Right now, much of Ohio is getting pounded by a blizzard. That's right, I used the "b" word. In short: it's awful here. We have something like 15 inches of snow in Dayton - and the white stuff continues to fall. The snow started about 8 yesterday morning, and I decided to leave my office and work from home around 10. By afternoon, we had several inches - just in time for the Taste of Chaos tour at Hara Arena.
Since I am an "adult," my husband and I made the trip anyway. The venue is only about 11 miles from our house and the roads were pretty clear, so it wasn't a big deal for us. Still a lot of people going to the show were (shock!) kids, not old enough to drive or too inexperienced to be driving in a blizzard. According to the official Rockstar Taste of Chaos forum, a lot of people with Dayton tickets planned on skipping the event. You couldn't really tell because the arena was still packed, but I would guess a couple hundred people decided to give up rock in favor of the weather.
I did notice a lot of parents with their kids, and that is the point of this entry: thank your parents. Yes, you might be an adult now. I know a lot of my readers have kids of their own - but seriously, I bet your parents sacrificed a lot just so you could have a happy childhood.
Anyway, I joked with Eric that we were the only two people in the arena old enough to buy beer. Of course this wasn't entirely true, but not necessarily that far off either. The only other people that seemed to have money for beer were - you guessed it - the parents. I didn't see any of them drinking either.
I had floor access but stayed in the seats because I don't believe in getting bloodied during a show. At many points in the night, the entire venue floor was a giant mosh pit. No thank you, I bruise easily! Still, I would guess there were some parents standing on the fringe of the pits, feeling terrified, but patiently waiting for the end of the show.
The show was LOUD. I actually had to wear ear plugs it was so loud - that very rarely happens. I was grateful for those ear plugs. Then I looked around and saw the parental figures hunched over, plugging their ears. I felt a little sorry for them.
If you're not familiar, the major bands on Taste of Chaos this year are Bullet For My Valentine, Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold. There were some Japanese bands and contest winners, too. In case you're wondering Bullet and A7X were excellent - I now know I really don't like Atreyu. At any rate, the show was worth the ticket price and the bands seemed genuinely impressed at the size of the crowd considering the blizzard and all.
Here's the Bullet set (and I think this is accurate. I didn't feel like writing last night):
Scream Aim Fire
Disappear
Four Words To Choke Upon
Tears Don’t Fall
Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow
Say Goodnight
Eye of the Storm
Hand of Blood
Waking the Demon
Now here's what Avenged Sevenfold performed:
Critical Acclaim
Second Heartbeat
Afterlife
Beast and the Harlot
Scream
Bat Country
Gunslinger
Seize the Day
Almost Easy
Unholy Confessions
A Little Piece of Heaven
The A7X set was actually pretty Glam with fire, lasers, video screens and confetti - sounds like they a took a few lessons from the Poison (or KIX, depending on which side of the argument you fall) play-book. Remember: huge guitar solos are always appreciated!
I have no doubt in my mind that a whole lot of parents - the ones who didn't actually have tickets and go into the show - fought the blizzard to drop-off and pick-up kids outside the arena. It's bad enough driving once - these brave souls did it twice!
You know, when I was a kid my parents took me and friends to concerts - I'm sure they had zero interest in the music, but they went because we all make sacrifices in life.
Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 10:58AM 
According to my ironclad source, Motley Crue will announce their summer tour April 15 - tax day. 
