The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

[TenaciousBe]

American pancake is an well-executed range of flavors and textures - the shining crust gives procedure to a sumptuously soft and light secret, delicately silvery, leaving a mumble of vanilla on the palate. Drizzled with rich, amber maple syrup, the pancake comes active, sacrifice a peerless blend of earthy sweetness, a symphony of flavors that dances on the tongue, making each bite an altogether empyreal experience.

That's... um..... well, I have the hungriest boner right now.

Also, I claim American Pancake as my new band name.

[maximzub]

I officially dub this the craziest weekend of my life.

I played a show with YEBIGAH!!! on Friday. Then drove 7 hours on Saturday to see Volbeat and Halestorm. Then drove 7 hours back to play at a fundraiser/music festival at home, which not only included our own set, but also me having to fill in on lead guitar with my favorite local band on a very short notice.

Write ups of all three events will be coming soon, I promise!

[zazthespaz]

I think you're safe - zaz is the only mod still active here [...] It's the inmates running the asylum at this point.

Please don't shiv me.

[maximzub]

As July was winding to a close, I knew that it was going to win craziest month of the year this year. I don't even need to see how the rest of the months go to know that this will be the case.

What I didn't know at the time was that the weekend of July 28, 29, and 30 was about to be the craziest weekend of not only this year, but my whole life up to this point. Here's part 1, focusing on our show on Friday.

So a couple weeks ago, my dad and I were jamming with our friend and neighbor Matt. The three of us form a band called YEBIGAH!!!. Originally it was another neighbor named Robert on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, my dad on lead guitar, Matt on bass, and me on drums and backing vocals. We played a couple shows with that lineup. In late 2020, Robert decided that he didn't want to play with us anymore, so ever since then, I've taken his place. Therefore, the band has really become an extension of Six Speed, which is the acoustic duo of me and my dad.

At that jam, Matt asked us if we had any shows coming up. He thought that he might be able to join us for part of one. (I've written about the hour-long show he joined us for in September in a separate thread.) We both know he likes to learn new songs, so I asked if he was up for playing the whole show with us. He agreed.

We had three practices after that: July 17, July 24, and July 26. The last one was special because he also invited one of his coworkers to join us on drums so we could play electric. I like the guy, and I think if we keep him, we could become a full band again and start booking shows. But back to the July 28 show.

The day came, and we did the usual stuff with the load in of equipment and everything. Unlike Six Speed's last show on July 23, we didn't run into any problems while setting up. Anyway, here's the show review. I'm not gonna go song by song like I usually do because not every song had something special. Instead, I'll just post the setlist and then talk about the highlights.

Set 1:
I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles cover)
Mary Jane's Last Dance (Tom Petty cover)
Fast As You (Dwight Yoakam cover)
Interstate Love Song (Stone Temple Pilots cover)
Patience (Guns N' Roses cover)
Have You Ever Seen The Rain (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
Nothing Else Matters (Metallica cover)
I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover)
Turn The Page (Bob Seger/Metallica cover)
Last Kiss (Pearl Jam cover)
The Man Who Sold The World (David Bowie/Nirvana cover)
Blood And Roses (The Smithereens cover)
Runaway Train (Soul Asylum cover)
Guiding Light (Headroom Karma song)
Squeeze Box (The Who cover)
Bad Guy (Billie Eilish cover)
Don't Stop Believin' (Journey cover)

Set 2:
Champaign, Illinois (Old 97's cover)
Whiskey In The Jar (Thin Lizzy/Metallica cover)
Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Journey/Daughtry cover)
Roadtrip Song (Headroom Karma song)
If It Means A Lot To You (A Day To Remember cover)
It's My Life (Bon Jovi cover)
Rainbow In The Dark (Dio cover)
Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison cover)
Watch Over You (Alter Bridge cover)
Still Friends (Headroom Karma song)
Purple Rain (Prince cover)
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd cover)
Familiar Taste Of Poison (Halestorm cover)
Lola Montez (Volbeat cover)
The Bliss (Volbeat cover)
Running Down A Dream (Tom Petty cover)
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover)

- Matt invited some of his coworkers and friends to the show, as well as his wife and her parents, so we had a great crowd.
- I broke a guitar string during Interstate Love Song. I switched to a spare guitar, but my dad later replaced the string during our set break.
- Our musician friend Tim Crull showed up during Patience.
- Matt's father-in-law asked that we play Nothing Else Matters. Little did he know it was already on the setlist.
- Lei and Dave showed up while my dad was setting up the accordion for Squeeze Box.
- My dad played accordion for Squeeze Box and Bad Guy. It was awesome. Both the people that had never seen us before and those that had seen us pull out the accordion loved it.
- Don't Stop Believin' got the best crowd reaction of the entire show, and one of the best crowd reactions we've ever had. I seriously considered letting the crowd take over singing during some parts.
- We were supposed to play Rockin' In The Free World by Neil Young after that, but we skipped it to leave time for Lei and Dave to play a set.
- Lei and Dave played Summer Of '69 by Bryan Adams, Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, Somebody Like You by Keith Urban, and Seven Bridges Road by Eagles. My dad played cajon for all songs, and Tim Crull and I joined to sing harmonies for Seven Bridges Road. It's always a song that brings a huge positive reaction.
- Somehow, we messed up Whiskey In The Jar pretty badly.
- As I always do, I played It's My Life by myself. What's funny is that I missed chords left and right, and even messed up the lyrics. I rarely do that with any of these songs, let alone my second favorite of all time that I've been playing acoustic ever since I started playing acoustic over 3 years ago.
- I was surprised to hear after the show that Dave's favorite song we played was Rainbow In The Dark. He also said he really liked the overall setlist and how it flowed.
- However, I already knew that Lei's favorite song we played was Brown Eyed Girl. It's also one of Matt's wife's favorite songs.
- When I introduced Still Friends as a song that I wrote "back in high school", my dad and Matt teased me for acting like high school was a long time ago. I later showed Lei the text messages that inspired the bridge, which is her favorite part of the song.
- When I said that we were going to see Volbeat and Halestorm the next day, Matt's father-in-law shouted out, "Lzzy!" He's apparently a big Halestorm fan.
- I remembered after The Bliss that it was actually Matt that introduced us to Volbeat in 2019. I brought this fact up before our next song, much to everyone's surprise.
- Ever since we got wireless systems for our guitars, I walk out into the crowd every time I play the final solo of Running Down A Dream. This time, Matt also walked out as well, so the three of us were all in very different places in the bar at one time.
- I did a spinning jump during Folsom Prison Blues.

