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IN THIS ISSUE:
DVD Review Jeremy Arth: The Bootlog True Experience: Friends of Ezra TTOY Hall of Fame BTE Impressions
Volume 2
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IN THE ZONE...
Dear Diary:
It happened again. I let the addiction take control. I can't believe I let it happen! It's just that...it's soo powerful... and it feels soo good when it takes over. I lost the battle on Oct 2 at the Zonefest Festival hosted by 98.7 "The Zone." It was a grey, overcast day when I arrived at the venue, War Memorial Stadium. The gates had opened at 10:00 and by the time I arrived at 10:30 the field was already covered with anxious fans! ( I had no idea of how big this festival was!) Em and I quickly found a spot and settled in for the looongg wait before the 5:30 appearance of Better Than Ezra. The grey, threatening clouds had departed just before the first act for the festival stepped onstage. (Yes! No Rain + No Lightening = BTE show!! Waaaah! No clouds = blistering hot sun!!) The festival started with popular, local cover band named the Brat pack. (They played "Love Shack" I loved them! Enough said.) Next was Diana Anaid ( Sounded like she had an Australian accent. Cool! I wonder how the heck she wound up playing this festival in NORTH CAROLINA??) Then Avion took the stage. ( One of their songs is in regular rotation on the radio. I can't think of the song title... Oh well. They weren't bad.)
Next was Gavin Degraw. The crowd of teenagers had pulled in tighter when they realized Gavin was about to take the stage. All of the teenyboopers were trying to defy the laws of science by trying to push a solid through a solid! (Hello, teen child. You can't push through me and the 2 people in front of me, so just stand still and enjoy the show! Grrrr!!) There was so much pushing and shoving that I thought we were at a WWF match! The crowd just squealed and screamed at every word Gavin sang. (Hmmph. Just wait until BTE comes out, I thought. THEN we'll hear some screaming and yellin and hootin and hollerin!) The Pat McGee Band took the stage next. (Not bad. It'll be interesting to hear Pat's music played in an indoor venue with BTE in the fall.) Sister Hazel took the stage next. There were a LOT of Sister Hazel fans present. Many of them were wearing their "Rock the Boat" shirts. ( I wonder if they made those or did they buy them...) Local-musician-done-well, Edwin McCain was next. He plays nice mellow music. The heat and the mellow music was not a good combo. My eye lids were soo heavy during his set. (Thank goodness Edwin sings with his eyes closed during most of his set. He might have seen me do the "trying to fight sleep" head bob. I would have felt soo bad if he saw that. Not a rock-n-roll thing to do!) Toby Lightman came on after that. That 'ol saying "dynamite comes in small packages" totally applies to her. That woman has a set of lungs on her that would make Celine Dion jealous! OK. As luck would have it, half way through Toby's set, the wind picked up and those grey clouds rolled back in. I saw Toby's stage manager signal that she needed to cut her set list. (I am ashamed to say that I was happy about this. She was good, but...well...the addiction had almost taken total control and proper etiquette had been squelched. I HAD to hear BTE!!! I had survived through hours of heat, dehydration, pushing, and shoving and damnit I wanted to hear at least ONE BTE song!) |
I kept chanting, "rain, rain, go away – come back another day." Well, the chant didn't work this day! The heavens opened up and a heavy downpour of icy, cold rain beat steadily on our heads. (so glad I didn't bother to fix up my hair!) I kept my eyes pealed and my ears open for the two dreaded things: thunder and lightening. Neither made an appearance. After about 20 minutes of hard, steady raining it suddenly stopped and the BTE road crew went to work with robotic like speed and precision! (Mike, Brian, and Kenny are the uber-rock crew!) By this time the addiction had complete control over me. I was chanting for BTE to come out. I was looking at the fans of other bands with an air of smugness. MY band was about to hit the stage and these other fans were going to be blown away! MY band is made up of super talented musicians that know how to put on an a—kicking show! Nyah, Nyah!! (I should have been ashamed, but I wasn't. That's a side affect of this addiction. Sitting here and writing right now, I see that I really enjoyed all the bands, but standing there water-logged, dehydrated with my BTE addiction at critical levels – well, the other bands didn't stand a chance. BTE bounced onstage and you could tell the guys had been infected with the energetic vibe that surrounded this festival. They came out rockin with a pumped up performance of "Good." KG couldn't keep still, Tom was already in his rock groove, and Travis – what can I say – Travis put a hurtin' on dem drums! As usual, KG made sure to greet the audience. He joked that this festival rocked because they had Bojangles chicken for sale. He said that he had told Tom that he felt like eating chicken and there was Bojangles! (KG. He is too silly!) He mused that it had been a couple of years since they had played Greensboro. (Can you believe it? A couple of years! Such a crime to torture the Greensboro fans like that!)
"Misunderstood" was next, followed by "Extra Ordinary." ( Hmmm... EO didn't get much radio play where I live, and yet people at this show know the lyrics...) Before playing "King of New Orleans" Kevin looked to the right of the stage and asked if that was the VIP section. He looked back at the crowd in front of the stage and said that he didn't care what anyone said – the VIP section was right here in front of the stage. The crowd went wild! (Em and I had been discussed this point earlier. The VIP area was set up in the bleachers that were located a good distance from the stage. The musicians must have looked like dots dancing around! Oh well. Good for the non-connected fans 'cause we got the better view!) They played KONO. Tom was rocking out during this song! He totally had the head banging movement goin on! KG talked about the DVD and Live CD. (Promotion good!) He joked that the DVD contained scenes of pixilated body parts. He said it was mainly Travis that was pixilated 'cause you know how those drummers are. Travis just played along by raising his hands up and shrugging. (They are so silly! Luv it!) They slowed down the pace and played "At the Stars" and "Lifetime." (Oh, I how I love those songs!) Again the crowd knew the lyrics and were just screaming them out. At one point during "Lifetime" KG just let the audience sing the song. Travis stood up and was yelling for the crowd to sing along! (Yeah Travis! Tell em!) They kicked the pace back up with "In the Blood." Then they ended the set with a super high tempo "Desperately Wanting." AAAHHHH!! MAN, how I needed that! My addiction had been fed. What a happy, happy day! I wonder when the addiction will take control again? Oh please let it wait a couple of weeks. I totally need to rest! I love BTE! Ciao P.S. Ooopss. I almost forgot. Five for Fighting closed out the festival. I was curious to see if John Ondrasik could hit the high notes during a live performance. Guess what? He did! Want more Zonefest Pics? Go here. |
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