really do know how to party. I wish I could've seen them during Bruin Bash with thousands of UCLA students, but this Palladium show was a fine consolation. You can't go wrong when you wear metallic pants and drink booze from a bottle covered in rhinestones. So much more epic live as well.

The Palladium: This was my first time seeing a show here and I loved the venue. It had a bit of a lounge-y Vegas feel, circular inside, very open, but still small and intimate enough. It's a good compromise between the detached stadium atmosphere and the hole-in-the-wall alley club.

The crowd: Apparently this was an all ages show. Of course, I despised and looked down upon the kids who looked like they were 10 years old as well as the kids who were actually 10 years old. Seriously, those parents belong on TMZ. To give you another mental picture, I thought that the ground had a sunken floor because there was such an obvious dip in height about halfway back from the stage where our group started. Of course, that height difference was due to the fact that everyone excited and energetic enough to crowd the stage and halfway back was probably between the ages of (give or take) 10 to 17. This also made me feel like a creepy soccer mom, but I reassured myself that I was age appropriate among babies and the elderly, who should not be at the hot pants Party Rock Tour anymore, mid-life crisis or not.

Sunday morning also escapes me. I'm still clicking "more" at the bottom of my twitter homepage in a desperate attempt to fill in the blanks. With every click, a part of me dies, while my social networking life may or may not live on.

Epic music weekend culminated on Sunday night with the UCLA Jay-Z concert. Here goes:

Wale: Insulted that he was first to perform to a half empty Pauley Pavilion. To me and other loyal followers (such as his No.1 fan, Kid Freezy), he's rap/hip-hop's next big thing. I'm baffled at how long it's taken and that it's taking for Wale to really explode, but I'll be so glad when he picks up. Oh and uhm HE RAN UP OUR SECTION AND RAPPED RIGHT IN OUR AISLE...YEAH WE JAMMED WITH HIM, for maybe 20 seconds, but they were magical.

J. Cole: I was biased because of my intense love for everyone else performing that evening. Apparently he performed, but I honestly don't remember J. Cole's stage time at all. Perhaps being sandwiched by Wale and N*E*R*D wasn't the best for him, regardless, I think he did a song or two. I'll download and give him due listening time later.

N*E*R*D: Another jackpot. I'll be changing my name to Mrs. Pharrell Williams down at the courthouse. Also, we got to LINE THE END OF THE STAGE AND JAM RIGHT UP FRONT during their whole set. No big. Amazing. Lupe Fiasco also made a guest appearance.

Up to this point, while having the time of my life, I'd uttered, "OMG", "I'M DYING", "WTF" and general unintelligible noises like "WAHHH" "EEEE" GAHHH" at least 10-15 times. Yes, I'm 21 and not 12, music just gets me going. Then came the man and multiply my noises by 100.

Jay-Z: J-Hova, Hova, H.O.V.A.! Words cannot describe how brilliant his performance was. I know this sounds like a gross exaggeration and you who turn your nose up to "mainstream rap noise" are completely insulted, but there is no doubt that this man put on a SHOW. As dlv noted, Jay-Z brought with him a 10-piece band and truly lived up to his D.O.A. (Death of Auto-tune) stance--criticizing it's overuse and abuse as a gimmick and "crutch" for emerging artists. I also couldn't take my eyes off of his amazing soundstage and visual screen setup. That fact that Jay-Z wanted this concert and so exclusively for UCLA students made it all the more unique. Hova, I wouldn't worry about losing a young audience just yet. You're not going anywhere for a while.

The crowd: This concert was one of the best I've ever been to not only because of it's 100% epic ranking, but also because I enjoyed it with ten lovely CEC friends. We danced the hardest and sang the loudest...so much so that there was an obvious buffer of space that formed around our seats. Our flailing arms and bounce definitely needed space, and you know what, to everyone who attended and to those who decide to go to fun shows only to SIT through them, please re-evaluate your idea of fun. That's like standing during a chair-testing conference or something. (That was a horrible analogy, but you get what I mean).

I doubt you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing and re-living this one, but hopefully it stirred up appreciation for some fun, dance music and the notion that there is good rap out there, not all of it's crap and "noise" as my dad likes to call it. He obviously comes from a different era and is more particular. When I get to one, I'll post about some butt-kicking indie/alt/folk show, though you'll probably get a post about how much I love Disney music first.