Overall, the show was probably the best we've ever played. The energy was at its highest, and the crowd was the best. It surely was a night to remember.

[MaraCarr]

I have to share this wonderful invention and no unfortunately I did not invent this although I wish I would have.

I bought this new neck fan gadget on Amazon Prime Day. It was on sale for $23.00. I am working this job where it is extremely hot on the treatment floor. I have to wear tons of PPE (I look like an astronaut when it’s all in place) I have been miserable and sweaty and look very much like I’m literally melting by the end of my shift.

So I was desperately seeking …
A cooling device that doesn’t break infection control rules.

I found this amazing fan! I even take it with me when I run! It has a USB charger that comes with it.

Since my purchase and since the first day I wore it to work… my life is better!

I have since sold one to all of my coworkers. I didn’t sell them for profit of course just out of kindness. I only charged the cost of each unit.

Everyone is so much happier! Buy one… They are absolutely life changing. Mine is Jisulife.

[TenaciousBe]

......
Overall, the show was probably the best we've ever played. The energy was at its highest, and the crowd was the best. It surely was a night to remember.

I didn't want to quote the whole thing as to save space, but I loved reading all of this. Glad you had such an awesome time!

On the messing up chords/lyrics, I still do that on some songs that I've been doing for 10+ years now (including my own originals!). It happens to everyone -- I never really noticed till recently that even the almighty Eddie Vedder, on PJ's infamous MTV Unplugged show, messes up during Black and sings the end of the second pre-chorus twice. Right after the "oooooh" dropoff, on the first time around it should be "and all I taught her was everything" but he mistakenly goes into "and now my bitter hands cradle broken glass" instead. I noticed right after he starts that line (the first time), he shakes his head and looks a little agitated at himself for messing it up. But he just rolls with it, finishes it out with the matching next line, and then does the same prechorus the second time around as well. That's what I've always been told - if you mess something up, just keep going and play it off and work your way back into the groove. If you're lucky, people listening won't even realize anything was wrong (unless they're fellow musicians who obsess over how to play/sing, lol).

[maximzub]

I didn't want to quote the whole thing as to save space, but I loved reading all of this. Glad you had such an awesome time!

Thanks, man! I'm glad someone enjoys reading what I write. Hopefully you'll enjoy parts 2 and 3 which are much more exciting!

If you're lucky, people listening won't even realize anything was wrong (unless they're fellow musicians who obsess over how to play/sing, lol).

The curse of being a musician like that is that I notice every single mistake that musicians I watch make. I don't know whether the same applies when other musicians watch me.

[Crumbso]

If you're lucky, people listening won't even realize anything was wrong (unless they're fellow musicians who obsess over how to play/sing, lol).

The curse of being a musician like that is that I notice every single mistake that musicians I watch make. I don't know whether the same applies when other musicians watch me.

The thing to acknowledge is that even pros make mistakes almost every gig, I've even seen Guthrie Govan screw up in concert, and he's not even human. It doesn't matter in the slightest if the crowd is enjoying the performance and feels that their costs are validated by the experience. Sometimes the best gigs you ever do are a bit loose, and it's because you're enjoying yourself and connecting with the music, your band and the crowd. That's what music is really about.

Usually, the only time anyone notices is if you make it obvious that you screwed up. That and other musicians, who quite often are so insecure that they'll jump at the chance to tell you how you screwed up. But who cares about musicians? I am one, and I don't. I care about the crowd and the overall performance.

[Crumbso]

As July was winding to a close, I knew that it was going to win craziest month of the year this year. I don't even need to see how the rest of the months go to know that this will be the case.

Well done by the way. A good gig going well is an experience to savour.

[Timotheus]

Professional musicians sometimes play the same 20-30 songs so many times in their lifes that it's become a habit and sometimes even robotic. Getting to see a musician make a mistake makes the experience unique and human. You get to see the one version where they step outside of their "act".

[maximzub]

But who cares about musicians? I am one, and I don't. I care about the crowd and the overall performance.

I do care about other musicians because they make up most of my crowd for most of my shows. The good thing is that very few musicians in our community are that insecure to want to tear down every mistake made on stage. We all appreciate and support each other and come to each other's shows because we enjoy the music, no matter how imperfect it may be.

The only musicians in our community that are that insecure tend to not even come to other people's shows unless they're guaranteed to have a chance to play. I used to talk about my old friend Grace on here a lot. I absolutely hate that human being now. She has NEVER come to a performance by somebody else if there's no chance she will play. And even if there is, she won't pay attention to the other musicians and only care when it's her turn to play or sing. She even goes as far as to divert the attention of people that want to listen to the other musicians to her instead. I'll talk about a particular instance of that in part 3 of my write-up about last weekend.

This post is getting longer than I wanted it to be....

Professional musicians sometimes play the same 20-30 songs so many times in their lifes that it's become a habit and sometimes even robotic. Getting to see a musician make a mistake makes the experience unique and human. You get to see the one version where they step outside of their "act".

