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See Spot Rock 2004: 12 Stones, Skillet, Pillar, Grits & Big Dismal, Anaheim House of Blues, 04.18.04Apr 22 '04 (Updated Jan 09 '05) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line This was a well-planned tour overall and most of the bands rocked. But Skillet should have headlined instead of the awful 12 Stones.
Date: Sunday, April 18, 2004 Performers: 12 Stones, Skillet, Pillar, Grits, and Big Dismal Venue: House of Blues, Anaheim, CA Ticket Price: $20 (General Admission) You know, as much as I've enjoyed the different musical styles and moods of some of the concerts I've been to recently (folk, modern worship, mellow singer/songwriter, and heck, even teenybopper pop), it dawned on me not too long ago that it had been a while since I attended a real rock concert. You know, the kind where I can jump around, bang my head like a fool, and sing/shout along to the lyrics at the top of my lungs. For those purposes, nothing on the horizon seemed as well-suited as the second annual See Spot Rock tour. Much like the Festival Con Dios events devised by the Newsboys, See Spot Rock has been a relatively successful tour package themed around a concept rather than a specific band. In this case, that concept would simply be to group together some of the bigger names in Christian rock and send them out on a smorgasbord-like tour that would likely enable all of the groups to reach each other's fans. The first tour in Spring 2003 contained a diverse roster of bands ranging from pop-punksters Relient K to power poppers Sanctus Real to rap/rockers Pillar to hip-hop-head John Reuben. (A hip-hop act on a tour labeled as a rock show? Don't ask me. They did it again this year too.) With a few exceptions, the 2004 lineup showed a little more of a tendency toward "hard" rock - not that any of the bands were truly hardcore, but the three headliners definitely did their share of hard-edged riffing and screaming. While this isn't my favorite style, I liked at least three of the acts on the bill, and figured it would be a worthwhile opportunity to sample them all. So I talked a few of my friends who were fringe fans of a few of the bands into going with me (my girlfriend chose to sit this one out), and this past Sunday, we found ourselves taking a trip down to Orange County, to spend an evening at Downtown Disney, home of the Anaheim House of Blues (where I had previously seen another hard rock act, Chevelle), as well as a few restaurants and about a billion shops tempting gullible Disney-goers into parting ways with their hard-earned cash. My friends (both female) decided to spend the afternoon shopping, so I just met them there (darn parking fees), enjoyed a quick appetizer at the maze-like but creatively designed Rainforest Cafe before lining up for the show. I'm usually prepared for extremely long waits in line before concerts, especially when it's a general admission, standing-room deal like this one, so my friends and I kept ourselves busy by identifying the various Christian band T-shirts around us (everything from Switchfoot to Extol - diverse fan bases are always encouraging, though the median age was notably younger than any of us). Fortunately, HoB security had their act together and we were searched, wrist-banded, and making our way inside the venue by the starting time of 6:30. Surprisingly, the event actually started on time, so we were greeted with the familiar energy of the opening band as we attempted to find a reasonable place to see over all of the bouncing heads in the room. Did I Throw Away All Your Expectations? While Big Dismal was probably the least popular band on the bill, and I knew they'd only have time for a meager 4 or 5 songs, they were actually a big part of the draw for me. The relatively new band has a sound that, while not at all original, struck me as something that would go over well in concert, blending your average post-grunge rock style with more of a melodic sensibility and an infusion of acoustic guitar. We had previously attempted to catch them when they were booked to play at Harvest Church's Day7 event in January, but the band cancelled after a misunderstanding about the event being an evangelistic sort of thing where non-Christian fans wouldn't necessarily have been comfortable. (One of the church's pastors slammed them for this, going so far as to question whether they were even Christians in front of the entire congregation and whatever guest were present that day... Needless to say, I was irritated enough to swear I'd never set foot in that church again). Anyway, my long-time hunch had been proved correct, because even during the high-energy openers "Reality" and "Run Away", lead singer Eric Durrance and his acoustic guitar could be heard loud and clear amidst all of the electric riffing and percussion. (Imagine that!) To the band's credit, I felt like the similarities to Creed that had been problematic on their album were diminished in concert. Sure, Eric had