Sunday, October 21, 2012

Jason Isbell and Andrew Combs 10/21/12

My mom and I love Jason Isbell. That is the best way I can think to start this blog. When we found out he was coming to Birmingham again, we freaked out. He was playing at Vulcan Park for a series of shows called Vulcan After Tunes presented by Birmingham Mountain Radio. It was a chill show where everyone sat in the grass on blankets and in chairs and it was a very nice afternoon. The first guy that played was Andrew Combs from Nashville. He was super cute and his voice was beautiful as well. He played (not in any particular order)
Devil’s Got My Woman
Tennessee Time
Too Stoned To Cry
Hummingbird (I Think)
Heavy
Big Bad Love
Worried Man and
Lonely Side Of Love

When he was finished, I bought all of his albums and I got a picture with him. He was so nice. I really want to see him again.

Then it was time Jason Isbell. My mom had seen him several times before and I had only seen him once with Drive By Truckers in 2004, so we were pretty stoked. He played 

The funniest thing that happened during his set was there was a guy that had been standing in front of the stage for most of the show and he asked Jason to play a song. He said "I've already played it and I think you were standing right there when I played it!" The guy just stood there. It was so funny and that definitely made it more memorable.  














3OH!3 Birmingham, Alabama 10/19/12


So when I found out that 3OH!3 was coming to Birmingham, I flipped out. I had not seen them since Warped Tour in Atlanta in 2009, and that is just too long to go without seeing a band. I left school with two of my friends and we headed off. We got to the venue around three o’ clock and we sat outside and waited. Funny enough, the GPS said that our estimated arrival time was 3:03 and I definitely took a picture because that was one of those moments that will not ever happen again. The doors opened at six so we had a lot of waiting to do. We talked to several members from other bands that were performing and at one point Nathan (from 3OH!3) walked by us and asked us how we were doing. We were great and we thanked him for asking and he said he would see us later tonight. Everyone else started to freak out and all I could think about was how tall he is. Gosh, he is freaking tall. Anyway, so fast-forward a couple of hours and the doors opened. My friends and I ran to the front. The stage was really tall. I am exactly five feet tall and I could walk under the stage with room to spare. It did not really bother me though. The first band of the night was a band from Jacksonville, Alabama called Beach Party. They were so good. I was lucky enough to get their set from the stage to share in this post. (It should be noted that the set-list was totally written on a Yelp.com napkin) They played
Matches
Light Me Up
Vestavia 
Going Up
(Rabbit Town)
D. Sack
T. Dead
Famous
Balloons
Drag
During one of their songs they said, “This is one of our favorite church hymns. It’s called Suck My Dick.” During another song, they told everyone to make a circle and for people to dance in it. Most people were hesitant but a few girls and one guy, finally decided to try it. The guy was hilarious. I really want to go see Beach Party again.

The next band was called Oceans. I think they were from Alabama but I am not extremely sure. I talked to several of their band members and they all said Roll Tide to me, so I think I have made a safe assumption. They were ok. I do not know any of the songs that they played but their members were really nice.

After them was a DJ named Silas. He was a dub-stepper. I do not like dub step but he was really good. He sang while he did his computer thing. He was also really cute and had good hair.

After him was a band from New York called Outasight. He was talented but not my type of music.

Then it was finally time for 3OH!3. Their stage setup was really cool. They had a wolf on both sides of the stage with green lasers coming out of their eyes. Their banner had the word “Omens” written really big across the top and it had their symbol really big in the middle. They walked on the stage to the Omen Intro and it was really cool. They played
Do Or Die
Starstrukk
Touchin’ On My
Don’t Dance
My First Kiss (The girls in the crowd sang Kesha’s part)
You’re Gonna Love This
Richman
Colorado Sunshine
House Party
Streets Of Gold
Love 2012
Punk Bitch/I’m Not Your Boyfriend Baby/Chokechain (medley)
(Encore)
Double Vision (Some random dude from the crowd ran on stage and jumped into the crowd. That dude hit the floor. He was ok.)
Don’t Trust Me

Throughout the show, some interesting things happened.

- A girl handed a rose to Sean on stage and it had a note attached to it. He did not read the note but it was pretty long. The rose resulted in the band singing songs with the word Rose in it, such as, Like Red On A Rose by Alan Jackson and Every Rose Has Its Thorn by Poison. If for some reason 3OH!3 needs a back-up musical style, they should resort to writing and performing ballads. That was the coolest thing I have heard in a while.

- For some reason that I do not remember, Nathan started singing a cover of Crazy by Seal. I felt like I was the only one in the room that actually knew it, but I could be wrong. They also covered Back in Black by AC/DC. I do not really like AC/DC, but I like that song.

- They said that their new album, Omens, was coming out after the world ends in 2012. It would come out in early 2013 and they hoped we were still here to listen to it. That cracked me up.

- The band introduced the other guys on the stage and they said that one of them was Andrew WK. I had to take a second look before I realized that it was not him…

- They had two wolves on the stage; one on the left, and one on the right. Someone asked Nathan what their names were. I am pretty sure he made the names up on the spot, but they were funny. Their names were Gary and Mr. Warren. They had green lasers coming out of their eyes and it was just awesome.

- When they came back for the encore, they said, “We have two songs left to play for you. But each of them is only 10 seconds long. They proceeded to play two really fast, 10-second songs and it was funny.

- Throughout 3OH!3’s performance I held up a piece of paper that said “Holler Till You Pass Out” which is my favorite song by them. The keyboard player, and both singers of the band acknowledged it but they did not play it.

After the show, my friends and I went out by the bus to meet the band. The first band member to come out was the keyboard player, Jesse. He talked to us about Birmingham, Philadelphia, and the show in general. He also asked us if the guy that jumped in the crowd was ok. He then told us to add him on Facebook and we did. Before he got on the bus, I told him about the Roll Tide/War Eagle war in the South. He seemed really confused by it, so I had to do some further explaining. I think he finally understood me. I got a picture with him too. Then Nathan and Sean came out. I talked to Sean first. I asked him if he would sing me “Holler Till You Pass Out.” I told him I was kidding and he laughed. Then he told me I had the cutest accent ever and I thanked him. He went to sign the set-list (That I stole off the stage. Pun intended) and he signed it to me. I gave him a hug and got my picture made with him. Then I talked to Nathan. I told Nathan I was going to blog about the show and he told me that I should critique it well. Nathan, if you are reading this, I hope you approve. ;)