This year saw Rockfest move from the Portland Meadows to Columbia Meadows in St. Helens, OR. While I was happy to not have to blow dirt out of my nose for three consecutive days, it was about a 45-minute drive from Portland. It was worth it, and besides that gave us plenty of time to smoke out in the car. It was Lucinda, Roscoe and I. I really went for the three bands listed on the ticket but there were a few other notables. Puddle of Mudd was there and about a month and a half from releasing Come Clean, the album that rocketed them to stardom. The thing about seeing bands before they become famous is that they are putting 100% into their set, still trying to prove themselves. After them was Saliva. Not a fan but they were also just getting popular because of the single “Your Disease” off the album Every 6 Seconds that had been released about three and half months earlier. Next up was System of a Down. This was the second and one of the best times I ever saw them. They were about a month and a half from releasing Toxicity. Daron Malakian was crazy the whole time. I know they played “Prison Song.” The fact is that they blew everyone off the stage that day. There was a huge pit that opened up in front of the stage and it didn’t let up until they went off stage. This turned out to be a huge advantage for Lucinda because we were at the back rim of the pit, which allowed her to see the stage perfectly. On to my seventh Deftones sighting! They had quite the challenge of following System but pulled it off. They were still touring for White Pony and I remember Chino had a Mexican flag draped over his half stack. This set was more stripped down than the previous time I had seen them. They lost the frills and just put the pedal to the metal. Godsmack closed the show. This was the third time I saw them but the first time since they had released their second album Awake. They played most of the album with the highlight for me being the song “Mistakes.” It was pretty epic the way they played it with all the little breakdowns in between the heaviness.