thisisadisaster
05/08/07, 01:25 PM
Every year on the first weekend of May, people flock to Beale Street in Memphis Tennessee for Memphis in May, a three day music festival on the Mississippi River. The festival covers a wide range of music on its four stages, with music ranging from punk rock, to blues, to radio butt rock, to classic rock, to rap.
This year was my first year to attend Memphis in May. I was only able to attend Saturday's festivities (damn you Spider-man 3 for making it impossible for me to get off work) but it was also my most anticipated day.
As we entered the gates to the festival, we traveled to the Budweiser stage, where we would spend the majority of our afternoon. We arrived early so we could get a good place in the crowd for Jack's Mannequin and Taking Back Sunday. Now to explain the diversity of this crowd, I'll give you the rundown of the artists that would play on this stage over the next 10 hours. First up is local band One Less Reason. I'll describe in detail this trainwreck in a few moments. Next Hawthorne Heights, followed by Jack's Mannequin, Taking Back Sunday, Wolfmother, and headlining this stage, Godsmack. You guys will never believe it but people still listen to Godsmack. I couldn't believe it.
So after standing around and waiting for an hour, local band One Less Reason from Jackson Tennessee. If you ever need a reason to die or question humanity, just go to their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/onelessreason) or attend one of their shows. The first thing I noticed about this band is that somehow their guitarists missed the oversized sunglasses memo. The drummer, bass player, and the vocalist were all wearing stupid sunglasses. The bassplayer made by far the worst faces I've ever seen on stage. They all looked like he was either a. taking a shit or b. being stabbed. One of the guitarists had a punk rawk mohawk, and the other guitarist looked like he knew better than to be playing such shitty music. I was actually fairly impressed with the drummer so I won't dog him. The vocalist however can be summed up in 3 words; Chad Kroger rippoff. For the next hour, the band would rip off every single butt rock band I can think of, from Nickelback to Hinder to Adema.
Finally they got off stage and after a long soundcheck and then an unnecessary wait for their set time, Hawthorne Heights took the stage. I WAS NOT excited about seeing Hawthorne Heights again. The first time I saw them at Warped 05 is by far one of the most boring shows I've ever seen, and their set at Nintendo Fusion was not memorable to me. Maybe it was the shitfest I had just witnessed, or maybe my lemonade was spiked, but I loved Hawthorne's set. They played every memorable Hawthorne song you would expect (omg cut my wrist and black my eyes!!1!!1) plus two new songs. The new songs were the highlight of the set. No unnecessary screaming. No hardcore breakdown for the bridge. They resembled the standard pop punk song, and one of the two songs featured ganglike vocals. I'm actually really excited to see the direction this band takes.
Next up was Jack's Mannequin. Ever since I got my hands on a copy of Leaving Through the Window years ago I wanted to see Something Corporate. Soco never came within driving range of me, and the same could be said for Andrew's solo project until today. I had heard how amazing Jack's live show was, but I didn't believe it. Man was I wrong. Andrew was a fanastic entertainer, running back and forth across the stage and standing on top of the piano when his key skills were not needed. I cannot remember the order of the set, but here are the songs that were played.
Holiday From Real
The Mixed Tape
Bruised
I'm Ready
La La Lie
Dark Blue
Miss Delaney
Kill The Messenger
MFEO
Into The Airwaves
Me And The Moon
American Girl
As soon as Andrew and crew left the stage, we were attacked by the rest of the crowd. I have no clue as to how many people were behind me, but they all forced themselves forward in an attempt to get a better spot to see Taking Back Sunday. I've been to many many shows in my life and I've seen a wide range of bands, but this was by far the worst crowd I have ever been in. The force was unbearable. Then Taking Back Sunday came out on stage. Most people know Taking Back Sunday are my favorite band of all time. I even like WYWTB and LN. For the next hour, Adam, Fred, Matt, Eddie, and Mark would put on the most entergetic set of the night. They played an odd mixture of songs spanning all three albums. During the last song, Makedamnsure, Adam climbed up the huge tower on the side of the stage, hung upside down, and sang the last lines of the song. It was great to see the crazy, dangerous, Adam that for the longest part of my life, I idolized. Again i cant remember the order of the songs, but here's the songs that were played.
Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team)
You're So Last Summer
Set Phasers To Stun
A Decade Under the Influence
One Eighty By Summer
Number Five With a Bullet
What's It Feel Like To Be a Ghost
Liar (It Takes One To Know One)
Makedamnsure
Up Against (Blackout)
My Blue Heaven
Spin
Miami
Error Opperator
After their set we bounced out of the crowd to make sure all our bones were still in tack after the beating we took in the crowd. After recouping with some lemonade, we took in the atmosphere Memphis in May has to offer. The diversity of the people their was amazing, and it has the feel of a small town festival on crack. It was a very interesting site to say the least. Before we left we caught alittle of Wolfmother's set and they sounded amazing. We left before Godsmack played. Bummer. I really wanted to mosh to Voodoo with the bros in the crowd haha.
