This was the third livestream of the evening for me but by the time I tuned in an hour deep I was just able to catch the ending of “Cali Soca,” “Dancehall” and “Livin’ N’ Rockin’” before this stream was over. 311 gives the ability to watch the stream for 72 hours after the original broadcast but I had never watched their streams anything other than live so had no idea that the streams are only re-broadcast at certain times until I tried to watch from the beginning later in the night. During the second attempt I happened to tune in as they were beginning “Leaving Babylon” so I got that song, “Mindspin” and the full “Cali Soca” before I was caught up to my original viewing.
It is said that the third time is a charm and this third attempt at viewing the stream finally allowed a successful viewing of the entire thing. After watching the last couple of pre-recorded streams I really appreciated the live aspect of this one.
After an hour of interviews about the album, that heavy riff in “Freeze Time” I love so much started things out. It was hard to not notice how much fun the band seemed to be having a during “Come Original.” One of my favorites on the album, “Flowing,” was also unsurprisingly one of my favorites of the whole performance. 311 always brings it and this stream was no exception.
SETLIST: Freeze Time, Come Original, Large in the Margin, Flowing, Can’t Fade Me, Life’s Not a Race, Strong All Along, Sever, Eons, Evolution, Leaving Babylon, Mindspin, Seal the Deal, Cali Soca, Dancehall, Livin’ N’ Rockin’
Transistor was released on August 5, 1997 and the first time I ever saw 311 was exactly three months later on November fifth. While this stream was not half the experience of that concert it was still special. Maybe it was due to the stream actually being on 3/11 but something just felt different about this one versus the other two I had seen. Maybe it is just because I forgot how many songs I really like on the album. Maybe the band was stoned? Whatever the reason(s) I thoroughly enjoyed seeing/hearing 311 play the shit out of “Transistor,” “Beautiful Disaster,” “Electricity,” “Use of Time,” “The Continuous Life,” “Color,” “Light Years,” “Borders” and “Stealing Happy Hours.” S.A. Martinez has a unique voice and his singing on “Inner Light Spectrum” was stellar. Before performing “Light Years” Nick Hexum said that the song was tentatively named “Ghost Town Reggae.” Apparently ghosts killed the bass after that because P-Nut was out of service for the whole song but the rest of the band carried on like the professionals that they are.
This stream was originally to take place on January 11th but due to COVID restrictions going back into place got moved to February 19th. Lucky me since not only did I miss the stream for Grassroots but also forgot all about this stream until after the 11th when I then realized my lucky break. The eponymous “Blue album” in full, in sequence? Yes please.
The format and setup of this stream was almost identical to the one for Music that I caught back in November and just like that one I was nodding my head pretty much the entire time throughout the stream. Highlights for me were the same songs as my favorite songs on the album; “Down,” “Random,” “Jackolantern’s Weather,” Hive,” “Misdirected Hostility” and “Purpose.” After they worked their way through the whole album they took a short intermission and came back for a set of six “B-Sides” including fan fave “Firewater.” S.A. Martinez got so into the performance that he had to change his shirt for the Q&A portion at the end because he was sweating so profusely. I also noticed Tim Mahoney’s “guitar face” a lot more this time but that could have been due to me being completely sober this time.
A killer bonus of this stream was the announcement that they decided to do streams for their next three albums Transistor, Soundsystem and From Chaos starting March 11th, which I am sure they will have something special up their sleeve for since that is 3/11.
Music is probably my favorite 311 album but by the time I first saw 311 in 2007 there were only a few of the songs that made their way into the setlist. I received an email to let me know that 311 would be doing a separate livestream for each of their first three albums a month apart. I have definitely spent 20 bucks on worse things.
The email confirmation said “VIDEO GOES LIVE AT 5:00 PM PT; PERFORMANCES BEGIN AT 6:00 PM PT.” What this equated to was an 8-bit version of “Down” playing with a cartoon-y background then the feed immediately cutting to a 10-minute timer with trippy visuals/sound for all the stoners in the crowd, and by the looks of the chat box that appeared to be many. Nearly the whole 5 o’clock hour was just shots of the empty stage/studio where the band was to play save for the occasional foghorn to announce “311Music Facts,” which was a punny way to give some background on the album. Finally near the end of the hour they showed a time lapse of “the Hive” being built and then rolled right into “Welcome” before playing the rest of the album front to back in sequence.
This livestream was actually live unlike at least one of the previous livestreams I recently watched that was pre-recorded. I thought it was ironic that there was a chat box the whole time because bands in a live setting usually want people to forego technology and pay attention to the performance. This got me wondering how many people at home were taking shitty video clips of their computer screen with their phones and posting to YouTube but I digress. These guys are awesome live and although having to watch a live performance physically removed from the band was somewhat of a bummer it still did not disappoint. I was especially feeling “Visit,” “Unity,” “Plain,” and “Feels So Good” and whether they wanted to or not so were my neighbors.
Gatherings of 250 people became officially banned in San Diego as of March 13th, 2020. Nationwide lockdown followed shortly after. The list of concerts below are the ones I intended to attend that have been impacted (so far):
3/13/20 Local H @ Belly Up – RESCHEDULED to 10/10/20 – Local H was set to open for Soul Asylum in support of their album Lifers that was about to drop on 4/10/20
UPDATE 4/24: Local H decided to let fans on their Facebook page vote on an entire album from their catalog for them to play live from their “bunker” in Chicago. The album that received the most votes was Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles? and they livestreamed their performance on both Facebook and YouTube. I would have paid good money to see this live so this was quite a treat as the first livestream concert I ever watched. The picture quality was better on Facebook but the sound was better on YouTube.
3/28/20 Rage Against the Machine @ Pan American Center, Las Cruces, NM – POSTPONED – Before Rage announced a full tour there were originally only five shows scheduled: El Paso, TX, Las Cruces, NM, Phoenix, AZ and as the headliner for both weekends of Coachella. I had no interest in going to Coachella due to the expense and “scene” that I am very much not a part of so Phoenix was the logical choice due knowing people that live there and distance but New Mexico was on a Saturday. That was enough reason for a group of us to decide that a trip was in order.
UPDATE 5/1: The rescheduled tour dates have arrived and it looks like I will not be seeing Rage Against the Machine until May 2021!
4/4/20 Loudermilk @ The Uptown Theatre, Richland, WA – POSTPONED – This was to be the first time I had been “home” in over nine years and with The Ladybird Unition set to open it was going to be like I was 17 years old all over again.
4/13/20 Pearl Jam @ Viejas Arena (SDSU) – POSTPONED – Pearl Jam was one of the first bands that decided to halt their tour. This was to be only my second time seeing Pearl Jam and ironically at the same place that I saw them the first time. This tour was slated in support of the new album Gigaton released on 3/27/20.
4/24/20 The Darkness @ Observatory – POSTPONED – The Darkness was set to tour for their newest effort Easter Is Cancelled, which turned out to be a prophetic title.
UPDATE 5/15: CANCELLED – Well
5/8/20 The Rolling Stones @SDCCU Stadium – POSTPONED – This was to be the second time I had the pleasure of seeing the Stones. As a bonus this was going to be the opening night of the tour within walking distance of my place on a Friday…
5/22/20 System of a Down, Korn, Faith No More and Helmet @ Banc of California Stadium – POSTPONED – This was a one-off concert in L.A. that had such high demand that a second show was added.
UPDATE 5/22: RESCHEDULED – This event will now happen on the same date in 2021 as if this year never happened at all.
6/10 Styx @ San Diego County Fair – CANCELLED – This was set to be my second time seeing Styx but the show and better yet the entire county fair for 2020 was cancelled.
7/12 The Black Keys @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – CANCELLED – This was to be my third time seeing these Ohio natives. Good thing I was able to see the beginning of the “Let’s Rock” tour back in November.
7/19 Incubus and 311 @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – CANCELLED – Two bands that I like on the same bill is always a treat. I guess this would instead fall under the category of trick.
7/23 Motley Crue @ Petco Park – ??? – On May 1st Motley Crue released a statement saying “Our goal is to have an official update to everyone by June 1 outlining exactly how we will proceed.” All signs are pointing towards an inevitable postponement/cancellation.
UPDATE 6/1: POSTPONED – Shocking!
7/24 Weezer/Green Day @ Petco Park – POSTPONED – What was to be a rare concert on a Friday night is no more…until 2021
7/30 Ministry @ House of Blues San Diego – RESCHEDULED – There is a website called bandsintown.com that I am on the email list for and this was how I learned that the Ministry show got rescheduled to April 29, 2021. Hopefully Uncle Al is still around.
8/1 Primus and Wolfmother @ Open Air Theatre – POSTPONED – This was going to be a unique show with Primus undertaking the task of replicating Rush’s 1977 classic album A Farewell To Kings. I was also looking forward to seeing the entire Wolfmother performance after the last one got cut short.
8/8 Guns N’ Roses @ Sofi Stadium – POSTPONED – This was going to be my second time seeing GNR and first time visiting the new gazillion dollar monolith stadium in L.A. where the Rams and Chargers will play.
9/1 Disturbed @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – POSTPONED – This tour was to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the debut album The Sickness, which now seems like an even more apt title.
10/9-10/11 Aftershock Festival @ Discovery Park, Sacramento – CANCELLED – See you in 2021!
11/1 Aaron Lewis and Sully Erna @ Del Mar Fairgrounds – CANCELLED – Just when I thought I was going to get some sort of live music even this got cancelled…
So we had taken a couple years off since our last Aftershock but it was time to get the band back together…with the exceptions of Joe and Marvin. Joe just flat out said he was not going to make it but Marvin, being the sneaky fuck that he is sometimes known to be, kept us hanging. We decided that two days of nonstop drinking would be enough for us so instead of showing up early Bob and I booked a flight leaving San Diego at 6:20 am the day of, which means we had to be heading towards the airport by 5. I thought Bob was joking about having a beer once he parked at my place at 4:30 but apparently he was not…
Fast-forward a couple hours after having breakfast at our hotel and stocking up on beer at the Total Wine down the street we were now awaiting Ken’s arrival. Marvin finally text us that he was not going to make it but I thought him and Ken were in cahoots due to some very suspicious text messages. It turns out they were not, so after a little more drinking all three of us hopped into a Lyft and headed for the show.
This year’s Aftershock was moved back to Discovery Park where we attended our first Aftershock (it was at Gibson Ranch the last time we went). The layout was a little more spacious from that first time, which was a good thing because apparently this was the first time that Aftershock ever sold out.
We showed up in time to catch Hyro the Hero, which reminded me an awful lot of Rage Against the Machine and I do not mean that in a bad way. It was about 80 degrees outside in direct sunlight but it was worth enduring.
What I really wanted to see was the Vinnie Paul All Star Tribute. Hellyeah was supposed to play Aftershock but decided not to after Vinnie Paul unexpectedly passed away on June 22nd. SiriusXM deejay Jose Mangin helped organize a performance anchored by Vinnie’s ex-Hellyeah bandmate Kyle Sanders on the bass and Pepe Clarke of Kyng on the drums. Other than that it was a rotating cast of characters that started off the fun with Damage Plan’s “Save Me,” followed by Pantera’s “Becoming” with Stephen Carpenter, “Mouth For War” with members of Gwar, “A New Level” with the freshly shave-headed Jose Mangin on vocals and “Walk” featuring Jonathan Davis and Sully. The thrill of seeing these songs again in a live setting was oh so badass and I am pretty sure this is what all but blew my voice out for the next several days.
