To heal a broken heart...

There is something to be said when your heart lays broken in pieces. I find that telling the story may help pick up those pieces and mend them back together.  This story is not mine, in doing so I hope her heart heals; because I write this for her.   

We all have taken some sort of leap of faith. We’ve accepted change, did something completely different; she was ready for love. She gave this man a chance, feeling safe and secure with him. He brought out a smile in her that she nearly had forgotten. They laughed they argued they made up. He sent her flowers to brighten her day, though her day ended with a shattered heart. He took back every word he said to her and told her he didn’t love her. He never meant anything he said to her. She was just another woman; because he was with another. Two women... three women... the lies came forth.  Her heart sank to the floor. He gave no reason. She crumbled inside. Every piece of her that she unlocked to him seemed to hurt.  Her insides screamed for a reason why. But there were no answers. She had to accept things.  

Nobody wins, not even the person whom claims to still love him or takes out their frustration on innocent people who did nothing wrong towards them except to fall for a liar.   

She tries to reassemble her heart, and in doing so she heard another heartbeat, one that wasn’t her own.  That heartbeat is what will breathe new life into her.

Nightwish 'Imaginarium' Tour Jan 21, 2012

Imaginarium Tour

Featuring: Nightwish, Amorphis & Dommin

Venue: Gibson Amphitheater

Location: Universal City

Date: January 21, 2012

Capacity: 6,189

4,000 plus people from all across the globe were in attendance to start off Nightwish’s ‘Imaginarium’ world tour.

Los Angeles natives Dommin started off the night at the Gibson.

Dommin
From: Los Angeles, CA

Kristofer Dommin - vocals/guitar
Billy James – bass
Konstantine – keyboards
Cameron Morris – drums


8:20 PM – 8:50 PM


The lights dim and the low mellow dramatic sounds of the brokenhearted began to play as lead singer Kristofer Dommin takes the stage.  With no introductions, Dommin, breaks into their first song of the night ‘Without End’.  The crowd was instantly drawn into ‘Without End’.  I overheard people trying to guess what style of music Dommin was; were they goth, was it electronic, was it rock, but whatever it was it was good.


During ‘My Heart Your Hands’ the band took a moment to introduce themselves.  Usually I frown upon interrupting a song to do this, but I appreciated the band for keeping the songs melody going versus just talking.  To break the pause and continue the song Kristofer asked the crowd to sing along. 


The fourth song of the night was a Type O Negative cover ‘My Girlfriends Girlfriend’.  If you could put a fast upbeat pace to a Type O Negative song, this is what they did.  My favorite song of the night had to have been ‘Closure’.  Dommin asked the crowd once again to sing along.  I could actually hear the voices throughout the crowd singing the words “goodbye”. 

Setlist:
1. Without End
2. New
3. My Heart Your Hands
4. My Girlfriends Girlfriend (Type O Negative cover)
5. Closure
6. Dark Holiday

Amorphis
From: Finland


Tomi Jousten - vocals
Esa Holopainen - lead guitar
Tomi Koivusaari - rhythm guitar/vocals
Niclas Etelävuori – bass/vocals
Santeri Kallio – keyboards
Jan Rechberger – drums


9:05 PM – 9:50 PM

Next on stage at the Gibson Amphitheatre was Amorphis. 


As a first time listener of Amorphis, and I was pleasantly surprised by the vocals and depths of the melody.  Amorphis has a dark, yet folk vibe to them.  The vocals are clean when sung, yet there is a raspy growl that got under your skin.  As Tomi Jousten sings you are instantly drawn in by his voice and you are immersed while watching him roam the stage as he whips his long dreads around. When I first looked at the stage set up for Amorphis, I wondered why there was so much open space towards the front of the stage.  As the night progressed my question was answered; it was because Jousten presents a great stage presence and his dreadlocks need some room to move. 


I took note with the way Tomi Jousten not only announced which song they were about to play, but the also the album title.   With just the title of the album, the crowd would scream in anticipation.  The crowd was definitely responding to the music. 


The song of the night for me goes to ‘The Smoke’.  Amorphis had the crowd clapping with them as the intro played.  As Jousten announced the song, the crowd screamed.  The melodic yet catchy rhythm of the song draws you in.  It has a relaxing feel but yet throws in some growling that one would think would offset  the flow.

Setlist:
1. Silver Bride
2. Towards & Against
3. Sky is Mine
4. My Kantele
5. The Castaway
6. The Smoke
7. Sampo
8. You I Need
9. House of Sleep

Nightwish
From: Finland
Tuomas Holopainen – Keyboards
Emppu Vuorinen – guitars
Jukka Nevalainen – Drums
Marko Hietala – Bass/Vocals
Anette Olzon - Vocals


10:15 PM - 11:45 PM

It has been for years since Nightwish’s last album ‘Dark Passion Play’ and tonight this was Nightwish’s first show of their new album ‘Imaginarium’. There were 4,000 plus people in attendance from all over the world to catch this first show in Universal City, CA.  A few people may have even attended the “secret” pre show on 1/19/12 at Hollywood’s Key Club.