I've played It's My Life live 55 times, and practiced it many more times. I could sing it while thinking about a different song's lyrics. It's just that easy. So it's actually cool that I messed it up for once, now that I think about it.

Hey, by the way, I have another show today. This time it's just Six Speed (me and my dad). Leinaala & Dave will likely swing by to watch and maybe play a set during our break again. We'll see how it goes. And if you'd like to see videos of our shows in the future, come check out my Facebook accounts.

Personal: https://www.facebook.com/maxzubic?mibextid=ZbWKwL
Music page: https://www.facebook.com/MaxZMusic?mibextid=ZbWKwL

[maximzub]

Guys, part 1 of my write-up was slightly over 1100 words. Part 2 is already over 1700, and I'm only halfway through the Halestorm show. Will you guys hate me if I post something that's 3000+ words long?

[Dan Dando]

Guys, part 1 of my write-up was slightly over 1100 words. Part 2 is already over 1700, and I'm only halfway through the Halestorm show. Will you guys hate me if I post something that's 3000+ words long?

[maximzub]

Here's part 2 of my crazy weekend.

Volbeat and Halestorm announcing a tour together was one of my favorite pieces of news of the whole year. I could not pass up the opportunity to see two of my top three favorite bands on the same night.

Unfortunately, finding which show we could go to was a tough thing to do. The closest show, Milwaukee, fell on a day when we were also playing a show, and Halestorm was not with them. The second closest, Dubuque, Halestorm was also not playing. The third closest, Gary, Indiana, was 21+. So we had to settle for the fourth closest show of the tour, which was 6+ hours away from home in Sioux City, Iowa.

Fast forward to the day of the show. We had to leave by 10:00 to make it to a restaurant in Sioux City by 5:00, and then to make it when the doors to Battery Park opened at 6:00. So we ate breakfast (a casserole made of eggs, sausage, and zucchini that my mom frequently makes), and headed off.

I don't remember much of the ride other than how most of the first couple hours of it was the same route that I drive from home to Platteville every weekend during the school year. I do remember that we blasted some of my favorite music for most of the time. Alter Bridge, Tremonti, Breaking Benjamin, Downplay, Starset, some of my own stuff, etc. Yes, there was some Volbeat and Halestorm in there as well. I know it's an unwritten rule that you're not supposed to listen to the band(s) you're going to see on the way there, but who cares?

We stopped for lunch around 1:00 (my mom's muffins that I've been eating as either breakfast or lunch every day for over a decade). Other than that, we rarely took any breaks. My dad's also a fast driver, so we managed to shave off over half an hour from the GPS's predicted time. We made it to a Greek restaurant in Sioux City at just past 4:00.

Let me tell you something. When you order a Greek platter that is supposed to serve at least 3 people, it's gonna be too big if it's just 3 of you. We didn't finish it all. It was good stuff, though. Lots of cheese, pasta, lamb, salad, and I don't remember what else. The dessert was baklava, and it was so sickening sweet.

Anyway, we headed off to the parking garage close by the venue at around 5:30, and immediately walked to the venue once we found a parking spot. I found it strange that there were a lot of bars close to the venue, where if you walked outside, you could probably hear the live music decently well. As we walked closer to the gates, I could hear that Daughtry's cover of Journey's "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" with Lzzy Hale was playing from the outside speakers of one of the bars. I sang along softly.

They checked our tickets, and we walked into the venue. We assumed our positions close to the stage (about seventh row if general admission had rows). The house music was different from what I was expecting. Instead of stuff by the two bands' contemporaries, it was mostly old school hard rock and heavy metal (Metallica, AC/DC, ZZ Top, Alice In Chains, Iron Maiden) and some thrash from all eras (Hatesphere, Mastodon, Testament). I was happy when I recognized Rob Halford's voice in one song, even though it turned out to be one of his solo songs and not a Judas Priest song as I had guessed.

The last two songs were Holy Diver by Dio and Du Hast by Rammstein. I sang every word to Holy Diver, and as the time got closer to 7:00, Du Hast helped turn my anticipation up to insane levels. I could see Joe Hottinger talking with his guitar tech on stage right, and as the song faded out, I caught the slightest glimpse of the top of Lzzy's head hiding behind the equipment on stage left.

When the house music stopped for longer than two seconds, I immediately started recording. I knew what was about to happen. We would be graced by Lzzy's amazing voice.

0. Raise Your Horns - I list this as song 0 because it wasn't the full song, just the chorus a cappella. I used to think that CHICO and the man (local band) had the best show intro ever, which was Sirius by The Alan Parsons Project. Nope. Lzzy belting out "Raise your horns!" from off stage, and then walking out, topped Sirius by miles. I was awestruck. Well, second line, Lzzy's mic cut out. I don't recall whether I could hear her live, but when I watched my video of the intro the next day, I noticed that her voice could still be heard faintly. That's how powerful her voice is. Anyway, once her mic came back on, she continued singing. She drifted off key for a while (about a half step higher than she should have been). And then BAM! The instruments came in.

1. I Miss The Misery - I've said before that I don't think it really makes sense for a band to open with their biggest hit. But in this case, I think it did. Considering they were the opening band and not as many people came to see them, playing something everybody knew as the first song was a great idea. And from the beginning of this song, I could tell everyone, including the band, was fully into it. I don't think Lzzy hit a single bad note during the song. They ended with twin guitar harmonies that weren't in the studio version. Amazing start to the show, and when my mom and I discussed the entire show the next day, we agreed that it was the best song of the entire night.

