Giggedy gig gig gig... oh riight...
OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alter Bridge = Teh Awesomeness. Fuck Yeah!!! Discovered their support band too. Logan- a local band, they fucking rocked too. A strange hybrid of Creed and AB. PRS guitars, earth-moving bass, sweet drums and the lead singer sounded EXACTLY like Scott Stapp (from Creed) so it kinda threw me when he started talking in a Scottish accent! But he looked almost exactly like Myles Kennedy (from AB). Bought their EP cos they are awesome. I WILL be playing one of their songs at the next Rocksoc. Check out their website. Check the multimedia section for song samples.
Alter Bridge rocked so much. They put on an awesome show, as well as playing really well. Myles kept leading sing alongs. He sang a 'woah' and then the crowd replied, then he kept lengthening it and embelishing... then he moved onto 'the boys are back in town' until we were copying him note for note, so he went all out with a full minutes worth of 'booooooooooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyyyssssssssssssss' (with added grace notes') reply was just a huge round of applause. Then they played 'Whole Lot Of Rosie'. In the middle they took a break. Myles came out with a guitar and started a huge solo instrumental, that was cool. But the Mark came out and did a totally awesome instrumental. It was insane. He did a bit of one handed tapping that just rocked so much. They left the stage after 'Down To My Last'. Then came back for an awesomely moving acoustic version of 'In Loving Memory'. Mark managed to make the intro and outro sound all classical, which was really cool. Finisher (unfortunately) was 'Open Your Eyes'. So fucking good. It is also being played at Rocksoc, just for the immense solo. Except I had to miss the ending to hxc it back to the train. But I did see the solo. And in the breakdown beofe the solo, there is a vocal solo and Myles got us to sing the first part after he did, of course we joined in the whole thing, but it was really cool. And I got some sort of video clip. It's not very good. But I got some amazing shots of Mark 'teh god' Tremonti, including where you can totally see his guitar. My fave guitar in the world, and you can even see the sticker of Dimebag Darrell he's had on there ever since Dime got shot, which is really cool. Oh and I got a t-shirt.
Brian Marshall- bass
Myles Kennedy- Lead Vocal
Mark Tremonti- Guitar (aka God)
Yep, I was pretty close...
Mark doing an awesome instrumental
I love this pic... check out his Dimebag tribute sticker...
The band doing 'In Loving Memory' acoustic
Myles starting 'In Lovng Memory'
Myles announcing 'Open Your Eyes'
Mark during 'Open Your Eyes' (I think he's just about to launch into the solo of awesomeness)
My fave pic of the night (taken during Open Your Eyes)
The crowd was pretty good actually. There was a decent mix of people: old, young, guys, girls, "emo kids", generic rockers, some gimp Ned in a polo shirt which he then put on backwards (twat)... everyone was singing and even 10 rows from the front (where I was) everyone had their own space. The floor was packed, but we weren't crushed together like the night before.
Had to run back to the train with at least 5lbs of redundant crap on my back and front and New Rocks on my feet. Made it to the train literally by seconds. A lesson in 'cutting it fine' if ever there was one. Slumped in my seat I remembered I had half a bottle of Irn-Bru in my bag. Having gone over 4 hours of bouncing around in a hot hall and then power walking a 3/4 mile it was like an e-number, carpet bleaching, weegie juicy party in my mouth. After half an hour the post-gig, post-excercise, post-almost missing the last train home adrenalin started to wear off.
Now am tired, becoming depressed at the amount of work i still have to do and the short amount of time left to do it, also kinda sore. My back was killing me after last night, now I think I did my neck what with the nodding and the headbanging. Also legs very sore... moshing, bouncing, walking all day can take it out of you. But guess what... I'm watching Buffy (again!)
Today's emo quote: (from Buffy's dream in 'Anne')
Buffy: How did you find me here?
Angel: If I was blind, I would see you.
Buffy: Stay with me.
Angel: Forever. That's the whole point. I'll never leave. (whispering
into her ear) Not even if you kill me.
****************************************************************
Back in time to Monday night/Tuesday morning....
Considering I needed to be up and out by 11:45 I should have had an early night... nope. Stayed up 'til 2:30 watching the last episode of Season 2 of Buffy (a 2-parter). Very very sad... I love Christophe Beck's love theme for Buffy and Angel, it's so beautiful.
