An Evening With Evanescence

Evanescence (noun): The event of fading and gradually vanishing from sight

This is cool... my second concert in a month. I don't remember the last time I attended two concerts in less than 30 days.

Last night, Wonderful Wife and I spent the evening packed like sardines on the floor of a general admission concert, banging our heads, pumping our fists and screaming our voices out of existence. Evanescence who we went to see, was joined by Finger Eleven and Chevelle. Like our last concert, I was once again very impressed by the opening acts.

I've heard a couple of Finger Eleven songs on the radio (by the way, I love their new song "Paralyzer") but hadn't heard much of their music and couldn't call myself a fan. By the end of their set though, I was a fan. Scott Anderson has some real skill as a vocalist. He didn't rely on screaming, he was dead on-key, he used a wide range, including falsetto, and he popped in and out of falsetto flawlessly.

Rick Jackett was an animal on guitar; he was flinging his axes around like rag dolls, and never missed a beat. He threw his guitar strap on and off of his shoulder more than a two dollar hooker throws her bra strap on and off of her shoulder, played the guitar upside-down, behind his back and any other way you could imagine. During one of his songs, he held the guitar vertically with his left hand playing a chord, and when it was time to change chords, he'd toss the guitar up and catch it with his fingers in the perfect position for the next chord. That was some impressive shit.

At the end of the set, Rich Beddoe tossed his drum sticks to the crowd and I caught one... me and several other people. In short order, it was down to one other guy and me with our hands on the stick. The guy asked me to please let go, and I suggested that we play Rock-Paper-Scissors for it. He chuckled and immediately agreed. We agreed to do one shot, counting 1-2-3 go. We started counting 1... 2... and on three the guy threw out scissors. The guy thought I won, but before it even hit me that he thought he lost, I blurted out "Dude, we were supposed to do 1-2-3 go." We did a second round and he won. I lost the stick, but got a great memory out of it. We chatted for a bit afterward and were soon separated by the crowd. We pressed further to the front of the floor. By the way, when Finger Eleven was playing, there was a lot of room on the floor. Heck, there was even room to dance... or to slowly work your way to the front, which is what the wife and I did.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the bass drum... You know how a lot of bands have their logo or something like that on the skin of the bass drum? Well, Finger Eleven had a picture of Britney Spears with her head half-shaved! Too fuckin' funny!

Chevelle was up second, and when they came on stage, the crowd push kicked in and we were packed in tight. Despite being packed in tight though, there were still idiots who tried to cut by us or people who thought they needed more personal space than everyone else on the floor.

There was one kid (later dubbed X-Box boy) who felt the need to push forward using his elbows, and one was pressed tightly in my back. I figured that my push-back would give him the idea that I wasn't going to yield but it didn't, so I had to resort to being Alpha Male. I turned around and yelled "Dude, get your fucking elbow out of my back now!" He looked a little hurt and angry but backed down.

Chevelle put on a good performance. I knew a lot of their songs, but didn't realize up-front how familiar I am with their music. They struck me as a next-gen Nirvana -- a three-piece, bare-bones, raw band; but there were a few differences. Nirvana is one of my favorite bands ever... a pivotal band in the history of music, and a band that appeals to my soul. Chevelle seems a little more image-conscious and more likely to be influenced by other bands, rather than being a source of inspiration for future musicians. I liked Chevelle, but they're average.

After Chevelle finished, the crowd loosened a bit, giving us a little breathing room... but not much. We started chatting to some of the folks next to us. One couple came from Des Moines and the woman said it was her first-ever concert, and that she was 32. She was trying to use that as her excuse to get to the front. I stopped her by saying "Hey, if you're this close at your first concert, you're doing pretty good. Be content." There was a couple of teenie-bopper girls who tried to cut by us and I stopped them cold. They tried saying that they had friends in the middle, so I said "Great, if they give me a wave, I'll let you by." They never got the wave, and they never got past me.

One guy and his girlfriend (or wife) was from my hometown. The guy is the one who labeled the aforementioned X-Box boy. He took one look at the as-yet-unnamed fish out of water, and said "This poser should have bought an X-Box and stayed at home." When Evanescence came on, X-Box boy once again pulled out his elbows and tried to push his way forward, and this time his elbows were pushing on the back of the guy from my hometown. So that guy did the same thing I did... he turned around and yelled at X-Box boy "Dude, get your fucking elbows out of my back!" X-Box boy looked like he might throw down with the guy from my hometown, but wisely backed off. The poser had pissed off enough people that if he would have swung at anyone, throngs of people would have jumped in and stomped him like an oak barrel full of grapes.

What can I say about Evanescence? They were everything I expected and more. I got their "Anywhere But Home" live CD a while back; it was okay, but I wasn't convinced that it was their best performance. Fortunately I was right. Their live performance last night far surpassed their recorded performance. My wife and I were entranced by Amy Lee's vocals, and the band does an incredible job of enhancing her already tremendous pipes. I was a big Evanescence fan before the concert, but their live concert... I just can't say enough.

At the end of the concert, karma was kind to me for letting go of the drum stick. I ended up with one of Terry Balsamo's guitar picks. It's pretty cool. It's got the Evanescence logo on one side, and Terry's name on the other. When we left the concert we were tired but amped, and our voices were gravelly from screaming, but we had to talk about the experience. Overall one of the coolest concerts of my life.

Correction: Chevelle had the drum with Britney's picture on it; Finger Eleven had their band's logo on the drum skin.