2. Love Bites (So Do I) - my favorite Halestorm song. It seems like for a lot of shows I've been to, the band plays my favorite song from them second. Alter Bridge with Addicted To Pain, Breaking Benjamin first time with I Will Not Bow, and Volbeat first time with Lola Montez (second favorite, but they didn't play The Bliss that time). And now this. The combination of these first two songs was amazing, and their stage energy was unmatchable. I continued singing every word. Lzzy did miss one note of her guitar solo, but that didn't throw the performance off one bit. Simply awesome.

3. I Get Off - Arejay immediately started the drum beat for this song at the end of Love Bites (So Do I). Lzzy switched guitars and took off her jacket, to an exciting response. It's an inside joke between me and my musician friends to yell "Take off your shirt!" at every musician on stage, but since I felt like Lzzy might actually hear me say it, I instead decided to record her taking off the jacket while saying "Take off your shirt" into my phone. I later sent the clip to my friend Danny Grams, who actually started the whole joke. (In retrospect, I doubt that yelling it out would have had any bad consequences, as I knew that she actually did take off her shirt at Download in June.) But back to the song. Lzzy dedicated it to all the ladies in the crowd, and asked for the guys to lift their ladies up on their shoulders. She also teased us about wearing her skirt instead of pants that night just for us. And then they played about two thirds of the song. I'm not a big fan of the song, but it sounded really good and was in a perfect position in the setlist.

3.5. Crazy On You - they stopped I Get Off at the end of the bridge. Instead, Lzzy sang a piece of Crazy On You by Heart while Josh played keyboard. Her voice really shone through on this one. Then they went back to the bridge riff of I Get Off, and finished the song early.

4. Wicked Ways - I wasn't sure whether they were going to play this first or Freak Like Me, although I knew they would play both songs for sure. This was one of the songs I knew was going to be massive live. In fact, I listen to a live version of it more often than the studio version. I think it was during this song that Lzzy pointed in my direction and nodded, although she very well could have been pointing at someone else nearby me. Either way, it made me so happy.

5. Freak Like Me - Lzzy didn't introduce the song with the usual "Are you a freak like me?" Nor did she do the usual leg kicks at the end of each riff, which I missed. They did all do the synchronized jumping, though. I jumped along with them. That was one of the many times I jumped when nobody else in the audience did. Well, that's what I like to do. The song was awesome as usual.

6. Familiar Taste Of Poison - I nudged my parents and told them that this song was coming next. My mom responded by saying that she knew it was coming because she had watched live recordings of their recent shows recently. Since when did my mom become a setlist analyzer? Anyway, this was another highlight of the night. I kept on singing along to every word, even singing harmonies to Lzzy's vocals in the choruses. Joe's guitar playing stood out in this song. The improvised solo was amazing, and I really need to find a clean guitar tone like the one he used. And then after the extended jam, Lzzy walked out holding a rose. After singing what I believe were ad-libbed lines while on her knees, she threw the rose out to the crowd…in my direction. The guy to the right of me caught it, but one petal fluttered down into my hand, and several more fell around us. I picked up one that was by my mom's feet, and then the guy that caught the rose told me that I could pick up as many as I want. So in the end, I came home with five petals from a rose that was in Lzzy's hands. I don't care that they're all dried up by now, I'm keeping them forever.

7. Takes My Life - great performance. They've been playing it a half step higher than the original version (if that can be said -- there is no studio version and the only officially released version is a live version from 2006), but somehow Lzzy can still hit all the highest notes. This time was no different. It was an amazing song choice, even though it's a very obscure song of theirs.

8. Drum Solo - the time when Arejay got to show off. He's been my favorite famous drummer for a while now, so I wasn't surprised by anything he did during the solo, but it's still all impressive. The funniest moment happened when he threw a drumstick up into the air and missed to catch it. That's the only time he missed it for the entire show. I lost count of how many other times he threw his drumsticks and caught them. The loudest cheers for that were when he caught one after the one he missed. When he was done with his regular sticks, I shouted out "Big sticks!" and I was surprised to hear that I wasn't the only one saying that. As expected, he brought out the big sticks and soloed with them for a while before the band walked out again.

9. Back From The Dead - another one I was really looking forward to see live. I again sang lower harmonies to the choruses, because I was getting tired of using my whistle register to reach Lzzy's notes that were out of my range. It really was a banger song. This was the last song of the run of songs that they were not switching up in the setlist, as the song(s) between this and The Steeple were always changing. I really hoped for Strange Girl as that's one of my favorite songs ever and it's literally perfect. A couple weeks back, Lzzy actually did respond to me online asking if they could play it with "I will try to remember!" Unfortunately, she didn't. But after the greatness I had already witnessed, I didn't even mind.

10. I Like It Heavy - I saw Lzzy's guitar tech walk out with the double neck SG. Were they going to play I Am The Fire for the first time this year? Well, I was temporarily proven wrong when Lzzy asked if we liked it heavy. This was the one song of the entire night that I was the least familiar with, so I didn't sing along much. I did start taking pictures though, in addition to the many videos I had already taken. I needed something to add to my collection of over 500 pictures of Lzzy, right?

11. I Am The Fire - they ended the previous song, but then Arejay continued hitting the rims of his drums. No way. I wasn't expecting to see live the first Halestorm song I ever heard. And it was amazing. It's a very vocally challenging song, so I understand that Lzzy cuts corners in many places, but she did sing the original melodies for some of the tricky parts anyway.