So yeh woke up to a txt from Tom saying he'd be in later than planned, so I was panicking a bit cos I didn't want to hang around an extra hour in Stirling or Glasgow, so went for a shower before looking up alternate travel times. But after the shower Tom had txted saying he would be in on time. So quickly packed, checked emails and headed out for the bus. The 1 1/2 mile walk allowed me to appreciate the awesomeness of winter mornings. It was freezing cold, but so clear. I love those kind of mornings. Got into Stirling. Went shopping. Bought a sleeping bag and presents for my little sisters' birthdays. Then sat around til the bus came. Got into Glasgow and found my way to the station by following Nat's 'excellent' directions. Then waited for Tom, while observing the disturbing number of emo kids around. All with identical Converse, spiked belts, black hair with various coloured streaks... God, I love stereotypes. Tom arrived, eventually, then we got the train up to Greenock, met Nicole at the station and headed to Nat's house. Breif preparation period, some direction taking and we headed out.
We found the SECC without too much problem and headed in. There were so many people there. Not just emo kids, there were a lot of teeny-boppers and fan-girls as well as some weegies... queued for the cloakroom then queued to get in. Managed to get into a good spot for the first major set (we missed the openers). We were on the left hand side, but near enough to the front. First band we saw were Story of the Year, they rocked. They put on an awesome show, with acrobatics, awesome sound and generally good crowd energy. Had an awesome sing along to 'Until The Day I Die'. Then Flood of Red (a band from Aberdeen) played the side stage while Rise Against set up. Rise Against were great, even though I've only ever heard one of their songs. They did a cool acoustic song, which I can't remember the name of...
Then another random band played. They were good but we took a break having been stuck in the crowd for 3 sets already. So then headed back into the crowd, ready for Killswitch Engage. Nicole and I lost Tom at some point, so we stayed in the middle. Killswitch were obviously the most popular band there, cos the crowd got really excited. We had picked a bad spot to stand cos in the middle of the set a huge pit opened up right next to us. I got dragged in at one point by this huge ginger guy... scary stuff. I was balancing on one foot, on a slippery floor, being hit on all sides by crazy hardcore kids. Managed to fight my way back out to Nicole. A bit later on I took someone's elbow to the hip, that was kinda sore. Also in the last song, the pit opened up again behind us. During one song, Killswitch brought the guitarist from Rise Against and Bert McCracken (from the Used)on to play with them. Bert got screams from all the girls and boos from the Killswitch fans. I managed to get a couple of pics, which was hard cos everyone was bouncing around so much. After Killswitch, Bleed the Dream played the side stage. They were pretty good... nothing exceptional though. After a bit of a wait The Used took the stage to a chorus of fan-girls screaming. Nicole had charged forward during the break, so I was alone among fan-girls and teeny-boppers. Instead of opening up a pit, they decided it would be good to just shove forward, so I was being pushed from behind and the front. That was fun... I mean I love being crushed between 6 teenage girls as much as the next guy, but not that much. Also with the swaying of the crowd, I was trying having to correct my balance a lot. It's so hard to try to make enough room for yourself to breathe. try not to fall over, and watch you don't crush any Converse clad kids' feet under your New Rocks. I think I was the only one there wearing New Rocks... which is bad in a sea of canvas sneakers... Anyway managed to survive and The Used played Taste Of Ink which rocked a lot. Finally Funeral For A Friend came out. They were excellent. Easily my favourite, if only cos I knew the songs they were singing. But they did play well and got the crowd going, despite a minor technical fault which killed the sound system for a minute. They played a lot of stuff off their new album (obviously) but also did some old stuff. They got everyone to hold up their mobiles, before the recorded intro to 'Streetcar' hit (which is a phone ringing) that was funny and that is an awesome song. Also had an excellent sing along to 'History' my fave track on the album. They finished with 'Escape Artists Never Die' which rocked so much.
