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This week’s topic: Concerts
My first ever concert was Good Charlotte back in 2003. I went with my best friend at the time and it was awesome! We both were mildly obsessed with the band. She had a huge crush on Benji, so I did her makeup like his. We got to meet him after the show and he complimented her on it!
X-Fest
I’ve been to X-Fest every September since 2004, with the exception of 2010.
- X-Fest 9 (2004): Puddle of Mudd, Saliva, Shinedown, Smile Empty Soul, Breaking Benjamin, Future Leaders of the World, Crossfade, Finger Eleven, Silvertide, and Earshot. We came late and missed the first two bands, Earshot and Silvertide.
- X-Fest 10 (2005): Seether, Papa Roach, Crossfade, 10 Years, Cold, Theory of a Deadman, Hawthorne Heights, Dark New Day, Day of Fire, and Thirty Seconds to Mars.
- X-Fest 11 (2006): Staind, Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Buckcherry, Hinder, Bullet for My Valentine, Hurt, Damone, Black Stone Cherry, Eighteen Visions. I think we missed the first two again (18 Visions and Damone) and we left before Staind played. This was by far the best year! (Which is funny, considering my favorite/lucky # is 11) I was already falling in love with Avenged Sevenfold, and seeing them in concert sealed them as my favorite band (and they have been ever since!). It was a crazy fun year! My BFF and I went a little crazy haha ;D
- X-Fest 12 (2007): Three Days Grace, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Sum 41, Seether, Flyleaf, Finger Eleven, Sick Puppies, Evans Blue, Fair to Midland
- X-Fest 13 (2008): Hinder, Puddle of Mudd, Buckcherry, 10 Years, Shinedown, Candlebox, Saving Abel, Five Finger Death Punch, Theory of a Deadman, Red, Black Tide. Coincidentally, this was the bad luck year. Avenged was supposed to be there but M. Shadows busted a blood vessel in his neck and had to cancel. I had to work that morning so I was late to the show, and as soon as we got in and walked up to the stage this guy came over the microphone and was like, “This is a message no one wants to hear, but everyone has to leave.” And we were just like, WTF, is he serious? The winds from Hurricane Ike were so bad that they evacuated everyone. While standing in outside of the fairgrounds waiting for the bus, things were blowing everywhere (including the metal roadblocks). It was scary! Turns out a tree fell onto one of the stages. Yikes.
- X-Fest 14 (2009): Alice in Chains, Mudvayne, Our Lady Peace, Hollywood Undead, Cage the Elephant, Hurt, Red, Cavo, Sick Puppies, and Halestorm
- I skipped X-Fest 2010 because I didn’t care about the lineup
- X-Fest 16 (2011): Staind, Theory of a Deadman, Five Finger Death Punch, Alter Bridge, Skillet, Adelitas Way, Kopek, Black Stone Cherry, Emphatic, Downplay
- And now the concert no longer exists. It was cancelled in 2012 and there hasn’t been one since :(
Other concerts
- Good Charlotte (Hara Arena, Dayton – September 2003)
- Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, Decyfer Down (The Avenue, Tipp City – April 2008): AMAZING. It was a small venue so my BFF and I were literally right next to the stage, on the side, with a completely obstruction-free view of the band. We couldn’t have been any closer if we’d tried! Skillet is epic in concert!
- Hinder, Rev Theory, Trapt, Red, Shinedown (Nutter Center, Dayton – December 2008): This was the makeup show for X-Fest 13 getting cancelled (see above).
- Let’s Get It (The Attic, Kettering – June 2011)
- Icon for Hire, Red, & Brian “Head” Welch (The Attic, Kettering – October 2011) I got to meet Ariel! (*coughs* I have a bit of a girl crush on her…)
- Trapt (McGuffy’s, Dayton – April 2012): They were awesome! They were at a small venue, so I was able to meet the band and get a shirt signed by everyone.
- Linkin Park and Incubus (Riverbend, Cincinnati – August 2012): Don’t care about Incubus, but Linkin Park was also EPIC! It’s a shame we were so far away though, the only way we could really see them was on the big TVs. This was the show where I got into my first (and last) almost physical altercation. The drunk chick beside me was moving around a lot and kept hitting me with her purse. (Now, this wasn’t a usual concert where you’re packed like sardines on a dance floor and shit like that happens. It was outdoors and we were in the grass, so there was PLENTY of room.) I tried to move away but she kept getting closer. I tried nudging her away, but it didn’t work. When I nudged harder, she elbowed me in the ribs, hard. So I shoved her. Really hard. She came at me then, grabbing me and digging her nails into the soft part of my upper arm as she screamed in my face. I immediately grabbed her by the throat (which I didn’t know I had in me, it was a knee-jerk reaction), looked at her boyfriend and said, “You’d better get this bitch off of me right NOW.” I was seriously balling up my fist, about to punch her out! She probably weighed 100 pounds soaking wet so it would not have been pretty. Thankfully her boyfriend complied.
- Taproot (McGuffy’s, Dayton – May 2013): Also awesome! I got a shirt signed by them, too. This is the show where Stephen Richards (lead singer) was taking random cell phones from the crowd and recording from stage. He took my phone, too! I have a video of him reaching for it, recording himself and his band members, turning it to the audience, and giving it back. Awesome, right?
