I went for the first time to Long Island this weekend. I guess it's kind of ridicules that, in the 30-ish years that I've lived in NY's Capital District, I'd never been to Long Island. But, at the same time, I wonder how many people from Long Island have been to Troy. :-P

I saw a good excuse to finally go down when I saw the announcement for the NIN/Soundgarden tour. I debated between the nearby venues in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Jones Beach but finally decided on the latter.

The drive down wasn't too bad, about 3 hours and traffic wasn't terrible.

After we checked into where we were staying, we went to find food and then went to the beach which is an easy walk through a sub-road tunnel from the main parking lot for the concert venue. The beach is huge!

The entire state park is 15 square miles and includes a ton of sandy beach area right along the Atlantic (which was actually kinda warm when we went in early August). There was a beer garden, food vendors, and even leather couches in the sand, with nearby games like ping pong.

The beach seemed like a popular spot with row after row of garbage cans and a long man-made path to the water. I could definitely see spending a day there.

After I got to play a bit in the water and we grabbed a drink at the beer garden, we walked back to the car and to the venue.

Once inside, we found out that the venue does not sell alcohol to the general public. At all. So, we settled for a refillable cup for Coke and some small snacks.

The people watching at the concert was great - everything from goth/emo to 70-year-olds who seemed to be die-hard fans. I guess I was somewhere in between but I probably was one of the few at the show who didn't wear black.

Getting to our seats was interesting. We took the elevator to the top and then basically walked up almost as far as you could go. They were nosebleeds but, at this venue, that had advantages as well since you could see the ocean from the seats.

For those who don't mind spending a bit more money - or those afraid of heights - the VIP section looked fun, too since there was a sandy area with a gazebo and it looked like they actually had alcohol and non-carnival-like food.

The show was great. You can see video/comments on my Twitter and FB. Getting out was a bit annoying, but post-concert most venues kinda suck in that respect.

If you have an opportunity to check out either the beach or the venue, I'd definitely recommend it.