a cowboy hat on that reminded me of a getup I've seen Scott Stapp wearing in a few photos, but maybe that's just how the rockers dress in good old Florida. In any event, they came across as a tight unit, both fun-loving and hard-working, in their live set. With the exception of one new song whose title I didn't catch (and that honestly didn't strike me as holding a candle to the better material on their debut), the guys stuck to the predictable singles, ending off their set with the acoustic-driven "Just the Same" and "Remember (I.O.U.)" Eric interacted with the crowd a little bit, mostly to establish who they were and that people might recognize the singles from Christian radio, and he engaged in a little bit of the silly rock-star antics, chugging water and spraying it into the air and all that. But overall, the band came off as being more friendly than obnoxious. They probably didn't stand out much to people who didn't already knew them, but I thought their performance was solid for the short time allotted, and I'd love to see them play a longer set in the future. Set List: Reality Run Away (New Song) Just the Same Remember (I.O.U.) He Feel It, She Feel It, We Feel It... The second act on the bill was Grits, a skilled duo that has made a name for themselves as one of the most popular acts in Christian rap. While they're a group that I've come to appreciate over the years for their quick and thoughtful rhymes and their savvy hooks, I must admit that I've never been terribly enthused about rap music in a live setting. I totally recognize that it takes skill for two guys like Bonafide and Coffee to go through their daily calisthenics on stage without missing a beat in their convoluted lyrics, and for a DJ to keep up with them and cue up the right tempos and samples at the right time. Grits did all this and more, and the two guys seemed rather amused, no doubt because this was one of the whitest crowds they had ever played for. People seemed to like 'em quite a bit, so I'll give 'em credit for being open-minded. My main problem was that since you can hardly ever make out the lyrics to any group's songs in concert, most of their material sounded like a lot of monotonous beats, scratching, and blah blah blah. Sometimes the audience picked up on a chorus and they shouted it back to the band - this was most notable on the bouncy opening number, "Tennessee Bwoys", where the group didn't seem to understand that the repeated shouts of "Tennessee!" were meant to be replaced with "California!" when the guys tried to interact with the audience, so this resulted in everyone declaring back to the group that they were in fact from the Dirty South. Grits adhered mostly to their 2002 album, The Art of Translation, picking most of the better songs from that project, even if tracks like "Ooh Aah" and especially "Be Mine" sounded a bit anemic without someone there to actually sing the hooks in between Grits' rap verses. Where the group excelled was in their use of samples - an unexpected reggae rhythm here, a snippet of P.O.D.'s "Alive" in the middle of the harder-edged "Seriously", a montage of vaguely familiar (to me, anyway) snippets of popular songs including Outkast's ubiquitous "Hey Ya", and even a flashback to kindergarten when the DJ had us all singing our ABC's during his wacky intro. The group closed out in fine form with their big hit "Here We Go", and I think they may have given the audience a sneak preview of their upcoming double album at some point in between. It was a bit hard to tell where one song ended and the next began, truth be told. But Grits worked the crowd like pros, even climbing down to be among the people from time to time. They're nothing if not great showmen. Set List: Tennessee Bwoys Seriously Ooh Aah Be Mine (some other stuff) Here We Go See These People Slippin' Out Through the Back Door I wasn't 100% sure of the order of the bands, and since there wasn't anyone announcing who was next up (the bands just kind of arbitrarily came out on stage when they were ready), it took me a second to realize that the next band to appear was in fact Pillar. (Lead singer Rob Beckley has grown a bit of scruff since the last photo I saw of the band, and I couldn't see their new drummer Lester Estelle from where I stood, which would have been a dead giveaway, considering his massive stature.) They unexpectedly opened with the sudden blast of "Behind Closed Doors", which is a pretty chunky song on their album Fireproof, but sounded disappointingly thin in a live setting. The band seemed to be having issues with the sound at the beginning - they just weren't emanating the overall force that I had been told to expect. This problem plagued a few of their early songs, and while I didn't exactly feel left out when the silly frat boy shouts of "Ashamed" were barely audible, I found myself hoping they wouldn't sound this way for their entire set. Thankfully, they seemed to get things worked out by the third or fourth song. Despite the rather obnoxious, Limp