tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34136412.post115915678937616946..comments2023-05-12T02:39:49.221-07:00Comments on got the bonk: Rock StarvedStratshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10574414189906693419noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34136412.post-1159560556740146932006-09-29T13:09:00.000-07:002006-09-29T13:09:00.000-07:00Great post! Way to keep life in perspective.Great post! Way to keep life in perspective.StevenCXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06238613743890222089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34136412.post-1159242843166113062006-09-25T20:54:00.000-07:002006-09-25T20:54:00.000-07:00Dear Rock Starved,I also recently felt the need to...Dear Rock Starved,<BR/><BR/>I also recently felt the need to do something I loved but instead of being the <BR/>entertainer, I had to settle for being the entertainee.<BR/>I have a love for 80's style rock music and an old friend called<BR/>and asked if I would go with he and his wife to Nickelback. Now most people <BR/>especially my evil sister-in-law(Strats), my wife and many co-workers scoff at <BR/>my taste in music but it took me 2 seconds to shout "yes" back in the phone at <BR/>his invitation. I also grew up in a smaller town in Northern MN and wished<BR/>I had opportunities to see Bon Jovi, Poison, Whitesnake, Great White, etc... <BR/>when they were in their prime. For now Nickelback would have to fill the void. <BR/><BR/>We arrived at the Excel Center at about 7 p.m. people eveywhere, many forms <BR/>of dress and undress, hard-rock loving fools from age 12 to 60. There was many parent/kid <BR/>combos going into the concert and the parents were my age! Now I started to feel old and maybe a little out of place(shouldn't I be going to some Dora the Explorer Ice Show vs. rock concert)?<BR/>I soon felt even older but in a dirty old man sort of way when I saw what some of the <BR/>girls were wearing. I couldn't believe some of the shorts and skirts I saw-<BR/>literally the girls butts were hanging out of them! And the shirts they were not wearing.<BR/>Luckily most of the girls that wore these skimpy styles were in awesome shape. But I digress...<BR/><BR/>We went in to find our seats and discovered there were no seats-just main <BR/>floor. Also we found out that there was not just 1 opening group but 3! <BR/>Summary: Standing on concrete floor for 5 hours, letting our ears bleed <BR/>from 4 rock groups while getting pushed around by several thousand rabid <BR/>fans. At this point our foursome also realized that we probably wouldn't want <BR/>to leave our "spot" as we may not get as close again or would get split up. So no bathroom<BR/>breaks, no food and only a 20 ounce coke to keep me moving between 7 and midnight. <BR/>The torture one must endure to be a true rock fan.<BR/>Once we found our spots we never left. We got as close as humanly possible without <BR/>actually mating(although interlocking arms and legs with misc. girl next to me was getting close)<BR/>and located ourselves about 12 human rows from the front. <BR/><BR/>Opening group was Hinder-they rocked and were awesome! They were the best <BR/>suprise of the night. I had never heard them before, but it turns out they <BR/>have a top 10 hit on the Pop charts-"Lips of an Angel". They are a pop/hard <BR/>rock group that sound something like Bon Jovi meets Aerosmith with a White <BR/>Lion hangover. Seriously you have to check them out. I bought there CD and <BR/>if you are a 80's rock loving fool like I, you will love them.<BR/><BR/>Next up was "Chevelle"-pretty hard testosterone rock. All the college age <BR/>Frat boys seemed to love them. Mosh Pit broke out in front of us but luckily<BR/>it closed up quickly when some kid went down with a head injury-not serious I<BR/>don't think. Chevelle's lead singer/guitarist was unbelievely talented but their style<BR/>was too rough for me. <BR/><BR/>3rd was Hoobastank. They were great. They have had 4-5 pop/rock hits over <BR/>the last 4-5 years. Lead singer was awesome, did a good job of connecting <BR/>with the crowd. The crowd went nuts when they played a couple minutes of <BR/>both "Another brick in the wall" by Pink Floyd and "Living on a Prayer" by <BR/>Bon Jovi.<BR/><BR/>By this point said crowd was defenitely in a frenzy. We already had the <BR/>beach balls, body surfing, a couple fights and the heavy smell of hooch all <BR/>around us-then the titty show began. Before Nickelback came on stage a few <BR/>girls needed to show off their sweet tata's. One set was extremely nice and <BR/>probably extremely fake. One girl was just a little too outta shape and the <BR/>3rd was pretty average. But all three needed to show the crowd several <BR/>times and then Nickelback themselves once they hit the stage.<BR/>Nickelback was good but had too many sophomoric concert sideshow tricks, <BR/>which took away from the whole experience for me. The stuff that I could <BR/>have done without: drum solo-everyone does one, who cares. 4 hand-held <BR/>cannons brought on stage for an intermission to shoot t-shirts into the <BR/>crowd-was this a Timberwolves game? Dirty joke telling time by Chad <BR/>Kroeger(lead singer)-a very good joke, but why? and then all the fireworks <BR/>and actual flame show. I have never been to a concert with so much <BR/>pyrotechnics-again maybe for their grand finale it would have been cool, but <BR/>4-5 times? Oh yeah and some of the video montage on "Photograph" and a <BR/>couple other songs-definitly could have done without.<BR/><BR/>All in all it was a good time and I am glad I went. Nickelback was a little <BR/>disappointing-they sounded good and have a ton of music I wish they would have stuck to <BR/>just playing it instead of worrying about entertaining the <BR/>kids. Hinder was great and I ran out and bought their CD the next day.<BR/><BR/>By the time I got home I couldn't hear anything, had to pee like a racehorse <BR/>and was starving. I crashed about 1 a.m. and didn't regain most of my <BR/>hearing till about 7 p.m. the next day.<BR/><BR/>Doing things we love to do is a lot harder than what it used to be.<BR/><BR/>BatesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34136412.post-1159220920028489382006-09-25T14:48:00.000-07:002006-09-25T14:48:00.000-07:00Good post.At times it's hard for some -- including...Good post.<BR/><BR/>At times it's hard for some -- including myself -- to resist competing within some given group. It seems everyone likes to "win" sometimes -- regardless of if that's collecting the most groupies or getting an age division medal. However, I think you've touched on a very important point. Namely, we have to remember that we do these things because we love to do them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com