Caffeine Alternatives

Even carefree kids were a little worried when faced with the nine-hour, Fourth Annual KROQ Weenie Roast at Irvine Meadows on Saturday.

For Adam Herro, 13, of Anaheim Hills, it wasn’t the fear of falling while crowd surfing or getting trampled in the pit by hyperventilated KISS fans.

His anxiety was more basic, like, how could he stayed pumped throughout the marathon, 16-band festival?

Hey, kid, no problem.

At 11:30 p.m., when closing-act KISS left the stage amid smoldering pyrotechnics, Adam was still jazzed, wearing his new Weenie Roast T-shirt ($20), which he decorated with stickers thrown into the crowd to promote Anarchy Demolition Gear, Throttle Threads, Lip Service Street Couture and Dryve Snowboards.

His only lapse in thrill-time? Adam confessed that he fell asleep in the backseat of his friend’s car during the bumper-to-bumper crawl out of the parking lot.

Adam earned his exhaustion; there was a lot going on at the amphitheater grounds.

At the main stage--where acts such as KISS, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Garbage, Lush, Korn and No Doubt ruled--the crowd’s movement was restricted by the rows of seats. That wasn’t the case in the area around the second stage, where many alternative-music fans gathered.

Mosh pits were heavily attended, and other pursuits, such as Nerf-ball throwing, mixed with the beat from bands such as Failure, Unwritten Law, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Super 8 and Weapon of Choice.

There were other diversions a bit farther from the stage, including a body torture booth (complete with assorted paraphernalia), piercing tables and scary skateboard demonstrations on way-high ramps.