12. The Steeple - Lzzy introduced the band members one by one, and then herself obviously. That was just one of the many times I shouted out "I love you, Lzzy!" during the show. I'm not particularly fascinated with this song, live or in the studio, but they made it work just fine. And they did an extended jam at the end that was really cool. When they were done, it was almost like it was over too soon. I was sad that I only got to see them for less than an hour, but I'm sure I'll have many more chances to see them because they're not going away anytime soon! Joe and Josh threw out some picks at the end, none of which I caught because picks don't fly that far. Arejay threw a couple drumheads, also neither of which I caught. Lzzy brought out not one, but ten roses and threw them out into the crowd. They didn't reach anywhere near me this time. Although I hoped that I might get a whole rose, I was still happy enough to have some petals from the first one she threw out. Then I watched them walk out, particularly focusing on Lzzy, and that was that.

Overall show thoughts - I don't even care that they didn't play Strange Girl like I was hoping for. They made up for it by shattering my already high expectations with their performance and their energy, and we got an extra song more than they usually had played on this leg. The sound was crystal clear. They nailed almost all their parts. So many good things to say about them. And I had the heart eyes for Lzzy the entire time. It's gonna take a lot to top their performance in my eyes.

[gbruin]

Great write-ups, Max. I haven't seen Halestorm in a bit so I didn't know how they're opening shows these days, but Lzzy put on what is still my favorite intro I've ever seen. Knowing your borderline unhealthy obsession with her you may have seen this already, but back on their first national tour (opening for Chevelle and Shinedown or Theory, I think?), Lzzy opened shows with a powerful a cappella intro of the first lines of It's Not You. There was a regular here on TABN named Qwiksand who advised me to get there early so as not to miss it and he was more than right.

[maximzub]

Great write-ups, Max. I haven't seen Halestorm in a bit so I didn't know how they're opening shows these days, but Lzzy put on what is still my favorite intro I've ever seen. Knowing your borderline unhealthy obsession with her you may have seen this already, but back on their first national tour (opening for Chevelle and Shinedown or Theory, I think?), Lzzy opened shows with a powerful a cappella intro of the first lines of It's Not You. There was a regular here on TABN named Qwiksand who advised me to get there early so as not to miss it and he was more than right.

Thanks, Greg! I actually haven't seen that video, although I know that Lzzy opened with an a cappella version of the chorus of It's Not You for many years. And even when they stopped doing that, she still opened most shows with some other a cappella song (such as Raise Your Horns which they're doing right now).

Part 3 (Volbeat) will be coming soon. I didn't expect to have so much to say about Halestorm that I'd have to do Volbeat separately. Then part 4 will be about Danny's Toy Show.

[maximzub]

I discovered Volbeat 4 years ago today. Funny how the part of my write-up that's about Volbeat falls on this particular day.

I was going to include Volbeat's show in part 2, but I ended up having so much to say about Halestorm that I felt better making a separate part for Volbeat. So everything I've previously said about part 3 can now be applied to part 4.

There was a 35 minute break between the two bands, during which a few things happened. First, Volbeat's main photographer Britt Bowman came out to take a couple pictures of the crowd. Fun fact: she's actually from Sioux City herself. Then each of the instrument techs came out to check their instruments. They all ended up doing a soundcheck jam together, and that's when we noticed that there was a big problem. The bass and bass drum were so loud that I was afraid I might lose my hearing after only a few minutes. How was I going to stand an hour and a half of lots of double bass?

Around the same time, Fight Fire With Fire by Metallica came on the house music. This was strange, because it was already playing when we first walked into the venue. Once Hells Bells started, I figured they were just looping the same song list. This was confirmed when I heard Pincushion, Release The Pain, and the beginning of Highway To Hell. Just like I could see Joe on side stage a few minutes before Halestorm went up, I could see Fleming on the same side of the stage before Volbeat came out.

They stopped Highway To Hell early and cued up Born To Raise Hell, and we knew the show was starting. This time I was ready for the band to come out after the first chorus like last time, instead of waiting until the whole song was over. I immediately started recording.

1. The Devil's Bleeding Crown - they opened with the same song they opened with last time, so this was nothing new for me to see. What stood out compared to last time was that the band seemed happier and much more energetic. I think this may have to do with the band being severely jet-lagged last time, but it possibly could be that the band has found that they're happier without Rob. Anyway, the performance was great, but the sound sucked. The bass drum was still as loud as it was during soundcheck. My mom couldn't stand it, and she made the decision to move back to a more comfortable spot. My dad and I toughed it out close to the stage for the rest of the show.

2. Temple Of Ekur - the first song that I hadn't yet seen them play live, and the only such song of the first six. I'm not much of a fan of this song, but it sounded great live. I sang along to most of it, and I could actually reach all the notes. Such thing didn't happen for any other song that night.

3. Seal The Deal - they wasted no time going straight into this song. Fleming's solos were not nearly as crazy as Rob's, but they did their job. That's really all I have to say about this song.

4. Lola Montez - Michael talked about how long it had been since they had last been in Sioux City, and then they played this song to a great reaction. Another great performance, and they ended with something I wasn't expecting. Instead of slowing down the normal outro, they stopped suddenly and let the crowd sing the last words. Michael commented on how the whole crowd had been waiting for Volbeat, and then led us through two more times of this same singalong before a big ending to finish the song.

5. Die To Live - honestly, what a lousy choice. I like the song overall, but it really seemed to be a mood killer for the rest of the crowd. The fact that they play this one to a click track because they use backing tracks for the piano and saxophone didn't help.

6. Sad Man's Tongue - the acoustic guitar was brought out, and Michael teased us with a couple songs. First was I Only Wanna Be With You, which I wasn't expecting given that they had been playing the song electric in a medley with A Warrior's Call. Then was Ring Of Fire. The first time I saw them, I was really looking forward to participating in the singalong section of this tease. Unfortunately, they skipped it. This time, they went through with it, so I got to fulfill one of my bucket list concert moments. The performance of the main song and the extra headbanger riff at the end were nothing I hadn't already seen from them before, but it was all still good.