Bizkit feel of some of their material, Rob and the boys managed to not annoy me at all during their live set. Instead of just spewing out the predictable hits, they took the time to talk a little bit about their upcoming album and give the audience a chance to sample a few new tracks from it. "Underneath It All", the supposed "hardest rocker" from the new album, surprised me because it was more sung than rapped - Pillar appears to be taking a turn away from the rap/rock thing with their new stuff, actually. The other "new" song, "Bring Me Down" (which hardcore fans already know backwards and forwards, thanks to last year's Broken Down EP) was a pleasant surprise, incorporating a prominent backup vocal that sounded like it was coming from Lester - no one else on stage seemed to be singing that part. I'm glad that more of the guys are getting into the vocal aspect of Pillar's work - it was apparent on some of the more well-known songs that Rob's vocal parts overlapped each other on the CD, because he had to leave out a few words here and there in order to keep up. The majority of the material, of course, came from Fireproof, and it was performed capably, if not remarkably, on stage. "Echelon" was as smooth and compelling as it is on the album, thanks to Noah Henson's fluid guitar riffs and backing vocals. Noah was waving his dreadlocks about and having a good time wielding his ax - Rob later explained that it was Noah's birthday that night. The one point where the band mellowed out a bit was for the thick, dark ballad "Further", thankfully played in its original form instead of the anemic acoustic version that's been plaguing Christian radio. Another song that was unrecognizable at first turned out to be an amped-up version of their early hit "Open Your Eyes", which showed its seams a little more when compared to the newer material, since it transitioned between its rap verse and its melodic chorus rather awkwardly. The piece de resistance of Pillar's set, however, was their cover of U2's classic "Sunday Bloody Sunday". While a number of Pillar's fans (and possibly some of its members) have probably been around for less time than the song, and probably didn't pick up the tribute album In the Name of Love: Artists United for Africa since Pillar was the only band of its kind on the record, Rob encouraged them just to watch other people's mouths and figure it out. The song, which I think was the strongest entry on the tribute album, showed the Pillar could still play a strong, spirited rock song without relying on their usual rapping. Also proving this was the closing anthem "Fireproof", which is harder-edged but relies mostly on singing with a few shouted refrains. This provided ample opportunity for us to shout along with the assured, uncompromising lyrics. Despite the lack of a solid guitar presence during the thrashing bridge, the group's signature song was well-played. I'd have tweaked their set a bit and added "Just to Get By" in place of the substandard "Ashamed", but I suppose I can't complain too much, considering that they had the forethought to let the moronic "Indivisible" sit this one out. I hate that song more than words can express. What was played was played well, once they worked out the snags. It was notable that, after Pillar's set, a number of people left the center "mosh pit" area of the room. Either they were Pillar fans who had no interest in Skillet or 12 Stones, or they just needed a breather. In any event, it was rather strange. Set List: Behind Closed Doors Ashamed Underneath It All (new song) Echelon Sunday Bloody Sunday Further Open Your Eyes Bring Me Down Fireproof Am I a Lunatic? I'm Going Crazy! In a shocking move, Skillet, which is on the verge of becoming a veteran Christian rock act any day now, had been bumped down in the pecking order, and they ended up playing second to last instead of closing out the evening like they deserved to. Nevertheless, the electronica-based "hard pop" act (I like to call them that since lead singer John Cooper has admitted they're essentially a pop band in a hard rock band's body) did not disappoint with the frustratingly limited time that they were given. Instead of opting for the predictable first track on the record opening that they've been doing for the last three albums, they instead opted for their latest single, the churning, thrashing worship anthem "My Obsession". It was notable that on this and much of their new material from Collide, John's wife Korey Cooper was playing rhythm guitar instead of her keyboards (she occasionally even switched back and forth mid-song). While an extra guitar proved to be useful since young guitar prodigy Ben Kasica can't exactly clone himself, the wall of noise often came to the point of overwhelming a few of his fiery solos. Nonetheless, it was apparent that Skillet was having a blast playing the new material live. John Cooper's occasional screams didn't come off as grating as they sometimes can on the album, and his voice was in