To be completely honest this is where things started to get a little fuzzy. After getting some food together we of course all got separated from each other. I remember being completely confused watching Jonathan Davis because I thought he was going to do a DJ set but instead had a full on band with a bass player that was getting after it. I later found out he had released a solo album at the end of May called Black Labyrinth.
The next three bands were all welcome sights and sounds but nothing in particular stuck out about any of the performances (probably because I was a drunk ass). The first of these was 311, who had released two new albums, Stereolithic and Mosaic, since I had last seen them five years prior. The next was Godsmack who were touring for When Legends Rise that was just released back in April and the last of the evening was Deftones, whose newest release was still Gore that was released back in 2016 but I hadn’t seen them since the last Aftershock I attended in 2015.
The night was far from over after the last notes rang from the Deftones amps as my phone battery had died and therefore I had no way to get back to our hotel that was about 10 miles away. I anticipated a dead battery so I brought an external charger but what I did not anticipate was losing the cord that connected the external charger to my phone! After awhile I found a couple that reluctantly let me use their cord just long enough to get my phone powered on to request a Lyft and get back to the hotel. Once I arrived I found Marvin sitting on the couch. I had a feeling he would make it but since he did not tell anyone he was coming he spent all day by himself and then finagled his way into our room since he did not have a key to get in. I should have went to bed at this point but I was still drunk and was not about to squander away an opportunity to drink more with one of my oldest friends.
Bob, Tom, Jared and I went to pick up some chocolate weed edibles before this concert and ate our way through two chocolate bars on the way to the amphitheater in Chula Vista. I would say I usually have a pretty high tolerance for marijuana in general but edibles are a whole different ballgame. This was the strongest edible I had ever had and by the time we arrived I was flying! So much so that I found myself overly appreciating the perfect weather and our surroundings in the parking lot beforehand that I had to consciously slow down on the beer in the parking lot as a result.
I want to say 311 actually went before Sublime with Rome but like I mentioned earlier I was stoned to the bone. Sublime headlining in their heyday yes, Sublime with Rome now no. Even though 311 are true road warriors this was only the second time I saw them, with the first time being way back in late 1997. These guys sound REALLY good live. Nick Hexum has a “clean” voice that sounds even better live than on recordings and the rest of the band is tight.
SETLIST: Beautiful Disaster, Freak Out, All Mixed Up, Hive, You Wouldn’t Believe, Sunset in July, Amber, Don’t Stay Home, Applied Science, Do You Right, Who’s Got the Herb?, Come Original, Sick Tight, Down, Jackpot, Creatures (For A While)
The remaining two members of Sublime began touring in early 2009 with new singer Rome Ramirez under the name Sublime until Bradley Nowell’s estate slapped a lawsuit on them, forcing a name change to Sublime with Rome. Rome filled in admirably for Bradley Nowell but Bradley Nowell he was not. It was nice just to hear Sublime songs live as I never had the opportunity to see Sublime back when Bradley was still alive.
Less than two months later and my whole world was about to be rocked. Roscoe and I decided to make a trip to Seattle to see two consecutive nights worth of concerts. The first of these concerts was this 311 concert. I believe we stayed with my friend T-Bone. The first opening band was a then little known band called Incubus. They were touring for their second full length album S.C.I.E.N.C.E. Brandon Boyd had long dreadlocks and beat the hell out of a hand drum on “New Skin.” I remember thinking they were pretty good but then forgot about them until after Make Yourself came out. Next up was Sugar Ray. They were enjoying the success of the song “Fly” from the album Floored. I thought they were alright but the singer, Mark McGrath, was pretty funny because he was so sarcastic. Then came 311. They just flat out rocked. They were on tour for Transistor but I had got into them via Rose right after the self-titled album came out. Some short random girl asked me to put her on my shoulders, which was cool because she was cute, but that got old fast.
