Concert Memories

[Loki]

Surely everybody has some sort of memory from at least one concert they have been to, so why not share the good, the bad, and the hilarious!

My memory:

Location: Cain's Ballroom, Tulsa, OK
Band: Flogging Molly (Irish Punk Rock)
When: Spring 08'

If there is one constant in life, it is that a large gathering of people that are meeting for something Irish in nature comes with an abundance of alcohol. This band in particular has a great set to get the crowd rowdy and full of energy (in the fun crowd surfing/friendly mosh pit sort of way). I was standing off to the side of the crowd trying to cool off from being in the mosh pit when I noticed something fly out from somewhere in the mass of people. It was an aluminum beer bottle that left a glorious trail of beer as it sailed towards the stage, scratch that, towards the bassist's head. It was a direct hit. The best part though, was that the bassist didn't miss a beat, he just kept playing like nothing happened. You know you are Irish whenever you are impervious to alcohol, both in liquid and projectile form.

[Ms. Night Surgeon]

I got stomped on at a Simply Plan concert when I was 13. >:C By a fat girl... With bad makeup.

[Gadreille]

Flogging Molly! So jealous!

I got to see Tiger Army in this tiny western themed auditorium in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was smokey as hell, and I was tired from biking against wind to and from class all day...anyway throughout the concert I had to avoid getting kicked in the head by the same five crowd surfers...

When the concert got out, Silvone and I spent 45 minutes waiting for a bus only to conclude that the buses didn't run at that hour. We were over 20 miles away from home and it was after midnight...the only thing open was bars and I wasn't yet 21 at the time. To top it all off...after 145 days of drought, it rained.

Luckily my mother in law was driving into town that night, and she picked me and Silv up...if it weren't for her we'd have been walking home!

[Ms. Night Surgeon]

Tiger Army? Lucky... They don`t tour where I live.

[Ars Longa Vita Brevis]

I went to a local hardcore show, you know the bands that border on metal and screamo, and it was pretty good working up towards the end. Well, during one of the final bands to play "With Wings of Lead", I got two elbows in the eye from my friend infront of me trying to knock out the guy infront of him. I turned to get out of it, but my other friend's (who was standing next to angry punching friend) head caught me in that same eye.

I had a black eye for like two weeks.

A GOOD memory would be Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom telling everyone on the grass to rush the stage during a 32 degree night-after-it-rained concert that was just awesome. Of course, these angry cold metalheads rushed the stage and packed in the empty seats. It was awesome!

[Lara]

While up in Maine I was lucky enough to witness a bunch of different bands/singers live, including a number of blues artists (all part of "The Music Maker Foundation"), as well as a country group ("The Don Campbell Band").

One of the blues artists was an older man who called himself "Lil' Joe", and he played the trombone. I really liked what he did, so I went up and bought one of his CDs that the group he was with was selling. At the end of his performance (since my dad knows a couple of the group members) I went up and asked him to sign my CD. He agreed, and when he realized that it was his CD I was asking him to sign, he was extremely surprised and flattered.

It made me feel happy. :3

[The Melancholy Spirit]

September 21st, 2008. The city was San Francisco, the street Market, and the venue The Warfield.

One the 20th five people left from the end of civilization (the last city) in California along Interstate 5, picking up one in Anderson as we headed south. Three of us were going to see a concert, for two of us it would be our first and for the other it would be his second. The band? Children of Bodom.

We spent the first day hanging out, mostly down at Fisherman’s Wharf and then on a beach just below the Golden Gate Bridge. Overall, a fun day, though the night was more interesting. We decided to go walking down the street, and ended up going into a porn shop (Ironically it was the female of the group who wanted to do this). Interesting things happened, including three of the guys getting kicked out for trying to enter the back rooms that were blocked by a curtain. Myself and the girl having already left, we laughed immensely when we heard the story.

The next day we all got down near Market Street at around 9:00. After checking out the Warfield, Svenkka (assumed name) and I decided we’d just wait right there. It was the first time for either of us to see these guys; we wanted to make sure we were up front. So, we sat down and waited. Through the morning we talked to a few interesting people, but it was a pretty quite time. Later on in the afternoon, as things picked up we met some more interesting people that wandered by. Three guys who were in line behind us were really cool, two of them living in the city and going to college a few blocks away. Throughout the course of the day we even talked to a hooker with purple hair, and a crazy hippy lady who tried convincing us that the Finnish people were dropped off their by aliens (Children of Bodom are from Finland).

Shortly before the doors opened, a guy who worked at the venue (who had talked to us a lot throughout the day) was talking to Roope, one of the bands guitarists. Shortly later, he came over and told us that Roope thought it was really cool that we were devoted enough fans to wait outside all day and had it not been so close to the show starting (and such a huge crowd right outside) he would have came out to meet us.

The concert itself was great. The first two bands didn’t like us though, because we didn’t like them. Six of us up front simply stood there, waiting for the band we’d actually came to see. When they did finally come on, they entered to the theme from Team America, which was highly amusing. The concert was brutal; we suffered some decent injuries without even being in the mosh pit. The barrier was an awesome three feet from the stage, but only came up to our hips. So, crowd surfaces coming over took a toll on us. Many kicks to the head that night, but it was worth it.

Near the end of the show, Janne started to play the song Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. When it came time for the first verse, Alexi came up to his microphone and started to sing it in his standard vocals. To the surprise of the band, nearly the entire crowd was singing. I thought Jaska was going to fall off his seat behind his drums from laughing. Janne was visibly grinning his ass off watching everyone. Even after the first verse, the crowd continued singing into the second without Alexi. It was a great moment.

The following song Roope came over to our side of the stage and noticed us, leaning over and doing some hand sign we couldn't make out. That was a great moment for us. Even better though, the next day Henkka (Bassist) posted on their website that San Francisco had the best crowd during the entire tour, especially the guys right in front him. We, were those guys. Svenkka and I nearly died when we read that.

It was a great weekend. I can't wait to do it again. This October 9th, same city but at the Regency Ballroom. Only, this time we have the V.I.P package and have a Meet & Greet with the guys. We've been counting down the days.

[ravenroses]

I was at an Alkaline Trio show this past April at Starland Ballroom in NJ. During their final song, a guy ran onto the stage and did a stage dive off of it into the audience. The guy had to still be air-born when the security guard grabbed him and pulled him out of the audience. It was the funniest thing I ever saw.

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