Something to read in your time-wasting time: Too Many Rants --- Here's a Rave

So most of my recent posts have either been about the Cardinals or stuff that pisses me off. Well here's a post that has nothing to do with either one.

Last night I attended a concert at Pop's in Sauget, IL. In case you don't know where Pop's or Saguet is, you should. Saguet is the known place for strip clubs in the St. Louis area, and Pop's is one of the best places to go to see live music up close. Anyway, I had the pleasure of attending a rock concert headlined by the band 10 Years. This was my eighth time seeing these guys live, and I think they seem to get better every time that I get to see them perform live.

As I am a huge concert go-er (I've attend more than 200 concerts), so this process isn't anything new to me: Get to the venue, drink a couple of beers during the opening acts, see if the opening acts are good enough to check out in the future, rock out like crazy during the sets that my favorite bands play, head home (and mad that it ended so soon!). Last night was no different. There were four bands that played last night: Allusive, The Leo Project, Adelitas Way and 10 Years.

The first band called Allusive is a St. Louis local band. They were pretty good, but it sounded too generic. Every song was about four minutes long, and they all seemed to have the same guitar riffs for each song. Still, not a bad band.

The Leo Project wasn't bad either. They sounded like a cross between Shinedown, Theory of a Deadman and Bullet for my Valentine. They put on a good show, but its just not my cup of tea. The lyrics were too sing-songy. I like more screaming and yelling in my lyrics. It was still nice to say that I saw them though; just in case they do hit it big. Here's a picture of them performing:

The last band before 10 Years was Adelitas Way. They sounded like a cross between Theory of a Deadman and Breaking Benjamin. They weren't bad, but I think the best thing about them was their lead guitarist. Man, he could whale! Again, like the other bands, they just sounded too generic to the rock music that is being put out nowadays (i.e. Nickelback, Hinder and other shit-rock bands that are making it big right now). I would like to see bands be a little bit more experimental with their music. I think that is why I like the bands I do ... one of them being 10 Years.

Which brings me to the band I was there to see. I ended up being in the second row, on the right side of the stage for the entire set. I did get a look at the set list before the show started, so I had a good idea as to what was going to be played. I was very excited to see some of the songs on there that I haven't seen them perform live before. They came out and I just went nuts. Like every other time I've seen them, they seemed to recognize me right away. Matt, the guitarist, gave me a head nod even before the first song was over, and Jesse (the lead singer) pointed me out within the first two or three songs. During one of the songs Jesse sang the lyrics, "You are as confused as I am" and he bent over right in front of me and tapped my forehead as he sang the line. Later on, he reached out and grabbed my hand and pointed right at me for another line in one of the songs. Lewis (the bassist) was loving or little 10 Years loving group that we had going on right in front of him, and he showed us some love throughout the show. The highlight of the night for me was when they finished up their set list, and Jesse threw his towel that he was using and threw it to me. Just add that to my collection of 10 Years memorabilia. I now own two set lists, a guitar pick, a drum stick, several signatures and pictures and now a towel.

After the show, we stuck around to talk to the guys from 10 Years. The drummer, Brian, was sick, so he didn't come out although he usually doesn't anyways. Tater (the guitarist) never comes out as he is a big pothead, and that's all he does after shows. So, Lewis, Matt and Jesse were the three band members to come out after the show. Jesse had a long line of people waiting to talk to him, so the group I was with decided to wait until the line was shorter so we could talk with him for a little bit. Meanwhile, Lewis made it a point to come over to our table and talk to us. I thought that was pretty cool for a band member to come over to a table of fans to say hi. That means he must really like us! He sat and talked with us for a little bit, and he gave me a story about American Head Charge (my favorite band of all time) that I really enjoyed. I was wearing my AHC shirt, so that's how that story struck up in conversation. Lewis then got pulled away by some other fans wanting a picture, so we decided to make our way to talk to Jesse. While in line, I went over and said hi to Matt. He was sitting at a table with some other people, so I didn't talk with him long, but he also pointed out my shirt and commented on how crazy AHC is. 10 Years had the privilage of touring with them several years ago, so I'm sure they got to see the craziness of AHC quite a bit. I then bid Matt farewell, and got back in line to talk to Jesse.

When it was our turn to chat, Jesse immediately shook my hand and gave me a "man hug." He defintiely remembered us from the other seven shows that we've seen them play. He is really good to his fans, and especially those that are very loyal (like myself). We got to ask him a few questions, and he gave me another story about AHC. Those guys must really like them as well! Jesse then told us about the newest single, and gave us some love for coming to the show and hanging out afterwords to see them. We probably chatted for about five minutes, and he said that he probably should get on to the next people in line. It seemed like he would have liked to talk longer, but duty calls when you're the lead singer in a band.

All in all, I had a great time, and I cannot wait to see these guys again! Here are some pictures from the show: