Bob purchased three tickets to this event without me knowing and of course I had to go. He was super excited because he had never seen Godsmack before. This was to be my fifth time seeing Godsmack but the last time had been way back in the summer of 2003 at the Gorge. We had one extra ticket to get rid of and finally James decided to go with us after two other people agreed to go backed out. I am very familiar with the venue since this school is my Alma Mater. We had excellent seats and this time I wisely chose to dance with Mary Jane before entering the venue (see Smashing Pumpkins 9/19/07).

After what was one of the weirder beginnings to a show I have seen where Godsmack essentially played a promo video of themselves on the big screen, they took the stage. Total professionals. They were touring for their newest album 1000HP that had been released the previous summer. They played a great mix of songs from all of their albums and threw in covers of Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way” and AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” One great moment is when they played the first minute or so of the Pantera song “Walk” and the whole crowd went ape shit. At another point Sully gave his whiskey to a girl that had been going crazy in front of the stage the whole show. One of the best highlights of the night was when the drum riser started moving toward the front of the stage and out came another full drum kit from under the big screen that Sully proceeded to sit down behind and make some dual drum magic happen. After some false posturing of “we’re going to play all night” they finished the song they were playing and the show was over. I appreciated the cheeky song that came on as we were leaving the venue – “Rock and Roll Band” from Boston. Good times.