- Theory of a Deadman (McGuffy’s, Dayton – August 2013): This was the show where I waited around for an hour to meet Tyler Connolly and get a shirt signed by all the band members. I found every single other band member and had them sign it within 15 minutes, but Tyler wouldn’t come out. Finally I had to go down to the tour bus, and found him there. I asked him if he could sign my shirt and he gave me this look of disgust, and then (without even looking at me or the shirt) signed it quickly with one hand and walked away without so much as a “thanks for coming to our show.” His attitude really ruined it for me. I used to think he was sexy, but now? Not so much. I don’t listen to them much anymore, either.
- Avenged Sevenfold and The Deftones (US Bank Arena, Cincinnati – October 2013): I don’t care about The Deftones but Avenged was EPIC!!! They played a lot of new stuff (from Hail to the King), but not much old stuff. I was disappointed for a minute until they came back and were like, “Now we’re gonna play something from Waking the Fallen” and played Chapter Four (my favorite song!) and Unholy Confessions. I almost had a coronary. It was AMAZING!
- Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Don’t know what year – I was young, that’s all I know!)
- I’ve also been to a ton of high school band concerts, if that counts XD
I think that’s it? I hope I’m not forgetting any!
Recap
So, the bands I’ve seen at a concert are:
- 10 Years
- 30 Seconds to Mars
- Adelita’s Way
- Alice in Chains
- Alter Bridge
- Avenged Sevenfold (twice)
- Blackstone Cherry (twice)
- Breaking Benjamin (twice)
- Brian “Head” Welch
- Buckcherry
- Bullet for My Valentine
- Cage the Elephant
- Cavo
- Chevelle
- Cold
- Crossfade (twice)
- Dark New Day
- Day of Fire
- Decyfer Down
- The Deftones
- Downplay
- Emphatic
- Evansblue
- Fair to Midland
- Flyleaf
- Finger Eleven
- Five Finger Death Punch
- Future Leaders of the World
- Good Charlotte
- Halestorm
- Hawthorne Heights
- Hinder (twice)
- Hollywood Undead
- Hurt (twice)
- Icon for Hire
- Incubus
- Kopek
- Let’s Get It
- Linkin Park
- Mudvayne
- Our Lady Peace
- Papa Roach
- Puddle of Mudd
- Red (three times)
- Rev Theory
- Saliva
- Seether (twice)
- Shinedown (twice)
- Skillet (twice)
- Sick Puppies (twice)
- Smile Empty Soul
- Staind
- Sum 41
- Taproot
- Theory of a Deadman (three times)
- Three Days Grace (twice)
- Thousand Foot Krutch
- Trapt (twice)
The ones in bold are the ones I was either front and center at, or actually paying attention to (at least one of those times for the multiples). Many of them were just bands that were playing while I was at X-Fest, but if I wasn’t interested in the band I wasn’t engaged. (Not that ALL non-bold bands don’t interest me – some of them I didn’t see front & center just because I was waiting for a band I wanted to see more!)
Some of the ones I’ve seen multiple times weren’t actually by choice – only because The X has an annoying habit of bringing back the same freaking bands all the time. (Probably why X-Fest no longer exists, to be honest.)
Sooo jealous that you’ve seen Linkin Park! I absolutely hate live recordings, but their Live in Texas album is easily one of my favorite albums ever. They are sooo good!
I was at xfest 13,14, and 16! :)
The wind storm one was my first concert ever.
Oh wow! so many concerts!!!! And the LP/ Incubus must’ve been AMAZING!!!!
Holy shit you have no idea how jealous I am! I adore so many of these bands and though I have seen a couple of them live, I’ve been waiting ages to see most of these. Sounds like you’ve had some pretty awesome/crazy experiences at concerts xD
WOW — that’s a lot of concerts!!! I haven’t even heard of most of the bands on your list — ha ha ha!
Good Charlotte was my first concert too!! We probably went to shows on the same tour haha because that was the same year for me also. I was obsessed with Benji but unfortunately didn’t get to meet him after :( lol
HOLY CRAP THAT’S SO MANY!!!!!! GO YOU! I’ve never been to a concert lol, and I don’t really plan on it since I’m not a HUGE fan of any band (I KNOW I KNOWWW) BUT THIS IS SO AWESOME
Awesome stories! Geez you’ve been to a lot of concerts! I’m not a big music person, and I’m even less of a loud noise, crowded places person. Books are pretty much the only thing that make me want to get into a room full of loud people LOL. That being said I’ve been to 4 concerts. My first concert was with my best friend at the time, 16 years old… We saw the backstreet boys. I know, embarrassing, but I was a junior and high school and they and NSYNC were IN. I swear. I saw Joe Sample and David Sanborne in concert in Seattle, right on the harbor. Amazing experience, so beautiful – the way the music hit the water. I also went with a big group of friends to see Christina Aguilera – it was good enough, but it was the first time I just wanted to leave because of all the noise. My
Wow, you’ve seen so many bands that I love! I got really excited when I saw Theory of a Deadman in the list, until I read your story about Tyler being a bit of a douche. That’s so disappointing.
WOW! You’ve been busy with concerts, I see. :) I must say, there are a few (quite A LOT, actually) you went to that I would have particularly LOVED to join. Who knows, perhaps one day I will…
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