So, I went to see Big Wreck, yesterday in Santa Ana.
I enjoyed the show a good amount. They were playing their debut album, In Loving Memory Of... in full and the funny thing. The studio album was 13 songs and about one hour. They played 14 songs (they included a bonus track called Ill Advice) and the entire main set lasted for 85 minutes and despite certain self-indulging guitar moments (in which Ian Thornley stated it himself in the show. He can't help himself in those moments. He just has to do it and take the audience along for the ride), they were great. Ian Thornley is such a great guitarist. They also played Albatross (one of my favorites from them along with Under the Lighthouse which they included in the main set) and Thornley's Come Again in the encore. Crowd went crazy over That Song, Blown Wide Open, and The Oaf.
Now a couple of notes. One, when I got in line to see Big Wreck outside of the Constellation room (there were two rooms, that room, and the main Observatory), I noticed that there was a lot of younger people in line (they were there to see EDM guy name Eden, don't know). I'm thinking there is no way they are all here to see Big Wreck, but I can't be the only guy in line to see Big Wreck. Turned out, before the doors open, I was actually the first guy in line for Big Wreck when one of the security guys said, "whose here for Big Wreck?" I'm like I am, and then he told me, "You're in the wrong line." and there were no lines for Big Wreck, so he formed a line where I was the only guy there to get in when the doors opened. On the plus side, I was in front of the barrier, first that's ever happened to me, and whilst there was probably 1,000 people in the main hall, around 200 or so was there for Big Wreck, but as Ian stated it, "It was a small crowd, but a fierce crowd." After almost every song, people was screaming, "I LOVE THAT F'EN SONG." after every song. Mainly since they have a song titled "That Song."
Two, while the guitar prowess of Big Wreck is great, the guitars mixing was not as optimal. Brian Doherty's guitar tone was really overpowering everyone else's instruments (Ian Thornley's vocals included where I can barely hear him). This was horribly noticeable, since the opening band, Jesse Roper, had a great sound mix with him on guitars and vocals, plus drums, bass, and a keyboardist. An English guy in the crowd next to me, after the main set was done, told me, "You couldn't hear the vocals as much as well right?" confirming that the mixing was horrible.
One of the more heartwarming moments I have ever seen at a concert was when there was a girl in the front with her parents and Brian Doherty gave her a pick and then she got a drum stick, AND THEN Ian Thornley gave her a guitar pick as well and he joked about giving her his guitar and made the motion of doing so, but he stated, "Let's not go too far, I need this to play." That was a nice moment to see up close and front.
So yeah, whilst I had a fun time and the band played great and Ian Thornley is a great guitar wizard, and it was a good crowd that really knows their music (especially prog metal, where the British guy I mentioned stated that he saw DT with Periphery in 2012 during the UK leg of the ADTOE tour, and there was this die hard Big Wreck fan that's a huge Devin Townsend fan), the fact that the sound mix was not great, I have to rate this concert a little on the downside of the shows I've been to which is ranked the following.
1a and 1b. (Breaking Benjamin and Halestorm in 2017 at the House of Blues in October. Both shows were the top tier for me. No question.)
2. Alter Bridge (Wiltern Theater 2014)
3. Foo Fighters (The Forum 2015)
4. Shinedown (LA County Fair 2013)
5. Big Wreck (The Constellation Room 2018)
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6. Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators (Pechanga Theater 2014). The band played incredible, but that crowd was the worst crowd that I have ever been to and that really soured my experience.
So, upcoming shows for me.
Myles Kennedy (The Troubadour in LA). Easy for me to get excited about that. Great solo album. I've seen some setlists he did in South Africa and they look great and I'm hoping it gets better once he gets in more songs from Year of the Tiger. The one thing I hope is that my hearing of him talking in-between songs does not sound like he is on helium like I hear on the other times I saw him with AB and Slash.
I may do the following shows depending on certain factors.
Nightwish (The City National Grove of Anaheim). It's a super close venue near me, but I don't know too much of their material, and I just can't justify spending $80.00 on it when I spent $25 each on Big Wreck and Myles Kennedy. Maybe, I may get lucky and see if tickets go lower to like $50.00 at some point? I don't know.
Evanescence with Lindsey Stirling (FivePoint Amphitheater in Irvine, CA). I always liked Lindsey Stirling as a musician and violinist, she's got some cool sounds and songs and good choreography in her live shows, but I've tried to get into Evanescence and I just don't enjoy that band like I would their contemporaries (Breaking Benjamin, Shinedown, and even Seether), but it seems like a band that I should be into. So, that one may also be a last minute decision. Anyway, thanks for anyone that read this long post at this point. It's mainly a train of thought post about concerts in 2018 for me.