The Watcher Zone - Archives

Pre-2007 Concert Reviews

• 08/26/06: DuQUOIN STATE FAIR - DuQuoin, IL: Drowning Pool: The grandstands filled up quickly for this free show, H-bomb & i got there about 10 minutes after the gates opened and were about half-way up, which still had several open seats. Drowning Pool started off with "Sinner" and then with a new song. The new vocalist was very good, an excellent replacement for the original singer who had died several years ago and the second singer who had left for another band. Someone had thrown a beer on the stage during the performance and he said that it was a family show, he had censored the lyrics and expected others to also treat it as a family show, then he said if people were going to throw stuff on the stage, it should be stronger than beer. Towards the end of the show, he invited everybody to get near the stage, which very many people did. They finished the set with "Bodies" - excellent ending to a great show. Lit was scheduled to follow, but we didn't stay for their performance.
• 05/02/06: SIU ARENA - Carbondale, IL: Yellowcard / Mae / Over It / Spearhead: There was supposed to be an emerging artist showcase in the parking lot before the concert, but when i got there @ 6 pm, i didn't see any in the lot or hear any on the hill, then a half hour or so before the scheduled start time, Chicago based bar band Spearhead (think that's what he said) played a short set as a warm up act inside, they're alright but not real exciting. Then opening act Over It played their short set, very lively performance, good band. Mae followed with their set, kinda like a CD, with the first few songs fast & good, then the remainder of the set (except the very last song) being long & slow... filler material... which made their hour set seem much longer. Yellowcard followed up the show with songs from their newest CD "Lights & Sounds" and "Ocean Avenue," alternating between the albums, with a song thrown in from an older album. The crowd seemed to respond better to songs from "OA." They did an encore with 2 songs. This concert was seriously undersold, with a hot blonde female Security guard saying only 700 tix were sold with another 500 given away, which everybody there could have fit on the half-court closest to the stage. People were freely moving from the seats to the floor, which security didn't even try to prevent. With this poor turn-out, it's no wonder that not many bands are booking the Arena, since a band as big as Yellowcard should have had more tix sold, even for a weekday.
• 04/22/06: SIU CAMPUS - Carbondale, IL : mtvU's Campus Invasion '06: Motion City Soundtrack / Straylight Run / Hellogoodbye: This outdoor concert came close to being cancelled due to weather. Hellogoodbye's crew was setting up when it started raining, and they hurried to cover up everything with plastic. After about half an hour, the rain let up, the sun came out, and the crew took the plastic off. Hellogoodbye thanked everyone for braving the weather & started to play. Decent set, you could tell the band was enjoying themselves. Most of the songs were slow, but they did have a few faster ones, finishing with probably their fastest song of the evening. It appeared that most of the spectators were just hanging around, waiting for the headliners, as very few seemed to be paying any attention to the stage. We left our close position during the set up for Straylight Run since more storm clouds were blowing in & Lil L didn't enjoy most of the first set, so H-bomb, Lil E & I all left - so unsure who else played during this Spring Thing, but when we got to Marion, it started raining there, so pretty sure that it had started raining again in Carbondale shortly after we had left. Found out later that they cancelled the remainder of the show.
• 04/14/06: POP'S - Sauget, IL: Taking Back Sunday / Tokyo Rose / Suicide City: Suicide City got things started with a very good punk set which got the moshers started. The female guitar player was very fetching in her tattoos & leather outfit (i wish i was her guitar). Extremely energetic performance, lead singer was literally hanging from the lighting framework several times and went body surfing a couple times. Tokyo Rose followed with a slightly mellower (by comparison) performance. Played several of their hits. When they came out, they were tuning their guitars, etc. as if they were the stage hands, then started playing & singing without fanfare or introduction - very cool. Then Taking Back Sunday took the stage, starting with "A Decade Under the Influence," everybody sang along. Did songs from their past 2 albums and a couple of songs from their upcoming album (of course the first song was Make Damn Sure). They followed with an encore & played a few more songs. I had seen them before at Pop's @ 2 years ago and they sounded just as good now (see "pre-2006 concert archives" link below). They have improved their stage set with a large metal sign that has their band name & also with a couple of other lights, previously they had just used the standard stage lights. There was a cameraman filming a little during their show, but it's unlikely i'll show up on any videos since i wasn't in the center of the crowd during their performance. During the first two bands' performances, i was in the middle of the crowd and slightly stage right, being a bumper/pusher to the half-dozen or so (apparently college athlete) moshers for almost every song, especially during Suicide City's set (and i had the bruises to prove it), the floor was wet with the water being splashed around by the other concert goers, with at least 1 mosher falling during each song, (had some trouble keeping footing myself) who was immediately picked up by the rest of us. During moshing breaks, the crowd wouldn't fill the gap immediately, so the moshers & i would stand with some breathing room for a few moments. The moshing died down during TBS but the body surfing increased, keeping security busy catching all those who made it to the front. I went to get some much needed water after Tokyo Rose's set and didn't push myself back into the middle of the crowd before TBS's show, instead opting to get front row on the railing at extreme stage right, nearest to where the band walks up the ramp to the stage, so was about the same distance from the stage as i had been before.