Story Of The Year jumping off the amps
Story's guitarist on top of a huge stack at theend of their set
Rise Agaisnt going acoustic
Bert McKracken (left blur) and Killswitch Engage
The Used
The Used again (I love the lighting on this one)
Funeral For A Friend (I love the lights in this one too)
History
We got a bit lost on the way back to Greenock, but made it in the end. Talked to Nat for a bit on the phone, which was cool. Then went to bed. Was up pretty early. I watched a bit of the Wright Stuff on Channel 5. Absolute crap. Tom and I headed back into Glasgow. The Tom went to the bus station and I went to McDonalds. I tried to drag out a Quater Pounder (with Cheese) meal as long as I could, while watching Kelly Clarkson on 'the Hits', but even for me (Slowest eater in the world) that was quite hard. I think I wasted about half an hour... headed up to the Buchanan Galleries. Then back down Buchanan Street. Finally found Virgin and the call of the plastic discs was too much for me. I bought a book called 'I Hate Myself and Want to Die' a cynical look at the 52 most depressing songs ever. Not sad songs, but depressing... either through their performance or their lyrics. Sat in the Costa in there for another half hour reading and 'savouring' my hot choclate. Of course when I got outside it was raining. Headed back to the train station to double check the time of the last train home. But i couldn't find it on the board... so I went on a bit of wander up some streets... I was trying to get to the Mitchell library (based on the map in the station) cos I figured I could kill a couple of hours 'working'. On the walk I realised I was lost and I remembered I had to change trains on the journey home that night, but didn't remember which station... Ooops. Somehow by just wandering in the general direction I found my way onto Sauchiehall Street. And decided I probably wouldn't make it to the library in time to make it worthwhile, also my shoulder was starting to hurt from carrying my bags around. So I headed back to the Buchanan galleries. Called my dad about the trains. And went and sat in the food court. I managed to write the ending for my computing essay, so the day wasn't a total academic blowout. About half 4 I wandered back down to the station. Found out my train left from Queens Street, not Central, which meant I'd have to leave the concert an extra 5 minutes early, which I didn't (as you have read above). Went for tea in a café next to the station. Managed to make a baked potato and a cup of tea last half an hour, then headed up to Queen's Street station to buy my ticket before the show, which turned out to be a wise decision, not only because I wouldn't hav e had time later, but also I went up Union Street instead of Buchanan and was very confused... Found my way to the station and comitted the mistake to memory, so as not to repeat it when I would be in a hurry (even if I didn't wait the extra 10 minutes for the encore). Then headed down to the Carling Academy, which I found with surprising ease, and waited in line with all the other people. And the rest is detailed in the other report.
Alter Bridge rocked so much. They put on an awesome show, as well as playing really well. Myles kept leading sing alongs. He sang a 'woah' and then the crowd replied, then he kept lengthening it and embelishing... then he moved onto 'the boys are back in town' until we were copying him note for note, so he went all out with a full minutes worth of 'booooooooooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyyyssssssssssssss' (with added grace notes') reply was just a huge round of applause. Then they played 'Whole Lot Of Rosie'. In the middle they took a break. Myles came out with a guitar and started a huge solo instrumental, that was cool. But the Mark came out and did a totally awesome instrumental. It was insane. He did a bit of one handed tapping that just rocked so much. They left the stage after 'Down To My Last'. Then came back for an awesomely moving acoustic version of 'In Loving Memory'. Mark managed to make the intro and outro sound all classical, which was really cool. Finisher (unfortunately) was 'Open Your Eyes'. So fucking good. It is also being played at Rocksoc, just for the immense solo. Except I had to miss the ending to hxc it back to the train. But I did see the solo. And in the breakdown beofe the solo, there is a vocal solo and Myles got us to sing the first part after he did, of course we joined in the whole thing, but it was really cool. And I got some sort of video clip. It's not very good. But I got some amazing shots of Mark 'teh god' Tremonti, including where you can totally see his guitar. My fave guitar in the world, and you can even see the sticker of Dimebag Darrell he's had on there ever since Dime got shot, which is really cool. Oh and I got a t-shirt.
Brian Marshall- bass
Myles Kennedy- Lead Vocal
Mark Tremonti- Guitar (aka God)
Yep, I was pretty close...
Mark doing an awesome instrumental
I love this pic... check out his Dimebag tribute sticker...
