Concert Stories #26 Sarah McLachlan

Sarah McLachlan
Afterglow Live 2004
BMO Harris Bradley Center
September 3, 2004
Age 21

After attending numerous rock, pop and punk concerts, it was time to slow things down a bit.  In the late 90's I had been into Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Sheryl Crow and that women's music movement.  If you haven't noticed by now, I am basically into all types of music except Jazz, I do not understand that for the life of me!  Back to Sarah McLachlan, in 2003 her album Afterglow was released and I really had that on repeat for so long.  My parents noticed and gave me tickets to her concert at the Bradley Center for her Afterglow Live 2004 tour.

I do not recall who her openers were but what was interesting for me that night was that everyone sat for the concert.  Clearly by this point I had been to shows where basically you were either dancing or moshing and McLachlan does not exactly make that type of music.  While that threw me a little bit, it did make sense, so instead I sat in my seat with the rest of the crowd but still sang aloud to every song.  It was a really great, peaceful evening with beautiful music  Some of my favorites songs of hers are "Angel", "Sweet Surrender", "Fear", "Hold On" and "Ice Cream".

Concert Stories #25: Blink 182 & No Doubt

Blink 182 & No Doubt (2^nd time)

Tweeter Center

July 13, 2004

Age 21

This was such a fun show.  My sister, being the huge Gwen Stefani fan that she is, was the first to hear (in our family) about Blink 182 and No Doubt doing a short tour together in the summer of 2004.  No Doubt was promoting their singles album, and I assume Blink 182 had an album to promote as well.  I really like Blink 182, but I do not know their music quite as well as No Doubt.  We (my sister, brother, and I) traveled the two plus hours down to the Tweeter Center to check this tour out.  I remember it being very hot that day in June and we were all surprised to see that No Doubt was opening and Blink 182 was closing the show.  From what I understand they were switching throughout the tour who opened and who closed.  No disrespect to Blink 182, we all thought No Doubt would have been the closer.

On to the show though.  No Doubt delivered another great performance.  This is the second of three shows I will see from them over the years and I have to say that this band is always on.  All members of the band are engaged and appear to really enjoy what they are doing.  You would think all musicians would be this way, but I have seen many bands who are not engaged or who are trying to appear happy, but it is just too forced (although I appreciate they try).  Besides loving No Doubt because their music is good, seeing them live and watching them enjoy what they do, is a real treat as well.  It feels like one big party with your friends.

I sadly do not remember a lot from Blink 182’s set but I will say this, when the show finished, I recall looking at my brother and sister and talking about how they were surprisingly good and held their own as a closer coming after No Doubt. Although of course No Doubt was still my favorite.  Blink 182 still gave a great show though!

Concert Stories #24: Linkin Park, Hoobastank, & P.O.D.

"No Moshing" but what are the chances that still happened?

Linkin Park
Openers: Hoobastank (3^rd time) & P.O.D.
Meteora World Tour 2004
Alliant Energy Center
January 30, 2004
Age 20

Linkin Park! I loved this band so much during my college years and as their music grows up, I continue to love what they put out.  The vocal mix of Mike Shinoda's rapping against Chester Bennington's singing/screaming produces a sound that just simply pleases me.  My sister is a fan of theirs as well and together we went to this show over in Madison.  

Hoobastank was the first opener and this was the third time I saw them and again I was pleased with their performance.  The second opener was P.O.D., who I was very intrigued to see.  "Alive" is such a great song and seeing it live was everything and the crowd agreed on it's total awesomeness.

Then came time for Linkin Park.  Even though the show was general admission, we had chosen to sit in the seated section up on the sides to stay out of the way of any moshers.  Whether or not anyone ended up moshing I have no idea because as soon as Linkin Park hit the stage, we were in our own world.  If you have ever seen a clip of a Linkin Park audience, you will notice that the fans sing every word to every song with such passion and that night we were those fans as well!  At the end of the show I was totally exhausted from exercising all my emotions throughout the night.  When we left Alliant Energy Center we saw one of the coolest sights I have ever seen after a concert - we turned around to look at the building as we were walking to our car and all the doors were completed fogged up (hot inside from the concert and cold Wisconsin winter outside equals A LOT of steam).  As fans exited the arena with the doors open, the steam was pouring out of the doors floating up into the dark night sky.  

For some reason I felt such a sense of accomplishment in being part of that steam.

There are so many amazing Linkin Park songs to highlight but I'll choose to go with a classic, here is "Numb".
  

And the amazing song "Alive" by P.O.D.

And the ever growing, amazing, concert memories playlist.

Concert Stories #23:Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

By the Way World Tour

BMO Harris Bradley Center

September 25, 2003

Age 20

The Red Hot Chili Peppers! I clearly remembering being in awe seeing RHCP for the first time in all of their rock and roll glory. My sister invited me to go along with her to this show and I was eager to tag along.   I don't remember the opening band but my sister says it was a band called French Toast?  Interesting name that's for sure!  

What I remember most about watching RCHP, besides them sounding amazing of course, was their light show.  It was the first time I had seen a band have a set of lights hang down right above them, making the band appear as if they were in a small room almost.  Then, depending on the song, the lights would lift up and down and sometimes move to the back of the stage.  It was really interesting to see how just a lighting rig could change the dynamic of the show.  Like I said before, RCHP was just so awesome.  They are one of those bands whose music that can stand the test of time.  It was a great night!  I also got an awesome black and white t-shirt and the show and I know I still have it, but where it is in my Bermuda Triangle of a house I am not sure :(