• 03/19/06: ROBERTS STADIUM - Evansville, IN: Nickelback / Chevelle / Trapt: We got there a bit late, so Trapt was already playing by the time we found our seats. We were in the upper deck - stage right corner, but had a good view of the stage & floor, good performance by Trapt, finished their set with their hit "Headstrong." This was the first time I've seen them play. Next up was Chevelle, which was a good surprise since I was expecting Default to be one of the opening acts. Strong performance - they also played a song from their upcoming album, also the first time I've seen them play. Then Nickelback came out & the crowd went wild. Excellent performance, excellent pyrotechnics (rivals Kiss's even), they also had large screens behind them that showed the band members, audience & music videos during their performance - they didn't have all this the last time I saw them at the SIU Arena (see pre-2006 reviews link below). Also had air guns for roadies to shoot t-shirts out into the crowd. Didn't see any moshing or body surfing at all. Came out & did 1 song for their encore. Downtown Stacy B. had gotten tix over a month prior, which was a good thing since it appeared that this show sold well early, hence the upper level seating, since had people up to the rafters (literally, the top few rows have gaps for the rafters & the upper walkway behind the last row requires one to step over the rafters), but were able to get aisle seats for our crew of her hubby, DBW & me.
• 07/08/05: GMC STADIUM - Sauget, IL: The Bob Dylan Show / Willie Nelson & Family / The Greencards: The Greencards started the show with their bluegrass set, decent but short - only @ 30 minutes. Then next up was Willie Nelson & Family, very good show, got the crowd going, sang a lot of his popular songs & one from his upcoming country-reggae album. Willie threw out a couple of straw cowboy hats he was wearing during his set and a couple people threw their ballcaps up onto the stage, which he wore for a while then threw back into the crowd. Bob Dylan & band came out & played and everyone seemed to be mesmerized, with one encore. I was expecting him to play a guitar, but he played a keyboard. He did a song that I overheard someone say after the show that he did rarely, as it was very personal to himself. Sarah Ann & I were able to get close enough to the stage to see the whites of their eyes since we had early entrance tickets [gold like Willy Wonka...] (heard a guy in line outside while we were going in asking "how come they're getting in early?"), with people starting to crowd the stage right before Willie came up, before that many people were sitting on the ground with blankets, I presume this is customary for those who are used to grass seating at an outdoor concert.
• 06/22/05: POP'S - Sauget, IL: Adema / Shortie / threesixtysmile / Prig: Prig got things started with their Alt/Thrash metal set, very good band. Next up was threesixtysmile, which I've seen before at Pop's (either under the name Scorched Earth Policy or i didn't review that concert...), was able to get a bump on the fist from the drummer after their excellent set. Then Shortie came up & got the people to start moshing & body surfing (had seen them at Pop's before also, either under the name A thorn for every heart or Collateral Insight, I think... may have switched the previous band names with the other act but have definitely seen them both here before), was able to get a decal being handed out by the band. Then Adema came out and really got the crowd going, singing songs from all 3 of their albums (not counting soundtracks or compilations here). There were lots of people getting on stage & dancing, got off by stage diving and then being bodysurfed around a bit, even the 2 g.s. boys were able to get up several times, some of the people got on the stage from the front by either crawling up or bodysurfing up & others by running from around the side. Lead singer Luke Caraccioli stage dived several times & walked out into the crowd twice during the performance. I was able to get a couple of handshakes/grabs from him and bass player Dave DeRoo from the stage. The crowd went nuts when Luke announced the last song, with some slam-dancing and a couple guys punching, so I backed up a bit from my position leaning on the stage to block for a couple of redheads to my immediate left, but it didn't get too bad. There were some angry yelling in the parking lot afterwards with the security guys walking around, but didn't see any fights outside, but there was a h.s. aged girl outside with an icepack held to her face, which may have been from moshing. The crowd wasn't too big, probably due to this being a weeknight.
