Chilly Rain Off

Saturday morning, Jessi and I loafed around the apartment and slowly made our way through the rain windshield wiper free to the Chilli Cook Off. We got there in time to see 3/4's of the Faktion set. We completely missed Fail-Safe, but I figured we'll catch them again at some point this summer, since they are local and not my choice of band that should have opened the event.

Faktion was OK. They're going to get their asses run into the ground by Roadrunner this year though playing every state fair and local event they can possibly tolerate. I'm sure by next year they'll be touring with the likes of Hoobastank or Fall Out Boy. Hooray for them.

Nonpoint was up next. They pretty much were the whole reason I wanted to go to the cook off. I loved it a lot! They probably should have headlined the event, but it was good they got in so early while everyone was still mostly sober. They've made it a long way. I thought they would have fizzled out years ago.

Hinder was up next. Kinda forgettable but the chicks dug 'em. Anyone that sings about going home and getting stoned is ok in my book though. Good luck on your tour with..I'll say Yellowcard next year. Hooray.

Shinedown came out and was very popular with this much larger than anticpiated crowd. I liked lead singer Brent Smith's energy. He would need to have a lot of crowd participation because they're pretty sleepable otherwise. I liked the set and I had a quiet moment of remembering Dime when he dedicated Simple Man to his memory. Don't tell Jessi I shed a tear. She won't think I'm so tuff!

We made our way back up to see Trapt. By then everyone was pretty much wasted and the rain cleared so everyone started heading into the concession areas and to the bathrooms to vomit. I was pretty much fed up with the event staff which pretty much consisted of decendants of the KGB and SS. I kept thinking. It's a fuckin' rock show I kept telling myself! There's bands that fed off of the energy of the crowd and having the ass clowns in yellow raincoats pulling half the crowd out halfway through Trapt ruined their set. Not to give a ton of credit to Trapt. I could have easily pulled out their CD and got the same enjoyment listening to that than seeing them live. But the banana clad idiots put a damper on this otherwise fun day.

The rain cleared up just in time for us to head home. Not to sound too old, but we opted out of the Flyleaf show. I know I'll see them at least once this year at Family Values.

I did have a real good time. It was really good to get out of my cage for the day, and I got to hang out in the rain with someone who can enjoy it as much as I do.

And to the guy that hung out with David Draiman and got drunk with him..here's to losers being at the right place at the right time. Merch guys and beer guys seem to be having all the fun these days. Forget being a roadie or in the band. I'm going to sell t shirts and beer!