As the lights dim, one by one the Nightwish members took the stage and started to play.  As each member of the band emerged the crowd grew louder.  The crowd was on their feet, anxiously awaiting the show to start.  The intro music started to play Nightwish took their places and we waited for one final member to join the stage; Anette Olzon.  Nightwish opened the show with Storytime, a current song from the Imaginarium album.  It seems fitting to open with a song from this album because this is of course the Imaginarium tour. 

Nightwish played songs mainly from their latest album ‘Imaginarium’, but also incorporated prior hits. Bassist Marko “Marco” Hietala and guitarist Emo “Emppu” Vuorinen worked the stage; between posing for pictures, throwing out guitar picks to eager fans or just a simple nod to the crowd.  Olzon would sing and resting her hand on the shoulder of both Emppu and Marko at different points in the set.  Their energy and excitement radiated off the stage.  It is nice to see the entire band interact on stage with each other, it shows how tight night they are. 

Nightwish's stage show also included pyrotechnics.  Flames emerged along with the music throughout various sets.  If you had a place up front, you surely felt the heat from the flames.  The night ended with more flames, fireworks and confetti. 

The sounds of the Gibson were superb.  If you were in the front, or the back of the theater, the one thing that was dead on tonight was the sound quality.  With such sound quality it was like we were listening to a Nightwish CD.  Even if you were in the balcony, there were no worries as to seeing the stage; the theater conveniently had two screens placed alongside the stage for everyone to view the performance. 

Favorite song of the night was Call of the wild, an instrumental ballot that shows the bands strength in composing music. To keep a crowd’s attention with no words, proves to me that Nightwish understands what power music has to a person.  Though, my personal favorite Nightwish song was Nemo, to which I was pleasantly surprised hearing Anette Olzon sing.  I was hesitant in the fact of a new singer singing this song.  But Olzon proved herself by keeping true to the songs sentiment.

It didn’t take Nightwish long to come back on stage and perform a few more songs. During their last song of the night they said goodbye to the crowd.  It was a great start to the beginning of the tour.  Nightwish’s remaining ‘Imaginarium’ tour continues in Europe starting in March.

Setlist:

1. Finlandia (intro)
2. Storytime
3. Wish I Had an Angel
4. Amaranth
5. Scaretale
6. The Siren
7. Slow, Love, Slow
8. I Want My Tears Back
9. The Crow, The Owl and The Dove
10. The Islander
11. Nemo
12. Last of the Wilds
13. Planet Hell
14. Song of Myself
15. Last Ride of the Day
Encore
16. The Poet and the Pendulum
17. Over the Hills and Far Away
18. Imaginarium (outro)


@Ashley Jamez STC 2010-2012

Sea of Memories Tour 2011

Bush/Chevelle/Filter
The Rave, Milwaukee, WI
October 8, 2011
by Ashley Jamez

Filter
Richard Patrick
Mika Fineo
Jonny Radtke
Phil Buckman

6:45 PM – 7:15 PM

Starting off the night was Filter, who played an 8 song set. I'm going to admit the night started off only luke warm. Things seemed to warm up after playing their ZZ Top cover song “Gimmie All Your Lovin'”. It was a decent cover to which everyone who knew the song recognize it. The crowd seemed to respond more to the song “Can't You Trip Like I Do”; which was actually done by Filter & The Crystal Method (which debuted on the Spawn soundtrack in 1997 ). For the 7^th song of the night Filter's lead singer Richard Patrick decided to take himself off the stage and join the crowd in a bit of crowd surfing; so he entrusted The Rave's crowd to pass him around while he sang. He did an alright job, though there were a few quiet comments and inside jokes of what happens when you crowd surf. By the Last song of the night “Hey Man Nice Shot” Filter really showed the Eagles Ballroom what they had. The energy of the stage went from mediocre to notable. I would have been blown away by Filter rather than just impressed if they would have used the last songs energy throughout the entire set. Perhaps it takes a bit of crowd surfing to get you fully ready for a show?