• 06/18/05: POP'S: Seether / Crossfade / No Address: No Address started things off with their set, and we quickly realized that we had heard their music before, as they played several familiar songs, very good set. Next up was Crossfade. The crowd got even more wild and the moshing began in earnest. Very lively & energetic performance, they sound as good live as they do on their CD. Then came co-headliner Seether. And the crowd got even more wild, with moshing on almost every song & body surfers coming one after the other, usually right over our heads since we had managed to work up to near the front & center of the stage, I almost went body-surfing when I backed up to see if I was on someone's dropped cell phone (wasn't) and a guy grabbed my leg to hoist me up, quickly called him off of that...also 2 flashers, with 1 woman flashing a couple times... Very good set, they came out for 2 encores, with the 2nd & last encore playing their hit "Broken" acoustically, with just the guitar player & vocals, lead singer Shaun Morgan didn't sing much of the first part of the song since the audience sang most of it. DBW was able to get a Seether guitar pic, given to her by a guy using the light from his cell phone to look around on the floor after the show and a water bottle thrown out into the audience by No Address. And finally props to our fellow moshers Matt & Mike, without whom we would have been moshed/crushed even worse than we actually were - with these 2 guys, we were able to keep most of the people off of DBW's head/back as the moshing was about the most intense I've seen.
• 03/25/05: WILLIAMSON CO. PAVILION - Marion, IL: David Allen Cole / The Kentucky Headhunters / Shooter Jennings / Lance Miller / Jackson Junction: Local "Nashville Star" Lance Miller, backed by Jackson Junction, got things started with their set, good vocals, pretty decent considering the type of music they played... Then Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon) came out and livened things up with his brand of Alternative/Outlaw Country, where you could tell his roots in rock were still evident. Lively performance. David Allen Cole came out & sang a duet on one song. Then Grammy Award winning The Kentucky Headhunters followed, during which the drummer did a 12 minute (yes, i checked) solo while the rest of the band went on break backstage... Then David Allen Cole came out & phoned-in his performance, not very energetic, no breaks between songs as if he was in a hurry. But it was distracting the way some audience members were apparently behaving during his set, as security kept having to go to a certain area. Sarah Ann was able to get us excellent seats in the 3rd row, just off-center stage left.
• 11/13/04: COPPER DRAGON - Carbondale, IL: Three Days Grace / Modern Day Zero / Aujulyn: Local band Aujulyn opened up the show with their set, they're a decent band even though cuz Death thought they were "derivative of the genre." Modern Day Zero was up next and really got the crowd going. There were 2 people almost moshing (more like one drunk trying to shove around another) & security broke them up pretty quick. Very good band, H-bomb's favorite of the night. Then Three Days Grace came out & played their hits & other songs. During an intermission, the drummer & 1 of the guitar players were jamming while the others were offstage, the guitar player (with the Xtreme mohawk) got out a cordless power drill & was playing his guitar with it, very entertaining. They finished up with their first hit "I hate everything about you." Even though we were waiting outside in line before getting in, we could have gotten front row on the floor directly in front of the stage, but the stage there is very high, shoulder height or higher, so we opted for the balcony (2nd floor perimeter, actually) and were able to get on the railing beside the stage, looking down on the bands. H-bomb was leaning against the back wall, which the drummer was only about a foot in front of it, and I was standing against the rail, directly across & between the drummer & the guitar/bass players & vocalist. Looking straight down, there was about a 5 foot gap between the balcony & the stage, so very close to the bands, especially considering the height of the stage itself. Death, on the floor, almost got a drum stick at the end of the show. This is the first time I've been to the Copper Dragon for a concert, had tried to see Revis there last year, but it was sold out. Had thought it was in the front building, but is actually the one behind it. They're also a micro-brewery and you can see the tanks through the front window & from the inside of the front bar area. Leaving the building, we had to be careful to avoid the chunks blown on the sidewalk outside that someone else had walked through. Considering the usual crowds at Pop's, the attendees at Carbondale were very tame, with only the 1 moshing incident & absolutely no body surfing, although I did see 2 people dragged outside by security, with 1 holding the other around the neck with their arm.
