It's Not For Sure

So last Saturday evening my friend and I went on a little adventure down to the newly opening shopping center called "The District" located in Tustin. There were a couple bands playing that evening and I thought why not check them out? I was already a little familiar with the first band that played, National Product. They were originally from Hawaii but now reside in Huntington beach, I wonder if the good waves there had anything to do with them choosing to move to Huntington? Anyway as we were walking up to the outside shopping center from the parking lot I could already hear one of my favorite songs by National Product playing, medicated. My friend and I both thought they sounded good from what we heard just walking up to the stage area. We took a moment to settle down on the ground and then I pulled out my camera. I observed everyone on stage and saw who was playing what instrument. I was a bit surprised by the amount of people on the stage, it isn't everyday you see a 6 member band! We both enjoyed the performance and were laughing at Danny's funny actions on stage. Free Hugs? By the end of the set we were both excited to pick up a copy of their cd, just like Nathan who bought his own cd in borders earlier that day! After their set ended we walked up to the side stage and waited to personally buy a cd from Danny. They were all really nice and friendly and talked while signing stuff for everyone there. Apparently it is a weird thing for them to sign in "green" sharpie because when I handed it to Dan and Stan they just couldnt do it, they felt to weird signing my cd with a green sharpie instead of a normal black one. And now Stan is somewhere and has my green sharpie seeing as he put it in his pocket and forgot about it. After we left that scene we rested and waiting for the next band Quietdrive to hit the stage.

Now I unfortunately until then didnt know much about Quietdrive other than a few songs I reckonized later that night after hearing their songs live, but they were pretty great and exceeded my expectations. I really enjoyed myself, it was like our own private show condsidering not many people new about the show. I taken by surprise when Kevin the lead singer of the band pulled out a violin and started shreading on it as an intro into a song. It was certainly impressive. My favorite song that night was maybe misery and take a drink as I really felt myself get into those. Maybe misery since then has become one of my top favorite songs. It is just so catchy its hard not to love. I would see both bands again if I have the chance. After the show they were having a cd signing at borders so my friend and I quickly ran over there to get in the front of the line. Meeting them was great, they were pretty nice and friendly, not to mention Kevin's goofiness. Thus ending the night on a great note.

Check my Flickr for pics from the night.


Pic of Kevin and I

Summer August 07

So just as I was thinking that I haven't been to a show in a while I go to three in a row. Starting August 1st with my friend inviting me to see Buckcherry, Paparoach, and Hinder. Now that is not a show I would normallly go to but it turned out pretty good. Not knowing much from Buckcherry I thought that they were pretty good live also. The next band playing was Paparoach which definitely rocked. Lots of energy and great songs were played. They stole the show. Then Hinder came on and I think most people that night would agree that they weren't all that great, for the lead singer was out of tune and sounded like a dieing frog during slow songs. Yet entertaining to say the least to listen to. After that interesting night of music, tomorrow August 2nd was time for a change. We were going to see The Honorary Title together with The Format. The show in the HOB started with the band Steeltrain, they were a fun group of guys that all appeared to have a curly fro of some sort. Then after that was Limbeck which I didn't particularly care for only because they weren't entirely my style showing some alt country roots. The band I was waiting for was next. The Honorary Title was even more amazing than I thought, Jarrod's striking vocals left the whole venue reverberating with sound. The new songs played from their upcoming album were awesome to hear and left me excited for the release of the new cd. Meeting Jarrod afterward was an added bonus. By the end of the night The Format still had yet to perform and my friend was getting tired of standing on the floor, so we headed up to the upper floor and sat down to watch. We found the view just as intreging if not better. The Format played some catchy tunes, having everyone in the crowd singing along. By the end of the night I was glad to have been able to go to the concert! The next day Friday, at last minute I decided to head over to this local church to see a benefit acoustic show that went towards Habitat for Humanity. The room was packed with people, much more than I had expected to show. All the artists that played were great, Molly Jenson whom I had heard much about played a nice set in which one song almost brought me to tears. Then played Drew Bray and AJ Degrasse which both had some great vocals. Last to perform but certainly not least was Jon Foreman of my favorite band Switchfoot, accompanied by Keith and Brad on stage playing Cello and Percussion. Jon played his usually acoustic songs as well as the hit singles of Switchfoot. My favorite part would have to be when he played a new song he had written the day before and then a song people call "your love is strong" or so the chorus says, know one knows the actual song name. Its so simple yet so beautiful. I was very much impressed by everyone's performances and excited to hear that the event reached a total foundraising of 20,000 dollars for the organization. That week after attending three very different shows I have to say it was very interesting to see how different the people act and dress from concert to concert. Have I found my place yet? who knows.