7. A Warrior's Call / I Only Wanna Be With You - Michael walked up to the microphone. I didn't remember him usually introducing Shotgun Blues during a chord hang. Then he sang the first line of A Warrior's Call, and I realized that they were playing with the order a little bit. Generally I think their medleys are very disconnected, but this one works very well. I especially liked the I Only Wanna Be With You part. And with this, I've now seen at least one song from every Volbeat album.

8. Shotgun Blues - Jon hit a drum pad to the side of the drumset, which made me realize that they were playing this song to a click track as well. I don't know why, as it doesn't have backing tracks and they tend to avoid click tracks unless backing tracks are being used. It was a real banger and I liked it better than last time I saw it live. Last time, it had been released two days prior to the show, and it was a festival where they were not the headliners, so not many people knew it. This time, the crowd was much more receptive. I think this is on its way to becoming a Volbeat classic. After the song, a "Doc Holliday!" chant broke out, and I joined in. I knew full well that they wouldn't be able to play the song because Fleming probably never learned it, but I didn't care.

9. Black Rose - as much as I don't like the studio version of this song, it works very well live. The only complaint I have is that Fleming watered down the solo a little too much. Speaking of Fleming, Michael acknowledged before the song that they almost had to cancel the tour had Fleming not learned 20 songs in three weeks to play with them. The bridge involved Michael leading us to make some noise at the count of three a total of three times. He then congratulated us on being the loudest crowd of the tour, and he did the "Oh-ah-ah-ah-ah" from Down With The Sickness by Disturbed to transition into the next pre-chorus. He also asked if we had a good time with Halestorm, and I'd like to believe my cheers were the loudest. I'm somehow really happy when I hear the singers of my favorite bands saying the names of my other favorite bands, such as with this case and the reverse.

10. The Devil Rages On - I think I did a good job of pretending I liked this one. Well, I sang along anyway because I couldn't help but sing along to anything they did. But this song really needs to leave the live set immediately. It's another mood killer and I don't understand why they've played it at every single show since the release of their previous album, even more than some of the singles from it.

11. Last Day Under The Sun - I wasn't sure whether or not they were going to play this one. And I didn't really care either way. I had already seen the song live, and it's not one of my favorites. What also sucked is that a moshpit broke out near us during this song, of all songs. For the remainder of this song and part of the next, my dad and I scrambled to find a place in the crowd where we would not be affected by moshers.

12. Becoming - the Doc Holliday chant broke out again, but this time I shouted out "Becoming!" instead. My intention was to look like I really wanted to hear that specific song, when in fact I knew they were going to play it in this spot anyway. Well, it's not a pretend thing that I really like the song and I really wanted to hear it live. After we found our spots in the crowd away from the moshpit, I fully enjoyed this song. I'm glad Michael is playing his solo on his own instead of Rob taking over for half of it. They left the stage after this song, and the lights went down.

13. Fallen - of course they had to come back. They brought Britt out and acknowledged that she was from Sioux City. Michael dedicated this song to his dad, as always. And they played it, and it was amazing. I'm all for Michael playing more solos, and he took the spotlight for this one like he always does.

14. Wait A Minute My Girl - Michael noticed a little boy in the crowd, sitting on his dad's shoulders, shirtless. "Your daddy didn't buy you a Volbeat shirt?" I decided on a whim to yell out our music community's trademark "Take off your shirt!" to Michael, but as I intended, he didn't hear me over the rest of the crowd. Then he reached into his pocket and, to everyone's surprise, pulled out $40 to give to the boy for a Volbeat shirt. "But no candy, only Volbeat!" My dumb response was "Volbeat is candy!" Anyway, then he led us through a call-and-response where he would yell "Wait!" and we had to yell it back. For the second and third times, I held the note longer than anyone else. If I wanted to be heard by the band members, why not take the chance I had? Anyway, this was another lousy song choice for the same reasons as Die To Live. Plus, I had seen it live already.

15. For Evigt - I guess my excitement at finally hearing my favorite Volbeat song live wasn't as high as one would expect it to be because I knew it was coming. But I savored it anyway. I was one of only a few people singing along to the Danish lines. Honestly, it was an anemic performance even compared to other songs throughout the night, but I'm still glad I got to hear that song live when there's little chance of them ever playing it in the US under other circumstances.

16. Still Counting - Michael introduced the band, and they played their biggest hit to a great crowd response. A lot of people sang the first verse when he asked us to. He also asked for a moshpit and crowdsurfers. I believe crowdsurfing is against the rules in Battery Park -- I'm glad such is the case, as the crowdsurfers last time were the biggest reason why we didn't enjoy Volbeat's set as much. The song performance was very energetic, and they did the headbanger riff again at the end. They ended with the same drum/guitar pattern they ended their shows with from 2008 to 2019 (but not 2021 when I saw them), and that was that.

Overall show thoughts - great performance marred by bad sound. There were also many times when the energy was lacking, although it was much better than last time. I actually have no complaints about the setlist at all -- although I would have really liked to hear Slaytan / Dead But Rising, given the circumstances I could accept that it wasn't going to happen this time. Still, even though they're my favorite band, their individual performance pales in comparison to some others, like Halestorm, Alter Bridge, Mammoth WVH, Godsmack, and YU Grupa. As a combined show, it tops everything except YU Grupa in 2018. The only way that this show could have topped it would have been if either Halestorm played Strange Girl, I ran into Lzzy before or after the show, or both.

Alas, I didn't get to meet her or any members of either band. I asked my parents about waiting outside the venue, but when we concluded that it was more likely that I would run into them nearer the tour buses, we gave up and just walked back to the parking garage. On the way there, we passed a food truck that was blasting Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. To my surprise, my dad jokingly started singing along to the "oh-oh-ohs", and I joined in. You'll get to hear more about my relationship to that song in part 4.