• 10/24/04: POP'S: Coheed & Cambria / Under Oath / 3: The band 3 got things going with their set. Some of their songs were strictly instrumental & you could tell that they are very good musicians. They had 2 drummers, and at one point they were reaching over & hitting the other's drum set, which was very artistic in a "Stomp" kind of way. The front man played several different types of guitar/guitar-like instruments, switching between songs. Then there was Under Oath. Excellent set, they could have been the headliners, as you could tell that the crowd was very into them. The front vocalist & the drummer shared vocal duties, as well as the guitarists doing back up vocals, very smooth. After their set and before Coheed & Cambria actually came out, they cut the lights on stage and the crowd went nuts in anticipation. When Coheed & Cambria came out, it got even more intense on the floor. They did almost, if not all of the songs from their CD. They came out for an encore & did a few more songs, finishing up with the chorus "man your battlestations." When they came back out for the encore & the audience was chanting "Coheed," the lead singer started chanting "F**king A" and every one joined in, very funny. Very good show, with lots of moshers & body surfers, some of the moshers just cleared out an area by wildly swinging their arms instead of the standard body checking and a few guys were doing back flips and were held upside down while they kicked their legs. This show wasn't sold out when I got there @ 7 pm, as there were people lined up at the outside ticket window purchasing some. But the line in the parking lot was almost as long as the one at the TBS concert & was wider, so was probably close to the same body count, and the way it filled up inside made it look like it did sell out for the night. Yes, I was in the balcony again as the floor was already full by the time I got inside, but was directly in front of the stage in the front of the balcony, so still a good position as could see the stage unobstructed over the heads of all the moshers on the floor (and directly in the path of some of the stage lights, so was shielding my eyes frequently). And from what I learned regarding parking at the previous show, I was out of the parking lot & on the street before most people had made it to their vehicles.
• 09/29/04: POP'S: Taking Back Sunday / Fall Out Boy / Matchbook Romance / a thorn for every heart: A thorn for every heart got things started with their set, kind of generic, and they announced between every song that their debut CD will be coming out in october. They had an energetic stage performance, but are in need of some choreography, and the comment from the swishy lead singer asking for guys & gals to come backstage to "make out" with this all-male band got the attention of some of the females in my area. Matchbook Romance came out next and opened with "My Eyes Burn" from the Vans Warped Tour 2004 CD, very good performance and rest of set, you could tell they were more polished than the opening act. Then Chicago group Fall Out Boy were up next, the first few songs sounded disjointed, as if some of the instruments weren't being broadcast or were out of sync, unless it was supposed to sound that way, otherwise kind of generic, also... Taking Back Sunday walked onto the stage in darkness, but the crowd went wild since we could still see them, they opened with the title track from "Where You Want To Be" and played songs from their new CD as well as previous ones. The lead singer Adam Lazzara said that this was only the second show of their new tour. Seems that almost everybody there sang along. Adam even halted the show for a moment to check on a female body surfer who made it to the front to the gap between the fence & the stage and hit the floor. After they finished their main set, the audience kept going until Adam & guitarist/co-singer Fred Mascherino came out and did an acoustic version of a song, with the rest of the band (other guitarist, bassist & drummer) coming out during it to join in and then do a couple more songs before finishing their show. This show was sold out, so it was as crowded as the Evanescence concert pics on 1057thepoint.com. When I arrived, the line was strung out through the parking lot & it didn't look possible for everybody outside to fit inside, but they did. Needless to say, I wasn't able to get a good floor location, but was able to get a chair in the balcony almost directly in front of the stage. Felt more like an observer instead of a participant up there, but at least got an excellent view of the stage & floor activities & didn't have to worry about the frequent body surfers or moshing. At times, there were up to 6 surfers going at the same time, and every once in a while they would run into each other, or would be detoured around a mosh pit.
• 09/20/04: POP'S: 40 Below Summer / Slytheryn / Collateral Insight / Scorched Earth Policy / Cleevage: I've bled for metal, more on that later. Local band (Alton, IL) Cleevage got things going with their short set, then Scorched Earth Policy kept it going, revealing this to be a thrash-metal kind of evening with, at times intense, moshing. Collateral Insight were decent, but not really memoriable. Slytheryn's lead singer looked to be about a 15 year old boy and several of the band to be about the same age, but when he started singing, he had the expected gravelly voice, which could hardly be heard over the music on most songs, either due to his singing softly or mic settings. There was some guy who was either spastic or thought he was filming a music video, the way he was behaving with his moshing, grabbing the legs of the lead singer & beating on the stage with his fists, but he only lasted a couple songs before he disappeared into the crowd again. 40 Below Summer came out & got almost everybody on the floor & moshing, reached up with several other guys on the front row when it looked like the singer was about to fall into the audience. They also did a couple songs that the lead singer said were coming out on their next CD and that nobody there had heard before. Kept getting shoved against the stage during most of the night by the moshers (where I had parked the entire night), but didn't get injured until the last song, when some goober grabbed over the top of my head with his arm & cut my nose with my own glasses, hence the blood comment earlier. All in all, a pretty extreme night. And was able to get an autograph from lead singer Max Illidge of 40 Below Summer on the ticket stub after the show.
