Rock n' Coke 2009 Istanbul!

I can’t even begin to describe this day. It was absolutely incredible. I went to one of the biggest festivals in Turkey, the Rock n’ Coke 2009 Istanbul Festival! First, let me just say that I have the some of the best luck in the universe. I was really concerned on how to get to the concert and who to go with. To my surprise, both Sarah and Audrey already had tickets to go as well! This took care of who to go with… then we just had to deal with how to get there. If you have never been or looked at a map of Istanbul, it is the biggest city in Europe, so we had no idea where the concert was or how long it would take to get there. With our great luck, we met a group of people going to the concert, one of them a Turkish native and his father works for Coca-Cola. With that being said, we were able to get on a private minibus that took us to the Asian side of Istanbul, 45 minutes away right to the entrance, all for only $10 USD. We arrived at the festival around 12:00 p.m. and immediately got free cokes and bought some lunch. We then wandered from tent to tent where we got free t-shirts, bought a few t-shirts, listened to music, played guitar hero on a big stage, sang karaoke, and soaked in the atmosphere. We also got chips on a stick which are full potatoes that are cut and spiraled around a stick, then deep fried and sprinkled with your choice of seasoning. I got BBQ, Mexican Chili, and Cheese Onion on mine, it was delicious. We decided to chill for a few minutes and in that time we started talking to some of the locals who were attending the concert. We met a photographer and she gave me all of her info, she said I could come work for her someday, so I will be keeping in touch with her! I also made another Turkish friend who visits Dallas a lot and got her info so that she can come hang out with me there!

Now, on to the actual concert part. It started off with a Turkish band called Aylin Aslim, then the Howling Bells, and another Turkish band, Emre Ayden. After those bands finished, the crowd cleared out quite a bit so we decided to go up and wait at the front. Ends up we stood front and center for the next 7 hours. It was insane! We saw Juliette Lewis, Jane’s Addiction, Duman (the biggest band in Turkey), Nine Inch Nails, and The Prodigy! I can’t even explain how incredible it was.  Not only did we get to stand up front the entire time, we met a ton of more people, including two guys, one who worked in an ADVERTISING firm, and one who was a small business owner. We met one of the bouncers, named Alp, who had gone to LSU for school and then moved back to Turkey. He was super cool.

It was so cool how well the night worked out. The two guys we met were really cool, trustworthy people and bought us drinks and food all night and would bring it to us so we didn’t lose our places. Of course, we were really smart about it, switching off and on, drinking what they gave us to make sure it wasn’t drugged or anything. We also met a bunch of guys who were some of the best “moshers” I have ever seen and were incredibly nice. It was great meeting all of these guys because I tend to attract creepers and they would protect me from them.

The music was so different to what I normally listen to, but I loved it! I was always kind of scared of the “hardcore rock” crowd, but the people ended up being so real and nice, not scary at all! Being in the front, the bouncers would occasionally bring out water hoses and spray everyone down. Since Alp knew me, he would literally spray me right in the face so that I was drenched from head to toe by the end of the night. I still can’t believe how close I was the artists last night. O, and I got a guitar pick from Duman, the biggest band in Turkey! Go me! We then met up with the rest of the SAS crowd, got on our private minibus, drove back into Europe, and arrived back to the ship around 4 a.m. What a crazy day?!