top form (what I could hear of it over the din, anyhow). Lori Peters, while not visible from our spot near the extreme right edge of the stage, was clearly audible with her thundering drum fills. As much as I loved Korey's electronic stuff, the group has clearly benefited from the increased dependence on live instrumentation. It was surprising that John didn't waste a lot of time talking. When I've seen the band in the past, he's always maintained a bit of a dorky presence, offsetting the group's harsh musical persona with his strangely endearing awkwardness. Here, he took a few moments to thank fans for their support and to mention their brand new mainstream deal ("Savior" is climbing up the mainstream rock charts as we speak, go figure!), but there were no long speeches or Bible studies here - the intense spiritual devotion in their music was allowed to speak for itself. The shift in stage persona will no doubt do Skillet some good if they catch on in the mainstream - not that they shouldn't be outspoken about being Christians or anything. I think they've just realized that people mostly come for the music, and the message will sink in on its own as people take the CD home and listen to it over and over again. The group's set consisted of 5 new songs - essentially, the front half of Collide, two older hits, and one unexpected older song. The moving, keyboard-laden number "Collide" came early on, which is one of my favorites from the new album, and it found Korey firing on all cylinders, from her rhythm guitar accompaniment to her synthesized string and piano interludes, to her backup vocals, which weren't present on the album. As the song came crashing towards its climax and eventually faded out, the group very smoothly segued it into the chorus of "Forsaken", which was echoed softly as a buildup before breaking into Ben's harsh guitar riff, which can be heard at the beginning of the album. That song was one of the more intense, headbang-inspiring moments of the evening, with its pained lyrics of regret and its harsh screams. The mellower song "A Little More" came up next, and while I thought it might provide an excellent transition into some of their established worship songs like "You Are My Hope" or "More Faithful", the group actually sidestepped those old standbys this time around. As a matter of fact, the first album and Hey You, I Love Your Soul weren't represented at all in this set (they even left out "Locked in a Cage", can you believe it?). The sole track played from Alien Youth was its title track, which can be seen now as a happy medium between the crunch of the newer material and the techno-happy Invincible, which was represented early on by the computerized gurgling and thrashing of "Best Kept Secret", and, somewhat unexpectedly, by the crescendoing worship ballad "Angels Fall Down", a hidden track from that album. By the time the group got around to playing "Savior" (the way it was meant to be, not the emasculated radio single version, thank you very much), I was feeling a tinge of sadness because I knew it would be Skillet's final song. But I promise myself I'd enjoy every single minute of it instead of moping around about how they couldn't play longer, and man, was that song a blast live! They filled it in with a few extra riffs and screams, and basically they just went all-out crazy. (I had the sore neck to prove it on Monday.) I suppose they could've used a little more sonic balance instead of bowling us over with drums and rhythm guitar, but Skillet definitely had the most powerful presence of any band that night. Like I said, they should have been the headliners. Set List: My Obsession Best Kept Secret Collide Forsaken A Little More Alien Youth Angels Fall Down Savior I Hate the Way I Feel Tonight As much as I had enjoyed the other acts on the See Spot Rock tour, this concert will unfortunately go down in history as the only show I've been to where the headlining act was one that I strongly disliked. I've made the joke on several occasions that listening to 12 Stones is about as painful as passing 12 stones, and their live show was no exception. It's funny - I tried to keep an open mind, because I knew that a big turnoff on their album had been the incessant screaming of Paul McCoy, and yet the way other edgier bands screamed (including Pillar and Skillet) often didn't annoy me as much. Once the group got into their first few songs, though, it all came back to me, and my open minded went ahead and decided to retire early. To put in in layman's terms, THEY SUCKED. Imagine what you'd get if you took the more grating elements of Creed and Staind, mixed them together with screaming of the more shrill, small dinosaur variety, filtered them through generic, watered-down lyrics and melodies a la Kutless, and built in an automatic rabid fan base thanks to Paul's exposure on a mega-hit Evanescence song (perhaps the one good thing he's ever done). You get about forty-five minutes worth of annoyance, that's what. Sure, some of 12 