LIVE 105 BFD
6/14/2002
AT
SHORELINE AMPHITHEATRE
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA.
Who rocks the bay area with all the best new music, live 105 of course. Especially on Big Friggin' Deal day at Shoreline Amphithatre where they always grab the hottest new talent and exploit them to the fullest, or is it the other way around. Hey, it's rock and roll, someone has got to be exploited. The lineup was packed with heavy hitters again, with Papa Roach and No Use For A Name both releasing albums and playing new music for the crowd. The show was empty and it was a friday, the cost was rather high but a festival show is expensive to host. I figured there would have been a lot more people, I guess this recession is no where near over when I see a concert venue not even half filled. If people don't go to concerts, concerts will not come to people. Is rock and roll dead? Does country's Kenny Chesney sell out his concert tours? It must be the ticket prices that are killing the rock concert attendance. If concerts were selling out then the prices would be lower, it is all supply, demand, and money politics. That sucks, live concerts should be about the music. It's all about demographics, money and exploitation...Anyway, the festival started way too early as is par for this type of event. A twelve hour concert is just too long, by the time the headliners come on you are either too tired or too wasted to even stand up. I showed up casually around four p.m. to see No Use For A Name deliver a spanking set in front of a small group of about eight hundred devoted fans on the second smaller stage. Everybody had their t-shirts on with the little smiling fireball logo that says no use for a name. A good band with some new music that will please their old fans and is sure to grab some new ones too. Have fear, it's still punk rock!! The main stage was already rocking for hours so I headed for the shelter of the Shoreline tent and some cool shade. The Strokes were up next so I snapped some photos and listened to some cool mellow grooves of the Strokes. Nothing like the rest of the lineup, gentle on the ears and pleasing to the music lover. The lead guy does this thing at the beginning when he reaches the mike he falls right down flat on the ground like he just had a stroke and then jumps right up and starts a song. The venue was so empty at this point in time, I was thinking someone is losing a lot of money right here.
Cypress Hill was next and they kicked out their rap/rock hip hop out on the crowd and the people went nuts, insane in the membrane. The dj had this hella big skull with a giant leaf on the front, freedom fighters, these guys are all about self expression and you just got to love it and that sweet smell that seems to follow them around...or maybe they bring it with them. The crowd was starting to fill in a little and the lower seats were three quarters filled when Rob Zombie came on stage. He looked at the photographers like we were an opposing army and then headed for the crowd like they were his army. That made it difficult to say the least for me to get even a decent shot of him. Zombie music is heavy and morbid, but it will inevitably grab your legs and head and soon you too will be in trance with his bone crunching weird idealism and you too will put talcum powder in your dreads and dress real scary too. Good showman, relatively catchy riffs and licks that grow on you like an ugly wart, and Rob Zombie wouldn't have it any other way. He knows exactly what he is doing and be afraid, be very afraid. Mothers do not allow your daughters within ten of feet of this man or they will likely be corrupted to a life of piercings, tattoos and all the the other things that make life exciting. Dull people might live longer, but I'm with Billy Joel, "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints."
Papa Roach took the stage next and delivered a performance that really rocked as he did the new one everyone was singing along and he was out in the crowd with the audience and a wireless mike just tearing it up with his arms around the fans and letting them sing into the mike. I give P Roach a five star rating for really giving back some personal attention to his fans, a local bay area boy rising up to be a big man some day. P is from Martinez and his dad was a truck driver and his story is the dream of the all American boy. Dream big young rockers, for if a dream is all you got boy, then ya gotta turn that dream into the real McCoy. P.O.D. was next, they are surprisingly a christian rock group with hearts of gold and a message of faith and awareness. Listen to the words and the message comes out strong to love one another and have faith in your higher powers. These are recurrent themes in today's music with the popular emergence of bands that spread self empowerment and meaning like Creed and P.O.D. They were not top billing, but they played last and were definitely the headliners. Sonny stepped out into the crowd and was engulfed in the stream of fans reaching out to touch him. They put on the best performance of the whole show and you could feel the energy they were releasing out into the crowd. Sonny has this calming reassurance about him that even comes through when he is screaming into the mike. Thanks for reading and we'll see ya at the shows.
NICK RUNNING
P.O.D.
------------------
ROB ZOMBIE
BOOKMARK IT!! BOOKMARK IT!! BOOKMARK IT!!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO THE
ROCKTIME MAGAZINE E-MAILING LIST
CLICK BELOW AND TYPE ADD IN THE SUBJECT
BOX, THEN TYPE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IN THE
BODY TEXT AREA AND HIT THE SEND BUTTON.rocktime@rocktime.com
Rock and roll is either a passion or a lifestyle:Rocktime's motif and motto:
ROCK
TIME
PUBLICATIONS
© 1997-2003 All Rights Reserved
