Everyone has those things that they wish they could do before they die. On May 18th, 2018, I got to do just that. I went to my very first concert. Now before you say “what’s the big deal?” you must remember that I am in my mid 30s and have never been to one before.
Going back a little bit here, one of the bands Lee and I really wanted to see was Linkin Park. Sadly, every time there was a concert in our state, it was always in Chicago, which was financially out of our way. When Chester died, it saddened me to think that we’d never be able to see the original members preform. So, while looking through my Twitter feed one night, I noticed one of the bands that I follow shared a posting of up coming tour dates. Just out of curiosity, I clicked on the link, thinking that, once again, the nearest location to us would either be in Chicago or St. Louis. I was very pleased to be proven wrong. There was a concert scheduled in Moline, only a couple of hours from us, with tickets still available. An additional bonus was who else was preforming with them. I shouted for Lee, told him my idea and a plan was born. We bought the tickets, took the day off from our jobs, rented a hotel room for the night, and traveled forth on a bucket list adventure.
Fast forward to the day of the concert. I was so excited, I would burst out into excited giggles all of a sudden, which made Lee chuckle. He said my excitement was infectious. And why wouldn’t I be excited? Not only was I checking something off my bucket list, I was seeing two bands that I really enjoyed (Shinedown and Five Finger Death Punch), one new band that was making waves on the music scene & I liked (Bad Wolves), and another band I hadn’t heard of but was looking forward to hearing live (Starset).
We get to the arena and I am so excited I actually am doing little jumps when I walk. The security people check my purse (nothing to hide there) and we go to find our seats. As we are walking towards the stairs to our area, I am hearing loud music. Can’t really make it out but I figure that it is just music being played through the speakers. How wrong I was. It was actually Bad Wolves doing their set. I was pissed! The tickets said that show stared at 7pm. Apparently it was the headliners that started at 7, not the openers. I got to hear the rest of their set, including their cover of “Zombie” (which is a wonder cover of such a good song). They had very little in the way props on stage, just the members of the band & their instruments. And I have to admit, even from my seat, the lead singer was still rather cute.
Bad Wolves
Starset had a very interesting performance. They were the only one of the bands that had costumes, which I had to admit, looked rather hot to wear. Plus, the helmets that some of the guys were wearing had to be heavy. The songs were interesting but a little difficult to follow. Part of the problem was the audio guys had the sound up to such a level that it made hard to hear the music clearly. The band also seemed more focused on the visual presentation than the music itself.
Starset
Next came the first of the headliners: Shinedown. They had a great set. Lee and I sang a long with several of the songs that we knew. I was excited that they preformed "Human Radio" which was a song off of their new album & sang along with it. They also played songs from previous albums as well. It was great getting to hear them preform and they had a great energy on stage, which was very infectious.
Shinedown
Five Finger Death Punch was the last to preform but well worth the wait. They played a really good set. One thing that I was surprised about was how much audience interaction there was, They asked all current & former military members to stand to thank them for their service. The lead singer even invited kids up onstage to have them sing with him. It was a lot of fun singing along with them as well.
Five Finger Death Punch
Lee got me a Shinedown t-shirt & 2 key chains for himself. I also got Five Finger Death Punch's newest album. This was such a wonderful experience for me and I can not wait to do it again.