We arrived at the hotel, which was on the other side of the state border in Nebraska. In between showers and brushing teeth, we discussed the show. We all agreed that Halestorm absolutely stole the show. Even my dad thought so! He doesn't really like Halestorm except for Familiar Taste Of Poison and the piano songs, but he still enjoyed them live much better than Volbeat, which he's been a fan of as long as I have. My mom also said that she was watching Arejay the most during their show, and that he reminded her of Cody Clark from STEREOtype. (I've told Cody the opposite multiple times.) As you all could have guessed, I was watching Lzzy the most.

Anyway, that was that for the Sioux City show. The next part will be about the music festival/fundraiser Danny's Toy Show, which we had to drive 7 hours back home to get to.

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A little backstory before part 4. The guy that organizes all the Thursday night open mics and much more around town is named Dan. He had a son that was about my age named Danny (or Dan Jr.). Tragically, Danny only lived to be five years old. It was a brain tumor, I believe, that killed him. Since then, the family has organized a fundraiser in his name every year to raise money to buy toys for kids to play with while they stay in the hospital. As I've said before, it's called Danny's Toy Show. Since 2018 I believe, they've held it at the Rockford Speedway with live music by local musicians. We missed the 2021 festival because we were at Louder Than Life at the time, but Six Speed played a set at the 2022 festival (and won the battle of the bands for acoustic cover act!). We were scheduled to play a set at 7:30 in the evening, but I wanted to make it in time to see my favorite local band, STEREOtype, starting at 4:20.

Obviously, we wasted no time in packing up and leaving our hotel in Nebraska. We had to leave at around 8:30 if we wanted to make it back home in time.

The ride was similar to last time, except…we got pulled over for speeding. The officer did reduce the charge, though, which we're grateful for. But now it was harder to make it back home by 3:30 to make it to the speedway in time to catch the beginning of STEREOtype.

Well, we did. I took a shower and packed our guitars and hardware. And then I got a text from Danny Grams saying that STEREOtype's lead guitarist, Bill, was not gonna make it. So he asked me if I could fill in. Now, I've told him before that I could easily fill in for any instrument except vocals because I knew damn near their entire set and I could learn the rest on short notice. Well, I didn't mean a half an hour notice. We scrambled to pack my electric guitar and amp, and got out of there as fast as we could. Danny texted me their setlist, and I practiced the songs I wasn't sure about on air guitar, something I do frequently.

We got there just a few minutes shy of 4:30. I could hear them playing Sugar, We're Goin Down in the distance. We had to hurry up so I could make it in time for at least their fourth song in the set. As they started playing Dance, Dance, we walked in with our equipment to many cheers from the audience. Danny must have told them that I was coming to save the show or something. But I've never heard my name screamed like that before.

I couldn't really say hi to anyone because we had to set up my stuff. I climbed onto the stage and snuck behind the bass player Milo to the back. The sound guy helped us set up, and I had my guitar ready as the rhythm guitarist Gage was starting The Middle. I jumped in during the second verse.

1. The Middle (Jimmy Eat World cover) - I jumped into the song and almost immediately, I felt like it was just natural to be up there with the rest of the band. I played the solo, and I couldn't help but be amazed at the crowd's reaction. I later found out that Gage had made the setlist so he could play all the guitar parts himself, but he accidentally left this song in with a solo he couldn't play. I guess I was lucky to step in at the right moment.

2. Dirty Little Secret (The All-American Rejects cover) - it was at this moment that I realized I was way less prepared than I thought I was. I had to try the main riff a couple times before starting the song, and I missed chords left and right. Other than not knowing the song well, I attribute this to a number of things: I could barely hear myself in the monitor, I could barely hear the other guitar and bass because Cody was whacking the hell out of his drums, and I seem to get confused when songs aren't in easy keys (this one is in Bb major). Nevertheless, I'm sure the crowd didn't care that the performance was imperfect.

3. Straight Up (Paula Abdul cover) - Danny decided to not strictly follow the setlist from this point on. Instead, he chose a song down the list that I knew better. I'm glad he did, because I felt way more comfortable playing a song that I knew how to play in its entirety, and I had more room to show off my stage energy. Although I had seen her walking around the parking lot just before we got in, this was the first time I saw Grace in the audience. Remember her and how we absolutely hate each other now? Well, this moment felt like a major one-up on her. I bet she wishes she was the one up there on stage, but she knows very well that she lacks the skill for such a thing, and is bitter at everyone else because of it. (Another major one-up moment on her happened at last year's Danny's Toy Show -- imagine the look on her face when I won the battle of the bands in the same category she was in.)

4. My Own Worst Enemy (Lit cover) - I was expecting to do Bad Romance next, but Danny threw me this one first because he knew I knew it. He also got some girl up to sing it with him. It was fun. I played the lead guitar parts in the chorus that are in the original version, but Bill (or Danny when he plays it) doesn't play with STEREOtype. I think they made the chorus sound better. It was another euphoric feeling to hear Danny shout out, "Max Zubic on lead guitar!" during my solo. This may have been the first song during which I jumped around on stage.

5. Bad Romance (Lady Gaga cover) - my favorite song this band does. Danny introduced it by saying that he and I have done it acoustic together before, but now everybody would get to hear us do the electric version. I headbanged and jumped around the stage for most of the song, except when I was singing backing vocals. I even did a spinning jump before the second chorus. It was definitely the best song of the whole day.

6. The Anthem (Good Charlotte cover) - I got really lost during this song. I spent most of the time watching Gage's hands, or at least I tried to. Danny was in between us, so I resorted to watching Milo instead. It was not easy to pick up the chords just by watching them.