Lets hope next year's festival has some bands worth seeing as well.
This year was my first year to attend Memphis in May. I was only able to attend Saturday's festivities (damn you Spider-man 3 for making it impossible for me to get off work) but it was also my most anticipated day.
As we entered the gates to the festival, we traveled to the Budweiser stage, where we would spend the majority of our afternoon. We arrived early so we could get a good place in the crowd for Jack's Mannequin and Taking Back Sunday. Now to explain the diversity of this crowd, I'll give you the rundown of the artists that would play on this stage over the next 10 hours. First up is local band One Less Reason. I'll describe in detail this trainwreck in a few moments. Next Hawthorne Heights, followed by Jack's Mannequin, Taking Back Sunday, Wolfmother, and headlining this stage, Godsmack. You guys will never believe it but people still listen to Godsmack. I couldn't believe it.
So after standing around and waiting for an hour, local band One Less Reason from Jackson Tennessee. If you ever need a reason to die or question humanity, just go to their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/onelessreason) or attend one of their shows. The first thing I noticed about this band is that somehow their guitarists missed the oversized sunglasses memo. The drummer, bass player, and the vocalist were all wearing stupid sunglasses. The bassplayer made by far the worst faces I've ever seen on stage. They all looked like he was either a. taking a shit or b. being stabbed. One of the guitarists had a punk rawk mohawk, and the other guitarist looked like he knew better than to be playing such shitty music. I was actually fairly impressed with the drummer so I won't dog him. The vocalist however can be summed up in 3 words; Chad Kroger rippoff. For the next hour, the band would rip off every single butt rock band I can think of, from Nickelback to Hinder to Adema.
Finally they got off stage and after a long soundcheck and then an unnecessary wait for their set time, Hawthorne Heights took the stage. I WAS NOT excited about seeing Hawthorne Heights again. The first time I saw them at Warped 05 is by far one of the most boring shows I've ever seen, and their set at Nintendo Fusion was not memorable to me. Maybe it was the shitfest I had just witnessed, or maybe my lemonade was spiked, but I loved Hawthorne's set. They played every memorable Hawthorne song you would expect (omg cut my wrist and black my eyes!!1!!1) plus two new songs. The new songs were the highlight of the set. No unnecessary screaming. No hardcore breakdown for the bridge. They resembled the standard pop punk song, and one of the two songs featured ganglike vocals. I'm actually really excited to see the direction this band takes.
Next up was Jack's Mannequin. Ever since I got my hands on a copy of Leaving Through the Window years ago I wanted to see Something Corporate. Soco never came within driving range of me, and the same could be said for Andrew's solo project until today. I had heard how amazing Jack's live show was, but I didn't believe it. Man was I wrong. Andrew was a fanastic entertainer, running back and forth across the stage and standing on top of the piano when his key skills were not needed. I cannot remember the order of the set, but here are the songs that were played.
Holiday From Real
The Mixed Tape
Bruised
I'm Ready
La La Lie
Dark Blue
Miss Delaney
Kill The Messenger
MFEO
Into The Airwaves
Me And The Moon
American Girl
As soon as Andrew and crew left the stage, we were attacked by the rest of the crowd. I have no clue as to how many people were behind me, but they all forced themselves forward in an attempt to get a better spot to see Taking Back Sunday. I've been to many many shows in my life and I've seen a wide range of bands, but this was by far the worst crowd I have ever been in. The force was unbearable. Then Taking Back Sunday came out on stage. Most people know Taking Back Sunday are my favorite band of all time. I even like WYWTB and LN. For the next hour, Adam, Fred, Matt, Eddie, and Mark would put on the most entergetic set of the night. They played an odd mixture of songs spanning all three albums. During the last song, Makedamnsure, Adam climbed up the huge tower on the side of the stage, hung upside down, and sang the last lines of the song. It was great to see the crazy, dangerous, Adam that for the longest part of my life, I idolized. Again i cant remember the order of the songs, but here's the songs that were played.
Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team)
You're So Last Summer
Set Phasers To Stun
A Decade Under the Influence
One Eighty By Summer
Number Five With a Bullet
What's It Feel Like To Be a Ghost
Liar (It Takes One To Know One)
Makedamnsure
Up Against (Blackout)
My Blue Heaven
Spin
Miami
Error Opperator
After their set we bounced out of the crowd to make sure all our bones were still in tack after the beating we took in the crowd. After recouping with some lemonade, we took in the atmosphere Memphis in May has to offer. The diversity of the people their was amazing, and it has the feel of a small town festival on crack. It was a very interesting site to say the least. Before we left we caught alittle of Wolfmother's set and they sounded amazing. We left before Godsmack played. Bummer. I really wanted to mosh to Voodoo with the bros in the crowd haha.
Lets hope next year's festival has some bands worth seeing as well.