 95 degree heat, they should let everyone do it!
Now back in the Sixties the people going to the would just have "liberated" the water concession in a festival.
I think the pioneer in ths kind of crap was Disneyworld and Disneyland.
That is patently absurd. I can understand no glass containers, in this day and age, since that falls in the same catagory as a knife. But as someone who drinks about 1 gallon of water on a COOL day.........i would go broke or die in 95 degree heat. Have a restricted diet as well, so would most likely starve. I would've raised a stink, too! Did they have this posted anywhere? Might've been worth a nuisiance suit.
We have the same restrictions at our local outdoor concert venue. No outside food or drink, no chairs, no umbrellas, no blankets... I'm trying to remember if they were making people check their backpacks at the last outdoor concert I attended. I understand the no food or drink rule, even if I don't agree with it - it's to raise revenue, just as in the movie theaters. The chairs and umbrellas are supposed to be "potential weapons" if a fight breaks out. Ok, I could buy that... until I heard that some concessioniere has started renting chairs at these concerts, and *those* chairs are ok! I guess there's something about them (can't imagine what!) which would prevent them from being used as a weapon in a fight. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic!) Now, blankets I have never been able to figure out... what sort of weapon can you make from a blanket? Trip someone with it? Smother them? I admit I'm rather naive and not up on all the things which can possibly be used as weapons in this world.
I remember having my purse "searched" going into a concert once. The searcher was so thorough (not!!) that I could have had a ton of explosives in there, and she wouldn't have known it. Now, granted, I am a rather un-suspicious looking middle-aged (eek!) woman, and it was a Rod Stewart concert, and I was with a group of equally un-suspicious looking other middle-aged (eek!) women, but still...I don't recall them being much more thorough in their search techniques at the KISS concert and I was with three very dangerous looking 20-something males (my son and his friends) that night. So it would seem there's a lot of contradictions in terms of security at concerts and other public entertainment events, these days.
McGrath of Harlow - You are exactly right! The water should have been liberated at this concert as well but probably not by two women from Canada. Especially since the American audience thought it was acceptable. I think it was the acceptance that bugged me the most.
The Barenaked Ladies (Canadian) were the last act that day. I think they should know about this. I'm going to e-mail them and let them and every other musician know that they should not allow their audience to be treated this way.
Hope you all do the same. Its an outrage!
Think about it: if you sit on a blanket you're taking up space that could be (profitably) filled with other bodies. 
Also, I can think of a couple of ways of using a blanket as a weapon -- not a very effective weapon, but a weapon nevertheless.
But I really suspect it's a way of preventing you from defining more personal space than the promoters think you should have.
You're probably right, Rapaire. I can't imagine this particular venue being *that* crowded - even 17,000 people at the KISS concert didn't fill the "lawn seats", which is a very fancy way of saying you get to sit on the ground if you ask me. But that could very well be the reasoning behind that particular rule.
Actually, that rule was put in place after the KISS concert. It was actually a very good thing that blankets were still allowed at that concert, as some people were using them for camoflauge up at the fence rather than stand in the long lines at the restroom facilities. Hmm. Maybe that had something to do with the rule being instated!
D - I don't know how many Americans these days would be willing to "liberate" the water supply - or anything else - at a large gathering. We have been very willing to put up with a lot of things, in the wake of 9/11, that we might not have put up with before. We need to be careful, though, I think, and not give away too many of our rights... has anyone read "The Handmaid's Tale"? Scary. Even scarier, that it was written long before 9/11. Makes you think.

Clinton Hammond - You have the choice to read or not to read. You also have the choice to enter a discussion if you wish. Since you have entered with only a negative, put down; I will put a hex on you. "May you suffer the fate of a man dying of thirst."
This is a depressing thread, but not for the reason Clinton Hammond gave.
I'm once again, shocked no end to what is happening in this world of ours. I agree that our only recourse is to stand up for what we know is right and appropriate. And in this case, I'd think about sending a letter to some local papers as well.
In the end, the only thing we have are our voices which if we don't raise in protest we give up our power as individuals as well as citizens. I'm so sorry this happened, and Clinton...I wouldn't go so far as to wish you death from thirst, but certainly being upset about something important to you, and being told not to whine about it!
I hope I never get this upset over something so inane and trivial...
............."Want to carry a larger bag on a small airplane? Just smile and say, "So, would you please write and sign a statement that you are accepting complete responsibility for separating me from my medication?"...............
I don't get it.....
well, this ain't nuthin' new... like someone pointed out, movie theaters won't let bring food or beverage in but they don't search ya either... hey, most of these events have a website with the rules so i'd just boycott the events that have rules that you find offensive... there's plenty other things to do where you may feel less hasseled by the promotors...
How do you boil a frog to death? Slowly increase the temperature... he won't notice until it's too late.
Bobert - Not everyone has a computer. In my case, I was on vacation and the paper announcing the event said nothing about the rules. It would have saved me a couple of hours driving if I had known.
Clinton Hammond - Since when was water trivial? It was 95 degrees!
Anyway, I did write to the Barenaked Ladies just to let them know what kind of people were promoting their concerts.
"You then had to buy your water from the kiosk"
So buy your water...
dianavan, while I enjoy much of what you post, I have noted (pretty hard to miss) that you have great disdain for the U.S. So it begs the question, why were you here? And if it happened in Canada, would that have made it OK? You make quite a point of the fact that Barenaked Ladies is Canadian, and that is OK with me because I am a huge fan of Canadian performers, and count many among my best musical friends. But is it being Canadian that somehow makes them immune from the obvious greed being demonstrated here? Or are we just dealing with money being the root of all evil? I have seen money grubbing practices in Canada as well. My point is that you never miss an opportunity to knock what happens over here as if we are the root of all evil.
Please get my context, I am just trying to balance out the issue. This is about greed and silliness. Would that I had the time, I would start a campaign against all venues that forbid water from entering. I think that access is an right and that concert venues ought be forced to provide it.
I am both American and Canadian. Its just that I saw nobody protesting or even blinking an eye at the notion of buying water for a 10 hour festival. I think this is just the beginning - a way of conditioning people to accept that they must pay for clean, drinking water. It is more logical to me to protect the drinking water from pollutants than to bottle the clean stuff and sell it. But, of course, that wouldn't be profitable.
Somebody mentioned that in the 60's, if someone had tried this, the water kiosk would have been liberated. I believe this is true. I grew up in America during the 60's. It is disheartening to see so little protest from university students these days. In fact, the crowd at this concert, behaved like cattle.
I go to concerts and festivals regularly in Canada. I bring water, snacks, blankets, cameras, etc. Alcohol is usually banned but water and blankets at an outdoor venue? Never! In fact, you usually mark your spot with your blanket so you and your friends know where to meet.
I don't think the U.S. is the root of all evil but I do think it is a mighty giant. What happens in the U.S. usually finds its way up to Canada in less than 10 years. It is easier to see the loss of freedom from the outside. The propaganda in the U.S