7. Bad Guy (Billie Eilish cover) - I told Danny that I didn't know Mr. Brightside, which was the next song on the setlist, so he swapped it out for another one that he knew I knew. I headbanged most of the way through, especially during the end, and I brought up my devil horns many times during the song. I messed up the lead guitar lick first time around, but I corrected it for the second time.

8. Baby One More Time (Britney Spears cover) - another one that I had to crash course through, but I picked it up much easier than Dirty Little Secret and The Anthem. I also attempted to sing some backing vocals during the chorus.

9. Mr. Brightside (The Killers cover) - once again, they were not following the setlist. Danny told me that somebody wanted to hear Mr. Brightside and I could sit out if I wanted to. So I sat out the first verse and chorus while analyzing Gage's and Milo's hand movements, and then I jumped in for the rest of the song. The energy was gone, for good reason. It would come back later.

10. Semi-Charmed Life (Third Eye Blind cover) - there were four songs left on the setlist, all of which I knew well. They were Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous by Good Charlotte, All The Small Things by Blink-182, Absolutely (Story Of A Girl) by Nine Days, and this one. We only had time for one more, so after a short group discussion, we decided to close with this one. I sang harmonies to Danny's "do-do-do", which nobody does usually. I also headbanged like before. When we ended the song, I launched into a flashy improvised solo, and then that was that. I felt like I was about to collapse.

We tore down our stuff and walked off. The entire band and many members of the audience congratulated me. Some even told me that they wanted me to be the new lead guitarist in the band, to which I said that I'd rather Bill be okay. I later found out from Danny that Bill had checked himself into the hospital, and when Danny had suggested that I could fill in for him, Bill gave his full approval. I'm glad. If they ever need me to help fill in again, I'll be more prepared next time.

So in between bands on the main stage, I chatted with everybody that was there. Some people I hadn't seen in a long time. I lost count of how many times I was asked about the Volbeat and Halestorm show, and how many times I told them about my experiences there.

I did hear The Devil's Bleeding Crown by Volbeat on the house music while in the middle of a conversation with Danny. That's the third of four times in my life that I've heard Volbeat "out in the wild", as in on the radio or house music for a show. Not great, but better than Alter Bridge, which I've absolutely never heard out in the wild like that.

We stayed for the entirety of The OGMC's set. I know their songs have been repeated over and over again and they never learn any new songs, but their set was very tight and the sound was adjusted well. I enjoyed it. I briefly went to the acoustic stage after that to talk to some friends that were there, and then went back to the main stage to watch Tomorrow Is Yesterday. I've only seen them play three times, which is a very small number compared to most of the other acts. Unlike most of the acts in our circle, they're a mostly original band. I really like their originals, especially live. It was another great set that we unfortunately had to miss the end of. The guy that was supposed to play before us on the acoustic stage was not going to be able to make it, so we were moved up.

We played three songs out of the six we had planned (Interstate Love Song, Mary Jane's Last Dance, and Rainbow In The Dark) because Dan told us that all the music was supposed to stop temporarily during the raffle drawings. There was a decent audience for us…and there was one huge problem.

Grace knows full well that Danny and I are great friends and that he wanted to stay to watch our set. So in a vengeful act, she engaged Danny in conversation and led him away from the acoustic stage. Now, let it be known that over time, Danny has also grown to absolutely hate Grace. But unlike for me, Grace is oblivious to that fact. And she's a full blown narcissist. So she regularly tries to steer away the attention from any performers that she doesn't care much about and towards her. Especially for me. It's things like this that make me hate her more than any other human being on this planet.

But I wasn't going to let that ruin my entire day. Once the raffles were done being drawn, we came back and finished our set with Guiding Light, Familiar Taste Of Poison, and Lola Montez. (Yes, it was complete with me bringing up how I just saw Volbeat and Halestorm live.) The crowd was small at the start, but more people came during the second song. I guess not too many people were excited to see The Band GENO on the main stage. I, for one, was, and I was sad to miss their set except for the last two songs. Fortunately I will get to see them as the featured artist for the last Thursday night open mic night that I'll be at before I leave for college.

Well, in retrospect, I could have seen more of them. But I did stay to watch Alex on the acoustic stage, especially because he had watched our set and had lots of good things to say about it. He was officially the last act on the acoustic stage, but Dan suggested an acoustic jam to close out the night. I didn't participate because I was exhausted. I did watch a couple songs, though. Then I left for the main stage to watch Old Soul Radio. As much as I like the people in the band (especially our amazing friends Leinaala & Dave), I think their set was the worst full band set of the night. Lei and Dave agree. Courtney's vocal mic was way too loud for the first part of the set, and even when Lei's mic was turned up to the same volume, Dave and Ben's vocals still couldn't be heard. The bass was also too loud, while the drums were not loud enough and were almost covered by everything else.

Rockford Speedway will be closing for good later this year, so it was symbolic to see Old Soul Radio covering The Doobie Brothers' Listen To The Music as the last song ever played at the venue.

Anyway, that was it for Danny's Toy Show. We said bye to everybody that we could and left knowing that we had just had an amazing weekend that transcended all our expectations.

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Leaving for Serbia in about an hour.

EDIT: Our flight was delayed another hour. Oh well, at least that's another hour of sitting next to a Serbian hottie. Life doesn't get better than that.

EDIT 2: Made it to Belgrade. The good news is that I got to stand next to the Serbian hottie while waiting to get off the plane. The bad news is that our luggage still hasn't arrived. Hopefully they didn't lose it again like last year.

[maximzub]

I'm gonna see YU Grupa live for the second time tonight! It's been 5 years since I last saw them. That show was my favorite big name concert I've ever been to, and it will take a lot to top it.