So, I was sitting down after my past concert going experience, seeing My Chemical Romance at West Hollywood’s The Roxy Theatre, and I was trying to remember my past concerts that I have attended. I only began this quandary because I wanted to rank my top favorite concerts. Needless to say, my list includes over 5 years of true concert attendance, so it will be quite long.
To start, My first concert, in 2004, was Story of the Year. This concert is the show that I was first introduced to My Chemical Romance (as they played support), as well as Adair. Hazen Street played as well, but I wasn’t as impressed with them. A couple of months later, was lostprophets, with Head Automatica and Kill Radio supporting. The next week was the SnoCore ‘04 tour, with Trapt, Finger Eleven, Smile Empty Soul, Strata and Aphasia. My final concert of 2004 would be Warped Tour at Cal State Fullerton. Here, I got to see My Chemical Romance and Story of the Year again, as well as Coheed & Cambria, Underoath and Sugarcult. Very awesome end to my first year of concerts.
2005, I was living in San Francisco and I only got to go to a couple of shows while there. The first one was the evening of my birthday in 2005, the Epitaph Tour. This was Matchbook Romance with Motion City Soundtrack, From First to Last and The Matches. Next, Finch (hometown band), with Reeve Oliver, Vendetta Red and Nurses supporting. This show was at Slim’s in SoMa of San Francisco. There was a meet and greet right before the show as well, where I got to chat it up with Finch. The final show was Stroke 9 playing in the courtyard of my apartment complex. This was cool because it was about 3 hours of Stroke 9 playing their music.
My first show in 2006 was Fall Out Boy with Hawthorne Heights, From First to Last and The Hush Sound on April 1st. This show was really awesome, and crazy with energy. There was the Temecula hometown show of Nurses, Cosmonaut (Nate, lead singer of Finch, side project) and Jupiter. Only impressed because they used a movie theater for the show. Then was the last Sound of Animals Fighting show ever. This was the one filmed for the live DVD. It was where I got truly introduced to Matt Embree and his awesome acoustic skills. There was also Cinematic Sunrise and Anthony Green, which were also awesome live. Sound of Animals Fighting of course was fucking epic. First time I ever fell on the floor and loved every minute of it. Next was the Halloween show of My Chemical Romance (for when they released The Black Parade), which was also filmed for an AOL broadcast. It was, for the longest time, my favorite MCR show. The last show in 2006 was Hinder with Black Stone Cherry and some annoying chick with a shitty band backing her. I only went to the Hinder show for a date.
The first show for 2007 was After Midnight Project at The Roxy. This was a pretty epic show. I got to actually meet the band and got them to sign a copy of their demo for me. This is also the start of going to a ridiculous amount of their shows, because of the awesomeness of their performance. After a couple of After Midnight Project shows, there was Motion City Soundtrack with Anberlin, Mae and Metro Station. This show was pretty awesome and an exciting one too.
The first couple of shows in 2008 were pretty much After Midnight Project shows as well. Except for Panic at the Disco with Motion City Soundtrack, The Hush Sound and Phantom Planet. The show was pretty much all about Motion City Soundtrack for me. Panic at the Disco sucked, the bands before MCS sucked, and the crowd plain sucked. The first show I ever walked out of, but not the last. The final show for 2008 was After Midnight Project. Again.
2009 has been an epic year so far with concerts. The first show was a free one in Hollywood for Music Saves Lives. Aiden played with Smile Empty Soul, The Briggs, Run Doris Run and The Matches. Right after that, I went to see Story of the Year at Irvine Lakes. This was a crazy day long event with music from bands in Southern California and headlining acts to make the kids stay. I saw future up and coming bands like She Screams Remedy, ALEVELA, Abused Romance, and Her Majesty. There were also some great main stagers as well, with Bullets and Octane and Escape the Fate. Quite literally an awesome day for a show. Next, I went to see Aiden at Chain Reaction, and I could only remember one of the supporting bands being Mikoto (or something like that .. ). The show was pretty epic, but blew my ear drums out for nearly two weeks. After that, there was Julien-K at the Glasshouse in Pomona. I was there with my Roadtrip Warriors business partner, Aliro, and our primary goal was to see Julien-K, but they were not the headliners. Combichrist was the headliner, but they were only good for the first two songs. The guys before Julien-K was Aesthetic Perfection, and they lit it up! First time ever rocking out to Electronica\Metal, and it was pretty epic. Next was Finch at the Troubadour. They had American Fangs open, with Halos and Halifax doing support. Finch and American Fangs were by far the best.
Continuing on with 2009, There was After Midnight Project again, with Call the Cops and Abused Romance supporting. This is currently my final After Midnight Project show, but I know I will go and see them again. This was also the show that was filmed for an upcoming DVD of it. Next was cKy at the Roxy. This had Warner Drive and some other shitty bands I don’t remember opening for them. The highlight of the night? Listening to cKy play Beat It, metal style. Next, there was Trapt at the Troubadour. This was a really shitty performance for them, and they didn’t play the hard songs they should be known for. The whole audience was not grooving to music, and it felt kinda awkward. The bands before Trapt (Inept, Since October and Divide the Day) all were a lot better and got the crowd excited for a sub-par band. Finally, there was the My Chemical Romance show that was the first of two days at the Roxy.
So that is what I have gone through so far. What have I learned? I have been to a lot of shows. Many of them After Midnight Project, My Chemical Romance, and others. I do have many repeats. But I also have one offs and weird ones. And this is all in the past 5 years. I think the next 5 are going to be packed with epic and awesome shows that I may never believe may happen. But, they will. I will be sure of it!