The band doing 'In Loving Memory' acoustic
Myles starting 'In Lovng Memory'
Myles announcing 'Open Your Eyes'
Mark during 'Open Your Eyes' (I think he's just about to launch into the solo of awesomeness)
My fave pic of the night (taken during Open Your Eyes)
The crowd was pretty good actually. There was a decent mix of people: old, young, guys, girls, "emo kids", generic rockers, some gimp Ned in a polo shirt which he then put on backwards (twat)... everyone was singing and even 10 rows from the front (where I was) everyone had their own space. The floor was packed, but we weren't crushed together like the night before.
Had to run back to the train with at least 5lbs of redundant crap on my back and front and New Rocks on my feet. Made it to the train literally by seconds. A lesson in 'cutting it fine' if ever there was one. Slumped in my seat I remembered I had half a bottle of Irn-Bru in my bag. Having gone over 4 hours of bouncing around in a hot hall and then power walking a 3/4 mile it was like an e-number, carpet bleaching, weegie juicy party in my mouth. After half an hour the post-gig, post-excercise, post-almost missing the last train home adrenalin started to wear off.
Now am tired, becoming depressed at the amount of work i still have to do and the short amount of time left to do it, also kinda sore. My back was killing me after last night, now I think I did my neck what with the nodding and the headbanging. Also legs very sore... moshing, bouncing, walking all day can take it out of you. But guess what... I'm watching Buffy (again!)
Today's emo quote: (from Buffy's dream in 'Anne')
Buffy: How did you find me here?
Angel: If I was blind, I would see you.
Buffy: Stay with me.
Angel: Forever. That's the whole point. I'll never leave. (whispering
into her ear) Not even if you kill me.
****************************************************************
Back in time to Monday night/Tuesday morning....
Considering I needed to be up and out by 11:45 I should have had an early night... nope. Stayed up 'til 2:30 watching the last episode of Season 2 of Buffy (a 2-parter). Very very sad... I love Christophe Beck's love theme for Buffy and Angel, it's so beautiful.
So yeh woke up to a txt from Tom saying he'd be in later than planned, so I was panicking a bit cos I didn't want to hang around an extra hour in Stirling or Glasgow, so went for a shower before looking up alternate travel times. But after the shower Tom had txted saying he would be in on time. So quickly packed, checked emails and headed out for the bus. The 1 1/2 mile walk allowed me to appreciate the awesomeness of winter mornings. It was freezing cold, but so clear. I love those kind of mornings. Got into Stirling. Went shopping. Bought a sleeping bag and presents for my little sisters' birthdays. Then sat around til the bus came. Got into Glasgow and found my way to the station by following Nat's 'excellent' directions. Then waited for Tom, while observing the disturbing number of emo kids around. All with identical Converse, spiked belts, black hair with various coloured streaks... God, I love stereotypes. Tom arrived, eventually, then we got the train up to Greenock, met Nicole at the station and headed to Nat's house. Breif preparation period, some direction taking and we headed out.
We found the SECC without too much problem and headed in. There were so many people there. Not just emo kids, there were a lot of teeny-boppers and fan-girls as well as some weegies... queued for the cloakroom then queued to get in. Managed to get into a good spot for the first major set (we missed the openers). We were on the left hand side, but near enough to the front. First band we saw were Story of the Year, they rocked. They put on an awesome show, with acrobatics, awesome sound and generally good crowd energy. Had an awesome sing along to 'Until The Day I Die'. Then Flood of Red (a band from Aberdeen) played the side stage while Rise Against set up. Rise Against were great, even though I've only ever heard one of their songs. They did a cool acoustic song, which I can't remember the name of...