• 08/31/04: POP'S: Tantric / Arythma / Red Light Music / Trypnotic: Trypnotic got things going with their "Faith No More"-style of music, alternating rapping with singing, lead singer said it may be their last show if they don't get in contact with a record executive... then asked if any were in the house... but none were - Good band, I hope they don't give up yet. Red Light Music was up next, decent band, kind of mellow. Arythma got things wound up again, with people starting to come out on the floor in front of the stage. Had been only 2 females & myself for a good part of the first set & a few others for the second set, so I was able to attach myself to the stage & stay there the entire night. Then there was Tantric. And the crowd went wild. Very excellent show - they played many of their hits from previous albums & some songs from their latest CD. Was next to a jr. high looking boy who was able to get a drumstick from a set up person there & he also got a guitar pic from one of the players. I was able to get a pic that was thrown at the end of the show, and was also able to pull the song list that was taped to the stage & handed it off to the boy. Like the Revis concert (review below), I was literally looking straight up whenever the lead singer came to the edge of the stage & had to be careful not to be stepped on... a few times, he was kneeling down while he sang & had his leg against my arm... pretty kewl... and his face was close enough that i could have sang into the mic! At the end, the blond guitarist was grabbing hands & bumping fists & i was able to get my hand up for a bump. This is the closest proximity that I've been to a band so far.
• 08/06/04: POP'S: Bad Boys of Metal: Not sure what happened to the original review I had here for The Bad Boys of Metal, apparently disappeared during a previous update. Anyway... the line up for the opening act Bang Tango was the lead singer & guitarist of Beautiful Creatures, the original bassist from Quiet Riot and the drummer was the lead singer of the band Racer-X. Next set was the same line up, but the drummer was replaced with Steven Adler, original drummer of Guns'N'Roses. Then the first drummer came back out for the next set with Jani Lane of Warrant doing the vocals, at the end of his set he came down onto the floor to sing to this dude in a wheelchair. And the grand finale was Kevin Dubrow, the original singer and the voice of Quiet Riot. They did a lot of the QR hits, very good show with 2 of the original members of QR.
• 08/05/04: POP'S: Finger Eleven / Thornley / Moments in Grace / Strata: What a show! Strata got things going with their set, Moments in Grace slightly slowed things down a bit, but still excellent, Thornley turned up the energy and then Finger Eleven came out & the crowd went wild. Very good performance, they finished their set with "One Thing" and very many sang along, very harmonious for over a hundred voices. Saw only 1 body surfer, who made it all the way to the front.
• 04/13/04: POP'S: The Distillers / The Icarus Line / The Lot Six: The Distillers RULE - Opening act The Lot Six were good & got the crowd going. Then The Icarus Line came on and slowed the crowd down because they SUCKED - it was like an amateur bar band, thinking that just because it's louder means it sounds better, the ringing in my ears barely let me hear their noises & you couldn't make out the screams of the lead vocalist, I wasn't the only one who walked away from the stage covering my ears in pain. But when The Distillers came out, the crowd got going again. Moshing was intense the first few songs, but then calmed down when everybody got tired & a couple guys immediately helped a guy get up who had fell, only saw 2 body surfers. And lead singer Brody Dalle is totally hot.
• 08/22/03: DUQUOIN STATE FAIR - IL: Revis - I was able to work myself up to the stage before the concert began. Some lady got up beside me during the concert, displacing some jr. high boy. She was using a digital camera & after a while she said that it would appear on the web the next day, turns out she was the bass player Bob Thiemann's mother. She thanked me for allowing her up front, but I indicated that she should thank the boy she displaced, so she did. Near the end of the concert, she moved back & allowed the boy to get back up front. I was able to get a guitar pic that the bassist dropped during the concert. During the concert when the lead singer Justin Holman was touching the outstretched hands reaching to the stage, I tentatively reached up but pulled back when he was backing up, but he came back to grab my hand, I thought this was especially good of him to literally reach out to the fans like that. There were a few times when I had to literally look straight up to see the performance and back up to not get stepped on by the lead singer or the bassist.
