Well as usual, Staci and I were running behind and got a late start. And of course we didn’t think about all the OTHER stuff that was going on downtown that night and how that might affect the traffic and parking situation. So, as it turns out, we completely missed Flyleaf, and we only got to hear Taproot for about a minute as we were driving around Sunset Station looking for a place to park. We finally gave up and went and parked at the Rivercenter parking garage and walked to Sunset Station. So, we got there after P.O.D. had already started.
I was thirsty when we went in so we headed off in search of the shortest line to get a soda. Thank goodness we had VIP bracelets, because the shortest line was in the VIP lounge. You know the lines are long when...the guy behind you pulls up a chair to sit on while in line! Other than that, Sunset Station is awesome! Picturesque, clean, friendly, nice restaurants, bars everywhere...there was even a waitress and a girl selling tube shots in the VIP area. And get this...a soda was only $1.00! Not $3 or $4 like most larger venues...one dollar! I spent a total of $2.00 at this concert (well, unless you include the insane $10.00 fee they charged me for parking at Rivercenter).
Anyway, since we were in line for sodas, we didn’t get to watch much of P.O.D. and I couldn’t write down what songs they played because evidently you’re not allowed to take pens into Sunset Station. But they sounded awesome, very energetic, especially the singer (whose name escapes me at the moment). And his dreads have gotten LONG! They’re now second on my list of the longest dreads I’ve ever seen, the first being the singer of Shadows Fall, the third being Troy of Thirteen Muses when he was with Alienation (I hear he’s cut them off now). The coolest moment was when he announced they were now recording and had everyone shout, “Happy 50th Birthday Uncle Noah!” I bet Uncle Noah has never gotten a cooler birthday present. (Hope I’m not ruining the surprise...nah, I doubt Uncle Noah reads my blog!)
Short break, then Staind came on. Again, I can’t give you the whole setlist since I was penless, but I know they played “So Far Away,” “For You,” and of course “Outside,” “It’s Been Awhile,” and “Mudshovel.” Aaron Lewis also brought out a brand new guitar that he had gotten at Thanksgiving, so it was the guitar’s virgin performance. I believe it was a Dimebag Darrell Rebel Flag signature guitar, but I couldn’t hear what he said about it very well. Speaking of guitars, the guitarist has at least 20 guitars, and switches every song. His roadie had to run him up a new guitar between every song and know which one he wanted for each song. Tough job.
ADDED NOTE: Turns out what Aaron said was that it WAS Dimebag's guitar. Look in the comments for the whole correct story.
Here is the only halfway decent picture I got from the whole show, because I used the zoom on my camera for the first time, and evidently my zoom feature sucks ass. This is the only picture on which I didn’t use it and the only one that came out where you could even tell what you were looking at. I definitely need to get a better camera.
After the concert, we still had some time, so on the way to my house, we stopped in at BoozeHounds to catch Papa Wood’s last set. Nathan told me they now did Blind Melon’s “No Rain” and I wanted to hear it. But Nathan is on hiatus for the holidays, so he wasn’t there and we didn’t get to hear it. We did, however, get to hear their new bass player Guido filling in for Nathan on vocals, and he’s a good vocalist in his own right and funny, lots of goofing around, silly dances, etc. The band seemed to have a good time playing with him. And I liked his t-shirt. It said, “No Job, No Money, No Car, But I’m in a Band.” And we were treated to some Sublime, Los Lonely Boys, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Rage, Tool (with Dave gettin’ kinda nasty with his guitar), Nickelback, Alice in Chains and more. And had a good time chatting about Sneakers, Willy Wonka and other stuff with Dave after the show.
Great night, good music.