Then another random band played. They were good but we took a break having been stuck in the crowd for 3 sets already. So then headed back into the crowd, ready for Killswitch Engage. Nicole and I lost Tom at some point, so we stayed in the middle. Killswitch were obviously the most popular band there, cos the crowd got really excited. We had picked a bad spot to stand cos in the middle of the set a huge pit opened up right next to us. I got dragged in at one point by this huge ginger guy... scary stuff. I was balancing on one foot, on a slippery floor, being hit on all sides by crazy hardcore kids. Managed to fight my way back out to Nicole. A bit later on I took someone's elbow to the hip, that was kinda sore. Also in the last song, the pit opened up again behind us. During one song, Killswitch brought the guitarist from Rise Against and Bert McCracken (from the Used)on to play with them. Bert got screams from all the girls and boos from the Killswitch fans. I managed to get a couple of pics, which was hard cos everyone was bouncing around so much. After Killswitch, Bleed the Dream played the side stage. They were pretty good... nothing exceptional though. After a bit of a wait The Used took the stage to a chorus of fan-girls screaming. Nicole had charged forward during the break, so I was alone among fan-girls and teeny-boppers. Instead of opening up a pit, they decided it would be good to just shove forward, so I was being pushed from behind and the front. That was fun... I mean I love being crushed between 6 teenage girls as much as the next guy, but not that much. Also with the swaying of the crowd, I was trying having to correct my balance a lot. It's so hard to try to make enough room for yourself to breathe. try not to fall over, and watch you don't crush any Converse clad kids' feet under your New Rocks. I think I was the only one there wearing New Rocks... which is bad in a sea of canvas sneakers... Anyway managed to survive and The Used played Taste Of Ink which rocked a lot. Finally Funeral For A Friend came out. They were excellent. Easily my favourite, if only cos I knew the songs they were singing. But they did play well and got the crowd going, despite a minor technical fault which killed the sound system for a minute. They played a lot of stuff off their new album (obviously) but also did some old stuff. They got everyone to hold up their mobiles, before the recorded intro to 'Streetcar' hit (which is a phone ringing) that was funny and that is an awesome song. Also had an excellent sing along to 'History' my fave track on the album. They finished with 'Escape Artists Never Die' which rocked so much.
Story Of The Year jumping off the amps
Story's guitarist on top of a huge stack at theend of their set
Rise Agaisnt going acoustic
Bert McKracken (left blur) and Killswitch Engage
The Used
The Used again (I love the lighting on this one)
Funeral For A Friend (I love the lights in this one too)
History
We got a bit lost on the way back to Greenock, but made it in the end. Talked to Nat for a bit on the phone, which was cool. Then went to bed. Was up pretty early. I watched a bit of the Wright Stuff on Channel 5. Absolute crap. Tom and I headed back into Glasgow. The Tom went to the bus station and I went to McDonalds. I tried to drag out a Quater Pounder (with Cheese) meal as long as I could, while watching Kelly Clarkson on 'the Hits', but even for me (Slowest eater in the world) that was quite hard. I think I wasted about half an hour... headed up to the Buchanan Galleries. Then back down Buchanan Street. Finally found Virgin and the call of the plastic discs was too much for me. I bought a book called 'I Hate Myself and Want to Die' a cynical look at the 52 most depressing songs ever. Not sad songs, but depressing... either through their performance or their lyrics. Sat in the Costa in there for another half hour reading and 'savouring' my hot choclate. Of course when I got outside it was raining. Headed back to the train station to double check the time of the last train home. But i couldn't find it on the board... so I went on a bit of wander up some streets... I was trying to get to the Mitchell library (based on the map in the station) cos I figured I could kill a couple of hours 'working'. On the walk I realised I was lost and I remembered I had to change trains on the journey home that night, but didn't remember which station... Ooops. Somehow by just wandering in the general direction I found my way onto Sauchiehall Street. And decided I probably wouldn't make it to the library in time to make it worthwhile, also my shoulder was starting to hurt from carrying my bags around. So I headed back to the Buchanan galleries. Called my dad about the trains. And went and sat in the food court. I managed to write the ending for my computing essay, so the day wasn't a total academic blowout. About half 4 I wandered back down to the station. Found out my train left from Queens Street, not Central, which meant I'd have to leave the concert an extra 5 minutes early, which I didn't (as you have read above). Went for tea in a café next to the station. Managed to make a baked potato and a cup of tea last half an hour, then headed up to Queen's Street station to buy my ticket before the show, which turned out to be a wise decision, not only because I wouldn't hav e had time later, but also I went up Union Street instead of Buchanan and was very confused... Found my way to the station and comitted the mistake to memory, so as not to repeat it when I would be in a hurry (even if I didn't wait the extra 10 minutes for the encore). Then headed down to the Carling Academy, which I found with surprising ease, and waited in line with all the other people. And the rest is detailed in the other report.