Knoxvile, TN

[xjsb125]

Anybody going to the show in Knoxville on 7/24? Nikki and me are going, any of the rest of yous?

[xoNoDoubt69]

no

[Neil]

you two are probably the only OLP fans going.......period hahaha, its a hick state ya know they're all going to see 3DD

[areusad831]

nikki is going to TN?? how she getting over there

[xjsb125]

TN hicks are bringing her and Monkey in the back of a pickup truck I heard...or maybe it was a hay wagon...I'm not sure...

[xoNoDoubt69]

HA i think your lying

[areusad831]

she got monkey to go to TN

[xoNoDoubt69]

Its a miracle

[xjsb125]

Ok, just got back from the show. If you get a chance to see this tour, definitely check it out, you will get your money's worth. Shinedown opened up the show with a really good set, followed by another impressive performance by Seether. Seether finished their set with a cover of Nirvana's You Know You're Right which was really awesome. OLP took to the stage next and surprisingly had lots of fans in attendance. They played a ten song set:
1. All For You
2. Do You Like It
3. Superman's Dead
4. Innocent
5. Wipe That Smile Off Your Face
6. Walking In Circles
7. The Birdman
8. Clumsy
9. Somewhere Out There
10. Starseed
Steve is the man with a guitar! His solo during The Birdman is just unbelievable. His whole performance is unbelievable. Steverrr rocks.
Duncan was also still on tour with the band. After OLP finished, 3 Doors Down took to the stage and played a great set from their two albums, one new song, and featured an awesome drum solo from their new drummer.

Ok, one complaint. If you are going to a show to beat around in the mosh pit, crowd surf, or smoke weed, please stay at the fucking house so the rest of us can enjoy the concert. I would have enjoyed watching Raine molest Steve during The Birdman, or enjoy his awesome solos, but I had to duck dumbasses crowd surfing for 30 mins. GRRRR!!!!

Otherwise, I had a great concert experience for my first ever OLP show. Plus I got to meet Nikki and Monkey who are just super great people Nikki and I can go down as the first ever Hub meetup I suppose. Go see this tour, it's awesome!

[nikki4982]

OK, time for my extra-super-duper-unnesessarily-long review. Yay for hotel room having broadband! OK, ready? Here it comes!




This concert was (so far) the furthest I've ever travelled to see a band... technically. See, Monkey and I had gone to South Carolina to stay with his dad for a few days, so it was only (haha) about 4 and a half hours out of the way going home (and an extra day, and extra night's stay in a hotel) to New Jersey... so we didn't actually drive longer than the CM trip to Rochy, but Knoxville is much further from home (about 10 hours from Jersey). Yeah. Anyway, the reason we made this crazy trip was because my friend Matt (from the OLP HUB :O:O:O ) had extra tickets to the concert, and the timing was just right for when we were going to be visiting Monkey's dad. And Monkey, for some reason, supports my craziness. Plus, of course, I love OLP.

We left the house in South Carolina at 9:00am, and arrived at our hotel in Knoxville at about 1:30pm. On the way, we got to see a lot of really pretty mountains... and got a speeding ticket for $125 for going 80 in a 65 mph zone. :\ Oh well. We got to the hotel, dropped our stuff in the room, relaxed for a little while, recharged my camera battery, and got a phone call from Matt, telling me that he and his friends were about a half hour from Knoxville. So, we left for the concert around 2:00pm, and got to the venue around 2:30pm (after getting a little lost and winding up in the World's Fair Park parking lot, then on the side of a hill in a church parking lot). The area where the building was seemed deserted, it was strange. Then we pulled into the parking garage and there was no attendant, which was stranger, but cool, cos it meant free parking. We parked, then started to cross the street to the Coliseum and finally saw some people, and then saw the line which was on the side of the building. We went over, and got into the line, which wasn't so much a line, as a bunch of people sitting all over the place between two lines of gates. Extreme Radio 94.3 was there, and trying to get a signal to their own station to blast at us, but it was too static-y, so they gave up and wound up playing some awful cds. After a little while, Matt called me again and told me that they were in the city, and then they showed up. We hung out in line for a bit, and one of his friends told us that the terrible cds they were playing were, in fact, Seether and Shinedown. Yay. Radio station people came over every once in a while and at one point told us "the band" would be out in a bit to "do stuff". We had no idea which band, considering there were 4 playing, but we figured "do stuff" was an interview. Turned out "the band" was OLP, and they came out of the building and waved and walked over to the radio station's RV to do an interview (or something... they hid behind the thing, so we couldn't really tell). When they were walking back into the building, Matt and I decided to run and talk to them a bit, but by the time we got around the gate/fence it was too late, and we just caught Jeremy when he was just about to walk in and this is pretty much how it went:

Me: "Hey Jer!"
Jeremy: *turns around and looks at me while still walking*
Me: "... we just wanted to say hi." *smile*
Jeremy: *smiles, waves, and quickly walks into building*

Oh well. When walking back to our spot in line, I said to Matt, "He probably recognized me and ran." The sad part is, that could be true. Haha. Wait, why is that funny? :\ Anyway, we waited in line til about 5:45pm, when they told everyone to empty their pockets and have their stuff out ready to be searched. Security was crazy at this concert. Regardless of that, I got the Minidisc player and my digital camera in, using my handy dandy secret pocket on my purse.

I got in first, cos I jumped into the girls only line which was moving at least 3 times as fast as the other 2 lines. I quickly ran in, sort of got lost, cos I had no idea where to go, luckily someone who worked there told me how to get to the floor, so I ran to try to get ahead of the people who had passed me while I was being an idiot. For some reason, to get onto the floor, they punched a hole in your ticket and stamped your hand. Anyway, I got there and dashed for the center of the crowd, and somehow managed to be only second row. There was a little gap between the two people in front of me, so I asked if I could squeeze between them on the barricade, and they were nice enough to let me. So, I had scored a front row spot, almost in the center, but off to the left a bit (between where Raine and Steve stand), which turned out to be the best spot in the place for OLP. While inspecting the stage before any bands went on, I realized that Jer's platform with his drums on it were directly in front of me, on a bit of an angle, and pretty close to the front of the stage (compared to normal), so I could see him much much better than normal. For some reason, they made us sit down for a while right when we got in, which was nearly impossible and incredibly uncomfortable. Monkey and Matt had finally made it into the venue, and had no idea where I had gone, so searched for me, and even tried calling me. I waved and eventually they saw me, and I waved Monkey down to the floor so I could give him my purse after getting my camera and it's accessories out of it. He then went back up into the balcony, and sat pretty much directly behind me, but way back and higher. Matt got a spot with his friends off to my right and back a little bit. So, after sitting for entirely too long, they let us stand up, and I started talking with the two kids on my right, since I was all alone. They were nice kids, who had only seen one other band that year: Nickelback. Hah. They thought I was nuts to have seen OLP so many times in the past year, and to come all the way from New Jersey to Knoxville to see them again. Which, yeah, I am, but I don't care.

Shinedown took the stage first, and were OK, if you like that style of music. I don't, but they weren't horrible. The lead singer was really into it, so they were semi-entertaining to watch, at least. Though, they looked like two sets of twins. The bass player and drummer both had dredlocks (about the same length) and the lead singer and guitar player both had long stringy dark hair. None of their songs were standout, but like I said, I don't like the type of music they play. They played for about a half hour.

Next up was Seether. My god. Yawn city. They were so boring in every way, musically and visually. The one song of theirs that I knew sounded pretty good, but nothing stand-out. The only thing they did that was really anything to remember was a cover of Nirvana's "You Know You're Right", which sounded pretty good. The singer's voice worked really well on it. They closed with it, which was a good idea. At one point the lead singer threw a pick into the audience and it went right to me, but I dropped it... not that I really wanted it. I was gonna give it away, anyway. These guys also played about a half hour.

