Coronavirus Concert Casualties

Concert Plans

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 Local-H-Lifers

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.HHH

  • 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. Rage

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.Loudermilk Postponed
  • 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.Easter Is Cancelled

UPDATE 5/15: CANCELLED – Well Poop2

  • 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.

SOAD

UPDATE 5/22: RESCHEDULED – This event will now happen on the same date in 2021 as if this year never happened at all.SKFH

  • 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.SDFair
  • 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.Screen Shot 2020-05-19 at 6.41.20 PM
  • 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.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 9.04.27 PM
  • 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!Motley

  • 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.Ministry Postponed
  • 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.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 8.43.25 PM
  • 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.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 8.56.33 PM
  • 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.Screen Shot 2020-05-21 at 9.11.54 PM
  • 10/9-10/11 Aftershock Festival @ Discovery Park, Sacramento – CANCELLED – See you in 2021!

Aftershock Cancelled

  • 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… 

Green Day 4/8/17

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I had only seen Green Day one other time back in 2005 on the American Idiot tour but here they were again on tour for Revolution Radio that was released back in October. I was originally going to get floor tickets with a couple guys I used to work with but Kyle had his plus one bail on him and I felt bad that he got hosed on a reseller site so I just bought his extra ticket.

The couple guys I used to work with got to the venue at 6 am to make sure they were front row when the doors opened. Lunatics. I met up with them outside about an hour before the doors opened to have a couple beers and shoot the shit. Once they went in I walked over to Phil’s BBQ to meet up with Kyle for an El Toro and more beer. After a couple more beers at a brewery nearby that I had not ever been to (Bay City Brewing Company) we got to our seats about two minutes before Green Day hit the stage and boy did they hit it. So much energy! So much pyrotechnics! The band was very tight and played a nice mixture of old and new tunes. One super cool moment was when Billie Joe brought a young boy onstage to play guitar and then let the boy keep the guitar once he was done. Another cool moment was when Billie Joe brought a younger girl onstage to sing which ended in her stage diving. Those two kids will remember that for the rest of their lives so I thought that was a pretty cool thing to do.

SETLIST: Know Your Enemy, Bang Bang, Revolution Radio, Holiday, Letterbomb, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Longview, Youngblood, 2000 Light Years Away, Hitchin’ a Ride, When I Come Around, Waiting, Burnout, Are We the Waiting, St. Jimmy, Minority, Knowledge (Operation Ivy), Basket Case, She, King for a Day, Shout/Always Look on the Bright Side of Life/(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction/Careless Whisper/Hey Jude, Still Breathing, Forever Now, American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia, Ordinary World, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

 

Green Day 10/2/05

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Green Day was still touring for the album American Idiot that was released almost exactly a year before this show. Me and a girl I was dating at the time randomly happened to be in a parking lot where the radio station ROCK 105.3 had set up a tent and were giving stuff away. Turns out they were giving away tickets to this show and we won! Somehow I never saw Green Day before this but it was not from a lack of liking them. I remember “Hitchin’ a Ride” being absolutely amazing, I remember Tre singing “All By Myself” and I remember being impressed with how thick the sound was with a second guitar player. At the end of the show fireworks were shot upwards from the very outer top of the stage. I walked away excited that Green Day had reached the height of those fireworks and I was there to see it.

SETLIST: American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia, Are We the Waiting, St. Jimmy, Longview, All By Myself, Hitchin’ a Ride, Brain Stew, Jaded, 2000 Light Years Away, Knowledge (Operation Ivy), Basket Case, She, King for a Day, Shout (Isley Brothers)/Stand By Me (Ben E. King), Wake Me Up When September Ends, Minority, Maria, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, We Are the Champions (Queen), Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

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