Stones' songs have their little bits and pieces that promise to be enjoyable, like the whacked-out guitar effects of "Open Your Eyes", the melodic and emotive chorus of "The Way I Feel", or the menacingly defensive shouts of "Back Up". And hey, their guitarist can play a decent solo. But one ceases to care when it feels like each mid-tempo dirge is the same as the last - all that seems to change is the relative volume level, the number of times Paul shrieks in pain, and the permutation of the same lyrical ideas that the group uses over and over. OK, so their music sucks. What about stage presence? Well, I guess you could say 12 Stones has stage presence. Paul's zombie-like antics, where he does his weird little dance in rigid motions to the beat of the music and lets his tongue hang out of his mouth like an idiot, were amusing for about ten minutes. His repeated practice of dousing the crowd with full bottles of drinking water was amusing for about one. (In all fairness, at least he wasn't spitting it.) Other than that, there wasn't much of a visual to keep me interested. Having driven to the show by myself, I could have taken off at any time, but being the dedicated concertgoer that I am, I stuck around for posterity. When a pair of up-tempo new songs and the more traditional rock-styled "Eric's Song" came along, I was relieved to have a hint of a change in dynamic. The group probably had no idea how well I identified with the declaration of being "Sick and tired of feeling this way". For all of his irritating quirks, Paul proved to be a rather calm front man when actually speaking to the audience. He was able to place his band's music in some sort of context when he explained that he wanted everyone to be able to leave all of their negative energy in the room when they went home tonight - 12 Stones sings about despair and frustration as a means of helping people deal with those emotions, as Evanescence and many other bands (Christian or otherwise) do. Being on a mainstream label (Wind-Up), I suppose the band could easily hide in the shadows and not mention their Christianity, but Paul made it clearly that having "hope in Jesus Christ" was why he and the guys were doing this. It would have been great if he had just left it at that statement. Instead he had to go and backpedal and try to sound all PC by awkwardly stating that some people in the room might believe in Buddha or something else, and "that's cool too; we're not here to judge you." Sure, not judging is cool, but the last thing you want to do in front of a Christian audience is to say something which can be misconstrued as having an "anything goes" sort of belief. I don't expect you to stand up there and preach and tell people they're wrong or anything, but you know, I think you can just state where you're coming from and leave it at that. People probably know that already, if they're attending a show of this nature. In any event, it wasn't too long before people were screaming for "Broken", the alleged big hit which closed out the evening. It sounded like every other song to me, but with about 10 times the screaming. Why is it that groups like Chevelle can pull this off without sounding like nails on a chalkboard most of the time, and yet it bugs me so much with 12 Stones? Truthfully, I don't want to listen enough to figure it out any more. 12 Stones would be my new critical whipping boy if I could stand to at least listen closely to their album more than once. (As it stands, I'll have to stick with Kutless. They at least suck in a tolerable enough way for me to get through a CD a few times and give a reasonable evaluation of it.) Set List: Soulfire Crash Back Up Open Your Eyes Shadows (new song) Fade Away The Way I Feel Speak Your Mind (new song) Eric's Song Broken Despite my distaste for 12 Stones and my feeling that every single band on here (except for perhaps Big Dismal, who is also just starting out) had more talent and was far more deserving of the headlining spot than 12 Stones will ever be, I can still say that I enjoyed this installment of See Spot Rock. It more or less did what it promised without a lot of advertising and B.S. to waste our time. As a matter of fact, the only real advertising done was when bands plugged their own CD's, or each other's. They were selling a lot of 'em for $10 at the merch table (even on pre-orders of Pillar's latest, which was actually somewhat tempting), so I'm sure a few new fans of some of these bands went home happy. If nothing else, it was an economical way to put on a concert tour, and if they have as many bands on next year's lineup that I'm interested in, I'll probably go check it out again. My Ratings: 12 Stones: 1.5 stars Skillet: 4 stars Pillar: 4 stars Grits: 3.5 stars Big Dismal: 3.5 stars Show Overall: 3.5 stars Websites: http://www.seespotrock.com http://www.12stones.com http://www.skillet.org http://www.pillarmusic.com http://www.bigdismal.com http://www.grits7.com  |
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