Next up was Our Lady Peace. My god. Seriously. MY GOD. It's been a while since Villanova, but I think this performance even somehow topped that. I didn't think that was even possible. Sure, they didn't play any amazingly different songs or anything, and the set was only about an hour long since they were an opening act, but that didn't even really matter. They played with so much energy and emotion, it was just phenominal. Plus, Duncan was there, which was a nice surprise (he was supposed to be on a break from touring). During the first song, "All For You", right near the beginning of the song, Raine pointed right at me cos I was singing along, which was cool. He actually pointed at me quite a bit throughout their set. I guess not too many people were singing along. They played two of their new songs, "Wipe That Smile Off Your Face" and "Walking In Circles" which both sounded fantastic. I had gotten a bootleg of a concert where they played both songs a week or so before the concert, and played them enough to let myself (mostly) learn the lyrics. I was singing along to WTSOYF and near the end of the song, Jeremy noticed me singing along and looked extremely confused as to how I knew the song already. It was amusing, he was peeking at me under a cymbol. Unfortunately, during WIC, one of the head security guards decided to come by and tell me that if I didn't put my camera away he'd kick me out of the concert. Jerk. I put it away, but I missed some amazing photo ops, specifically during "The Birdman". God, Birdman. Absolutely amazing. During the part of it where the whole band just rocks out, right before Steve's solo, Jeremy was drumming so hard that his glasses flew right off of his face. I've never seen him play that hard. Heck, they were ALL just going at it like I've never seen. When Raine was finished molesting Steve at the end of that, he flew halfway across the stage backwards before he "died" and layed motionless on stage during Steve's solo. He hit the stage really hard, I'm surprised he didn't hurt himself. Or maybe he did. Haha. So, next was Steve's Birdman solo, of course. My GOD, his solo. This thing was so incredible that Jeremy laid his head down on his kit and was just staring in awe the entire time. Then Duncan came over to Steve's side of the stage and just had this goofy smile on his face, cos he was obviously in awe, too. Ugh, I would kill to have a picture of it. Freaking security. Raine was probably staring in awe, too, but all I could see was his legs and butt, cos he was lying on the stage. They closed the set with "Starseed", and when Raine announced it was the last song, I was rather upset, but it was inevitable. They didn't play the Starseed intro, either. Oh well. It's about 4 minutes long, now, so I guess it's too long to play as an opening band. When they left the stage, Steve threw out a bunch of picks, and one went right to me, but above my head, and I didn't get it. Then Jeremy threw four sticks out, and one stick right to me (AGAIN), and the girl two people to my left got it. She wasn't even a fan. Anyway, during the set, it was pretty surprising how many people knew the lyrics. Where I was standing, the crowd was singing pretty strongly. Though, I did have another OLP fan right (and I mean RIGHT) behind me. Plus, I was singing the entire time, of course (... loudly... I was rocking out the whole time like a madwoman). The crowd was pretty rowdy, too. There were a ton of crowd surfers (most of which somehow wound up right on top of me, according to Monkey), which always cause the crowd to surge and move a lot, which sucks. There were also quite a few girls passing out or close to it. Security didn't care at all about those of us in the front row, apparently, cos I got practically attacked by them repeatedly when they were going for crowdsurfers. Two times in particular were bad, and they happened right after each other. First, the security guy smashed my hand onto the barricade, and it hit so hard it hurt a lot then instantly went numb. Then, right after that, he hopped up in front of me and pushed me back, and I actually fell backwards, but luckily grabbed onto the barricade, otherwise I would've just fallen right down into the crowd and been lying on the ground, and probably been crushed to death.

After OLP's set, I asked the guard right in front of me to pull me out, and he looked at me like I was crazy. I could tell he was thinking "but... the band... hasn't even gone on yet...", and he asked me a few times, "you want me to pull you out?" Eventually he did, and I told my friends to my right it was nice talking to them, and went on my merry way to the bathroom (I had had to go since we were still outside in line). I somehow spotted Monkey in the hallway while I was waiting in line, and called him over, and he gave me my purse and waited for me while I waited forever in line to go. There was a woman (who was actually pretty cool) in line behind me who said that OLP sucked and I told her to shush. She was there for Seether, so that shows you her taste. Ugh. Haha. It was weird, there was a guy in one of the stalls, we could see his back coming out of the one stall, and we were like "what the heck?" and rather pissed off cos he was taking up a stall when there were 283957928572 people in line waiting to go. When he eventually came out with a girl, he said that she had thrown up in the toilet. Nobody wanted to go into that stall anymore. Haha. So, when I finally got out of the bathroom, Monkey and I hit up the consessions stand and I got a soda, and he got nachos. Then we found Matt and his friends (really easily, somehow), and talked a bit about how amazing the concert was, then I got distracted by the merch table. I went over and bought a tour t-shirt, a poster, and a hoodie (I was REALLY happy about this, cos I had wanted one really badly ever since I saw it on OLP's site during the Fear Of The Trailer Park Tour back in January, then they didn't have it in Rochester, which made me think they were sold out and I'd never get one... I'm actually wearing it typing this ). All that added up to $85, so I emptied my wallet, plus Monkey had to chip in. But I got some cooooool merch. Hah.