• 07/27/03: ROBERTS STADIUM - Evansville, IN: Korn / Revolution Smile: I survived Korn! Close enough to see the whites of their eyes! Almost got a guitar pic thrown in my general direction at the end of the show, except the dude next to me stepped on it while I was trying pick it up. The moshing was pretty rough (I gave as good as I got), the body surfing was minimalistic (less than 1 per minute...), only saw 1 flasher from the side (A/B-cup), but apparently there was some in the back on the floor between bands when the lights were up, there was probably only about 5 - 10% of the cigs being smoked... tobacco! Almost seemed that Indiana had legalized pot, as openly as everybody was smoking the crap...Mosh Pit advice: It's better to be on the edge of a mosh pit than behind the people on the edge of the mosh pit, you can see the mosher coming and brace yourself for impact. I did this for the first nearby moshing to block for DBW & fared better than the other times, when we got shoved around by the surging crowd. Revolution Smile was the opening act - very good band.
• 04/11/03: ROBERTS STADIUM: *Cancelled* Linkin Park / Mudvayne / Xzibit / Blindside: Even though this concert was cancelled at the last minute (we were in the parking lot before concert time when we found out), almost everybody in the various bands (except Chester of Linkin Park, who was the reason for the cancellation, being "sick" / later heard hungover) were signing autographs behind a barricade of folding tables outside. I was able to get the autographs of Mike Shinoda & Brad Delson.
• 04/19/02: SIU ARENA - Carbondale, IL: Nickelback / Default / Injected / Star Sailor: The lead singer of Star Sailor came out by himself & did an acoustic performance, which I heard later that they were supposed to play outside beforehand, but it was rainy, so they couldn't. Very energetic guitar, more so than on their CD. Injected was up next, followed by Default, not very memorable. Nickelback followed & got the audience going, at times it seemed like everybody on the floor was jumping in unison. A couple jr.high looking boys tried to start moshing, but I put a quick stop to it by staring them down... kinda funny. This was my first concert with body surfers & got kicked in the head a few times, not very fun at all, there were also body surfers during the ballads, which I thought was out of place. Also the first concert with flashers that I saw, so it balances out.
• 04/05/01: SIU ARENA: Godsmack / Staind / Cold / Systematic: It wasn't certain that I would be able to attend this show until the same day, so I didn't get advance tickets & had to settle for bleacher seats, but was across from the stage on the left side. Systematic got the show going, followed by Cold. I hadn't heard of Cold before then, but you could tell they were going to be big, very good set, played all the songs from their first CD. Then Staind came out and played their hits from their 'Break the Cycle' CD, as this was about the time that they got big. Very good show, lighters lit up the audience during their ballads. Then Godsmack came out & got everybody on their feet (in the bleachers, since the floor was already on their feet) - I had to move away from the stage to see around the set, as they had a dungeon set with walls set up around the sides, with their sun symbol spinning & shooting flames out of the center. Near the end of the concert, they got many audience members up on stage with them, including some from McLeansboro (which I heard about later).
• 09/01/00: SIU ARENA: Kiss / Ted Nugent / Skid Row: Skid Row got things started with their greatest hits, good performance. Then Ted Nugent got things going with his show, shooting a flaming arrow into a hanging guitar at one point. Then there was the set up for Kiss, the crowd went wild when they dropped a curtain in front of the stage. They got even louder when it was apparent the show was about to start, and Kiss didn't disappoint. Cuz Death had seen Kiss before & said they did almost the exact same set as before, during another farewell tour show. We were close enough to the stage to feel the heat from the pyrotechnics and it was welcome relief when they had the dry-ice fog machines going. Death was able to get a pic as he had worked his way up to almost the front row & I was within 10 feet of the front of the crowd. When Gene Simmons went over the crowd on a harnass, I was almost directly underneath the path he took. Very good show, excellent pyrotechnics & other special effects.
• mid 1980s: MARION CIVIC CENTER - Marion, IL: Rich Mullins: I was a roadie for Rich. PA & I were able to get free tickets to this show in the original Civic Center (before the fire of a few years ago) by agreeing to help load the equipment after the show. Not sure what the opening band is called anymore, but their music is now being played at church, being a Contemporary Christian pop band. Good performance. Rich Mullins came out & played barefoot, as he says he usually does. Wal-Ter was there & left with his soon-to-be-bride Ja-Nice after hearing Rich preach a bit, with which Wal-Ter didn't agree. Anyway, PA & I got backstage passes & got to personally meet Rich, but no autograph, whom I heard later has since died.

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