Absinthe Ready Premiere Recap

Way back in July or whenever it was that Absinthe released the trailer and tour dates for their latest shred film Ready, I was a bit surprised/stoked they would be rolling through Fort Collins for a premiere. Usually all the films head south to Denver so it was rad I didn't have to spend the 40 bones in gas money it takes the Love Bus to get down and back. I loved last years Absinthe film, Optimistic? so I was pretty hyped to check this one out.

My hommie Tom and I set out on our bikes in the early afternoon to pick up tickets but after a stop at the Skateboard Market I picked up some schweet red and black Vans Eras instead. Plus, the Market wasn't even selling tickets... just promoting. Over to the other board shop in FoCo, the Wright Life, no tickets there either, shit. Off to the Lincoln Center where the film was being held, score. Plus we found a sick skate spot on the way. We also saw the massive Volcom tour RV which was pretty cool.

Tickets in hand we headed to get some food then back to JB's house to make some mini ramp repairs. On the way home as we were cruising along, I was taking in the sights, listening to music, enjoying the weather, watched Tom get hit by a car, thinking abo--- wait what?!? Tom got hit by a car? Yeah he did. It was Gnar city... I was riding behind him when some dumb shit tried to pull into traffic just as Turbo Tom was passing in front and whammy! Tom goes airborne, bike goes askew, he grabs stalefish, lands somehow, pops up and is A-OK, a little shaken from just being hit by a fucking car, but physically no harm done. Holly shit! I can't believe I just saw that... After a few words with the Dwight Schrute looking driver, we continued on our way... Needless to say we walked the rest of the way home.

So fast forward a few hours and we're on our way to the premiere. At the last minute JB decided to attend in lieu of going on a movie date with a hot babe... Nice choice dude. We arrive, lock up the bikes, and the festivities begin.

The Lincoln Center


Schwag table

There were rider appearances by Denver native Marc Frank Montoya, JP Solberg, Matt Beardmore, and Romain deMarchi. Apparently everyone but MFM had trouble getting a cab cause he was the only one there to sign pre-film autographs. He was super chill, we chatted for a second, I told him I shred Tahoe and he was stoked on that. Way cool dude.

MFM slingin'


JB & myself pre-film cocktail... extra stiff

Lots of peeps start showing up and it's time to go grab some seats. After waiting for a few minutes this dude named Kallis, or Kadis, I couldn't really understand what he said (sorry if I am butchering your name bro) from Brooklyn came out to introduce the film. The big theme for the film and the Sphere of Influence tour is to raise awareness about global warming and our environment. So dude comes out, says a few words and then proceeds to spit this awesome poem/spoken word/dope ass rhyme about being environmentally conscious. Very Cool.

Sick intro


ZB, JB, and Tom


Yeah Snowboard Mag!

The film starts, plays, and ends. Everyone is stoked. MFM, JP, Matt, and Romain come back on stage to throw out some more tees and give away a snowboard. JP has the mike and is hilarious. The dude's from Scandinavia, probably has a few cocktails in him and is super hard to understand. He just kept pacing around saying how stoked he was and had everyone cracking up.

JP sizing up the snowboard... Matt Beardmore cracking up

So the deal on the snowboard give-a-way was there would be questions asked about the environment and who ever answered the question right would get the board. The first two questions were about percentages and no one got those right. The last question was multiple choice and was something like, what causes the most pollution: Industrial, household, transportation, or whatever. I obviously knew the answer but was not called upon. Instead some dude and chick answered at the same time and therefore had to battle for the board. And the winner would be decided by?... A dance off.

Dance off stare down

And because Hybrid Sessions is so dedicated to making you feel like you were actually at the event, here's a little video of the dance off. Pretty terrible effort by the dude...

Snowboard Dance Off from Zac Bryson on Vimeo.

After the dance party everyone started to leave but the riders stuck around to sign autographs and hang out.

ZB & JP


Tom, ZB, JP, Beardmore and some random peeps... chick in the blue does not look stoked...


Tom, JB and the snowboard dance off winner


Myself and the MC

So that was the premiere. Overall the film was very solid, but not epic. It was too long and some of the music used was pretty shitty. There were however some incredible parts... Gigi Ruff, and Kevin Pierce killed it, Jeremy Jones(big mountain) is fucking insane, and Wolfgang Nyvelt did these awesome wall rides on this huge damn. However, he part that impressed me the most was Annie Boulanger's. This chick was going HUGE! I mean she was hitting the same shit the guys were. She took some hard slams too... I was very impressed. There was also some very good music... The Black Keys, Minor Threat, The Black Lips, and David Bowie's Space Oddity to name a few. The intro was very cool and Oh yea... Mikey LeBlanc rides the tobaggon again!

There was an after party featuring DJ Marc Frank on the 1's and 2's at the Drunken Monkey in down town Fort Collins but to be perfectly honest I fucking hate that place so we didn't go. I did see him outside though and got a photo with him. JB and I instead went on a mini pub crawl and ended up seeing JP and Beardmore at a few places. We also drank a lot a had a really good time. All in all, it was an epic night!

Myself & MFM... Peace sings seemed to be the theme of the night

We're heading down to Denver tomorrow to meet up with the Gonz and skate all day then check out the That's It, That's All premiere. So hyped to see this film, another recap to come!