Three Doors Down had started playing while we were at the merch table, so Matt had ran in with his friends. After I bought my stuff, we headed in to find a seat. After seeing one of the few pairs of seats in the back of the venue (facing the stage) was right next to a kid who was vomiting, we just headed for the right corner. So, I went from the closest spot in the place to one of the furthest. Hehe. Monkey then decided that he wanted to buy an OLP hoodie, so I suggested he go then while 3DD was on, so he did. He came back, and we watched 3DD, and they were good. They played pretty much straight from the albums, though (at least the songs I knew sounded pretty much exactly the same, anyway). The one part that was really cool was when their new drummer did a killer (and really long, 3 part) drum solo. They didn't save their biggest hits for the encore, which was pretty unusual, and they only did a one song encore when they did actually do it. They only played for about an hour and a half, ending the concert at about 10:50pm.

We went out into the merch area to wait for Matt and his friends (we had said we'd meet him either there or outside after the concert) and after waiting for a while, went outside, and found them. We snapped a picture of Matt and me to prove the very first HUB meetup actually happened (haha), and said goodbye. I wanted to try to find the bus, so I could tell OLP just how amazing they had played, but decided against it, and wound up walking back to the parking garage with Matt & co. Extreme Radio was giving out t-shirts or something, and the crowd was going absolutly crazy for them. We thought they'd knock over the little tent thing they were under to give them out. While walking to the garage, the OLP bus drove right past us after we crossed the first half of the street, so that made me feel better about not looking for it. Would've missed the guys anyway. So, we said goodbye to Matt and everyone when we got to the second floor of the garage (where we were parked), and heard someone blasting 3DD from their car. We had "Spiritual Machines" playing, so I wanted to win, so I rolled down my window and turned up the radio. Monkey said it was too loud and turned it down, though. Meanie. So, then we got some snacks, drove back to the hotel, and that brings me to where I am right now, at 2:42am. Goodnight.

[nikki4982]

Oh yeah, pictures and video coming when I'm home. Hopefully audio, too. Everyone cross your fingers that the bootleg turned out well.

[kyks17]

haha WHOA was that comprehensive nik :O i still have 1.5 reviews to finish from 2 months ago now :-\
im glad u guys had a great time! the first Ultimate Hub Meetup!!!!! and no pic with the :O sign, i cant believe it *tsk tsk* did u at least sing captain planet?
oh and if this audio boot is done b4 a certain other 2 *hint hint i wonder wat i could be talking about* im going to be a mad kiwi :O plus wasnt 1 of them already done? or like half done? :-\
see ya when u get back!

[nikki4982]

Haha, don't worry, Kym. Silverchair boots will be done first. The first is actually entirely done, and was ready to share before I left for this trip, but the hub was down that day. OK, gotta go get ready for checkout, then it's another 5 hour trip today.

Oh yeah, my breastbone is absolutely killing me. Stupid barracade hinge. *waves*

[Johnny]

thats too much to read!!!

*implodes*

[Neil]

Sounded like an awesome concert......but freakin moshers and crowd surfers need a swift & deadly kick to the mid-section.

I wanna see OLP but they don't seem to wanna visit the NY area at all!

[xoNoDoubt69]

I just hit them. Always seems to work .

[thirdhour]

oh man, crowdsurfers....landing on my head...ouch

[dream in japanese]

crowdsurfers always land on my head

[xoNoDoubt69]

I got kicked in the ear once.That really hurt

[dream in japanese]

i get beaten so badly at concerts