Godsmack

Aftershock 10/13/18

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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.

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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.

JD Aftershock

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.

Godsmack 11/12/15

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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.

 

Endfest 6/21/03

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I know I went to this show with Jason but I cannot remember if Lucinda drove up with me from Portland for this or not. Endfest was an annual festival put on by the Seattle radio station 107.7 The End. I made to trek to see four bands. I ended up seeing three…Powerman 5000 was the first band playing that I wanted to see and they played the second stage. I had been a fan since the album Tonight the Stars Revolt! but never got the chance to see them until this concert, which was about a month after they released the album Transform. They played their set with a lot of enthusiasm and I remember thinking that they should have been playing the main stage but I guess that would have created too much of a challenge to change gear between each band. Cold was supposed to be the first band on the main stage but right before Powerman took the stage someone from the radio station informed us that Cold would not be playing because the bassist broke his hand. That meant the next band up was Staind. I had seen Staind four times prior to this but I was still excited to see them again because they had just released a new album called 14 Shades of Grey about a month earlier. Closing out the show with no shortage of pyrotechnics was Godsmack. They were touring for their album Faceless that had been released just a couple months prior to this show. Although I had seen Godsmack three times prior to this, it was the first time I saw them with their new drummer Shannon Larkin. This band was made for the big stage and took full advantage of their headlining slot, tearing through the hits and deeper cuts that I do not normally get much of at a show like this.

Rockfest 7/14/01

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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.

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Ozzfest 8/24/00

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Main Stage: Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Godsmack, Static-X, Incubus, Methods of Mayhem, P.O.D., Queens of the Stone Age

Second Stage: Soulfly, Kittie, Disturbed, Taproot, Reveille, Primer 55, Black Label Society

So here I am again returning to the Gorge with my honey Lucinda for some good old rock/metal. Friends Mark and Claude joined us. Taproot was touring for their debut album Gift and the first band up that we were interested in seeing. They seemed pretty polished to be playing on the second stage. Disturbed played next. There was a buzz around them and they did not disappoint. They had just released The Sickness in March and played the finer moments of the album in their set. I remember wanting to watch Soulfly but the distance between the second and main stages at the Gorge is sometimes too great for the time allowed between bands. I didn’t want to miss whoever was up next on the main stage. Speaking of the main stage, Queens of the Stone Age should have been there but for some reason our show was the first they were not at (they took a break from Ozzfest August 24th-30th). Methods of Mayhem were the first band there that we watched on the main stage instead. Tommy Lee did a great job as a frontman/guitarist for being known as a drummer. He had a funny narrative about crawling back home after a night of heavy drinking. Incubus was next and this was the first time I had got to see them perform songs from Make Yourself. After seeing them open for 311 I forgot about them until I heard an acoustic version of “Pardon Me” that blew my mind. They definitely impressed the crowd. Static-X followed with almost the same setlist as the year before but had pumped up their stage show a little. Wayne’s hair may have grew a little longer too, which for those who are unfamiliar with it is about two feet of hair sticking straight toward the sky. Godsmack was after Static-X. Their debut album slowly grew on me after hearing Lucinda play it a number of times to the point of me actually looking forward to seeing them. They rocked their ass off and even played the then unreleased song “Awake.” As the theme of the summer seemed to be, I was once again really at this show to see one band: the almighty Pantera. I was turned onto them by Claude right after Vulgar Display of Power came out and have been a fan ever since. I was lucky enough to be able to buy Far Beyond Driven and The Great Southern Trendkill the day the albums came out. For this show they were on tour for the album Reinventing the Steel that had just been released a few months prior. I remember the crowd going crazier than I have ever seen a crowd go. They were fucking going off. I remember trying to protect Lucinda from the debauchery since she was so small and we were in the floor section. Dimebag was a showboater but with his level of talent had every reason to be. We stayed around to watch Ozzy but weren’t really that stoked to be there. Pantera kicked our ass and I’ve never really been a fan of Ozzy’s solo efforts because I have Black Sabbath to compare to. Don’t get me wrong, he was nuts but unfortunately he had the displeasure of playing after Pantera and competing against my previous year’s experience of watching Black Sabbath. If you are fan of Pantera then unfortunately you know how the rest of their story unfolded, which is why I never got to see them again.

 

Ozzfest 7/18/99

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Main Stage: Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Slayer, Primus, Godsmack, System of a Down

Second Stage: Fear Factory, Static-X, Slipknot, Puya, Drain STH, hed (pe), Apartment 26, Flashpoint

This was the first Ozzfest that had come in my proximity. Ozzfest had been going since 1996 and kind of filled the summer void that Lollapalooza had left. I was pretty excited about this show because every band on the main stage was a band I wanted to see even though I had already seen some of the bands before. A girl in one of my classes named Tawni turned me onto System of a Down. I was lucky enough to sit next to her in my math class and we had similar musical musings. My cousin Earl really liked them too and gave me their first album on CD for my 21st birthday. They were the first band on the main stage and touring for their eponymous album. Claude strikes again though. Bless his soul but the guy’s just not all there sometimes and this time he didn’t quite comprehend the importance of leaving at a specified time. Long story short we arrived just in time to see the last 3 songs of System of a Down’s set. By we I mean Earl and I only because we ran all the way down to the floor from the moment we arrived inside the Pearly Gates. I believe Roscoe was also with us? The next band up was Godsmack who was also touring for their eponymous album. They were on it. They played pretty much their whole first album. Primus was next and let me just say that Les Claypool is a badass. They were still a few months away from releasing Antipop so they technically touring for their EP of cover songs Rhinoplasty. This is probably about the time in the show we started shifting from the first stage to the second stage all the way up on the hill. We saw Static-X up there, who was on tour for their new album Wisconsin Death Trip! We also saw Slipknot who had just unleashed their debut eponymous album on the world a few short weeks earlier. I wasn’t really into them at the time but did find it quite entertaining to see nine guys dressed up in fucked up masks rocking their ass off and just flat out going crazy onstage. Back to the mainstage was Slayer whose newest effort at the time was Diabolus in Musica. I love their fat ass guitar riffs but at the time just could not get with Tom Araya’s voice. Next up was Deftones. This was the third time I was lucky enough to see them and they were nothing short of amazing. Deftones are a hard act to follow but Rob Zombie somehow managed. It had only been three months since the last time I saw him but I think this performance was much better. Maybe it was just because I knew Korn wasn’t following him this time. The closing band was none other than Black Sabbath! I’m not talking about that shit with Dio, I’m talking about the real Black Sabbath with Ozzy. I was as excited about this as any other band of the day. Never in a million years did I think I would ever get the opportunity to see a band that was huge in the 1970’s. I really got into Black Sabbath when I was about 16. It started with the album Paranoid and then I bought the whole catalog one album at a time. They did not disappoint me. Ozzy was still as crazy as he was made out to be, Tony Iommi was razor sharp on his riffs, and the rhythm section was holding down the groove. Little did I know that this would not be the last time I would see them.