Set List
1. Welcome to the Fold
2. Drug Boy
3. No Love
4. Gimmie All Your Lovin' (ZZ Top Cover)
5. Can't You Trip Like I Do – Filter & The Crystal Method
6. Take a Picture
7. The Best Things
8. Hey Man Nice Shot

Chevelle

Pete Loeffler
Sam Loeffler
Dean Bernardini

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Chevelle raised the temperature at The Rave! The lights dimmed, the crowd's anticipation rose, the band started walking on stage, the intro to “Family System” started to play and Chevelle started to sing the first song. The crowd eagerly greeted them with screams from across Eagles Ballroom. The stage lighting for Chevelle was phenomenal, you definitely knew you were at a rock show. There was numerous people surfing the crowd. The band was sharing a beverage or two with the crowd. The Chevelle boys made tonight feel like they were old friends with everyone in the crowd. Chevelle delivered quite a few of there hit songs “Vitamin R”, “Send the Pain Below” and finished off the night with “I Get It”. They did have a bit of guitar issues in the during The Clencher. The singer had to give back his guitar twice, luckily third try's the charm and the replacement guitar worked. And to end their set & to make the night interesting lead singer Pete Loeffler decided to give his guitar to the crowd at the end of the night.

(Just a note... to keep your crew alert and alive... make sure you throw your guitar out into the crowd, just to see how fast they can get it back)

Set List:

1. Family System
2. Jars
3. Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)
4. Antisaint
5. Face to the Floor
6. Sleep Apnea
7. Well Enough Alone
8. Send the Pain Below
9. Another Know It All
10. The Red
11. The Clincher
12. I Get It

Bush

Gavin Rossdale – vocals/guitar
Chris Traynor – guitar
Corey Britz – bass
Robin Goodridge - drums

9:15 PM – 10:30 PM

With two new members and nearly a decade between the last record/tour, Bush hit the Rave's Eagles Ballroom stage with a fiery passion. First song of the night was from Sixteen Stone “Little Things”. Bush played an array of their hits (a majority which were from their first album Sixteen Stone). Though, we got to hear a favorite or two off of The Science of Things, Razorblade Suitcase and Golden State. The rest of the nights songs were from Bush's new album Sea of Memories. The crowd seemed to enjoy and some already knew the words to Bush's latest CD. Lead singer Gavin Rossdale greeted the crowd in Milwaukee stating that this was Bush's fifth time playing at The Rave and how they were happy to be back playing for both new and old fans here. Gavin Rossdale was a true performer, he worked and rocked the stage, numerous times getting off the main stage to sing and interact with the crowd, and even addressing the people up in the balcony at numerous occasions. My favorite of the night (you might believe was something from Sixteen Stone), but it was actually their current radio release “The Sound of Winter”. “The Sound of Winter” has a strong chorus and infectious guitar riffs that somehow brought back reminiscences of Sixteen Stone, it also reminded me of how glad I was that these guys were back on the stage again playing.

The Ballroom's temperature was scorching at the end of Bush's set. Bush left the stage after playing “Machinehead”, but came back out to play a three song encore. They played a Beatles cover of “Come Together” and ended the night with “Comedown”. During “Comedown” the band played and let the crowd sing for them, I admit the the ballroom's crowd sang along in unison, which was a great way to end the night.

Set List:

1. Little Things

2. I Believe In You

3. The Chemicals Between Us

4. Greedy Fly

5. The Sound of Winter

6. Everything Zen

7. All My Life

8. People That We Love

9. The Heart of the Matter

10. All Night Doctors

11. Swallowed

12. Afterlife

13. Machine Head

Encore:

14. Come Together (Beatles cover)

15. Glycerine

16. Comedown

Independence

Some people believe and live in a “structured” world.  A place where there is organization!  And quite possibly rules!  What if someone took away that structure for one entire day?  Would you be able to survive?  or would the freedom consume and devour you?

Horror-scopes!

How many of us out there check our horoscopes like it’s our daily life line?  This tiny paragraph of our days ‘outcome’ is like our drug of choice to start our day.  Perhaps we half want these daily predictions to fair warn us in some way to just stay home and stay in bed?  I can’t dispute the fact that once in a while these daily horoscopes have a bit of eerie truth to them.  For instance today’s had hints familiarity…

So thank you Twittascope for reminding me today that I dislike friends who lie and how I’m an independent person! 

Surviving JJO Band Camp

First and foremost, the key to surviving any outdoor festival is to:


Remember where you park... if this means taking a picture of your vehicle, license plate or anything memorable around the vicinity; this is highly encouraged! 

Everyone setting off their car alarms at the same time at the end of the night looking for their vehicle draws to much attention.










Be ready to witness anything! 

There will be at least one person wearing leopard print.  (there always is at least one!) 
















 Be ready to deal with drunk people. 

Again there is always at least one drunk at an outdoor festival!  (who am I kidding... there is usually more than one, I'm just being nice) 

And here we have the drunks congregating front row, trying to get their second wind before the next set.  

And this girl will always be there...

Never ask for Mercy... Beg for it!