TGF @ The Chameleon, 10/30/10 Options

[Aitkens]

Amazing show. Great performance, great crowd.


Stayed downstairs in the lounge for the majority of the opening act. Headed upstairs to the main stage around 9:30. Right before TGF hit the stage, we were taken through the employee only area, and watched half of the show from the side of the stage. We then went upstairs, and I enjoyed the rest of the show from the Light Bay on the first balcony. Amazing view, and the sound was much better up there.

I've been drinking, and I have 2 acoustic shows to go to in just a couple of hours. I'll let some of the other guys do a breakdown of the show at The Chameleon.

[Infrequent Poster]

Alright time for the review, as best I can give it. Let me get one thing out of the way before I even start though:

This was the best concert I've ever been to. Ever.

I didn't do my homework and was expecting American Bang to open the show. I was surprised to see Danielle Barbe's stuff on stage and after a thorough analysis my group and I came to the conclusion that it was her group and not American Bang opening tonight. I was a bit disappointed as I had been listening to some of American Bang's stuff on youtube and was pretty stoked to see them in concert for the first time. However, Danielle Barbe's group was fantastic. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed their set. They had great energy and set the stage perfectly for TGF. I got to meet a few of them after the show, nice, nice people.

I can't even tell you what time it was that TGF came on the stage, probably sometime after 10 but they blew the roofs off. Appetite and the Few opened up the show and they kicked ass, as expected, but TROY was a real shocker. I am admittedly not a huge fan of that song on the CD but in concert it is awesome. Same goes for Guilty Fever, it takes on a life of its own in concert. The CD just does not do that song, or really any of the songs, justice, they have to be seen live.

The front porch session was awesome as well. They played TROY, Great Houses, Honest Man and Nothin' But Love and all four were spectacular. The jam/swamp rock version of Nothin' But Love destroyed anything that had preceded it, and that's saying something. I hope OTD has a good video of that song because it is EPIC. CT and Sean just annihilated their guitars.

The last time they played Honest Man (second to last song) I thought the crowd was going to explode. The energy the crowd had for that song was incredible, and you could see it fueling the band as well, they rocked the shit out of it. Sean while he was jamming came over towards my side of the stage and fell into us. He stayed on top of the crowd, held up pretty much only by the dude in front of me, jamming on his guitar the whole time. I had to ask him after the show what the hell he was thinking. He just smiled and said "I wasn't thinking."

The energy the band puts out is just incredible. This is a band you have to see in concert to get the full experience. Kevin is a fucking animal. My friend who'd only vaguely known who KM, or the Gracious Few were could only say after the show "that guy screamed his balls off." I don't know how he does it, but KM can keep at full rock and roll scream for an entire concert, in tune and under control the whole time without any degrading (at least from what I heard, I didn't talk to him after the show!) of his voice. CCP couldn't have wished for a better frontman. Kevin gets all over the stage and is fully engaged in the crowd. There are some concerts where the lead singer may move, but isn't really singing to or even really looking at the crowd, he's just doing his thing before he leaves. Not Kevin, he's in the crowd's face working them up into a frenzy. Even if you don't like how he sounds on the CD you have to see this guy in concert. He will make you a fan.

Gracey was beating the shit out of his drums. There is no doubt the beast has been unleashed after being cooped up in his plexiglass cage for years. Even on the front porch session, where's just got his bass, a snare and a rider he puts out killer lines. This is the best I've ever seen him in any format, concert, DVD, video or otherwise. Between him and Pat you could feel your bones rattling in time with the songs, it was incredible. Those two alone can carry a song by themselves. You can't help but move to their beats.

CT and Sean. Fuck. Those two have such awesome chemistry together and they went apeshit on their guitars. Sean is without doubt a brilliant guitarist and fantastic soloist but you can tell he's a very focused guitarist. Every note he lays out is perfectly planned and executed. CT on the other hand is a raving lunatic. He's wild and completely in the moment playing whatever the fuck he feels like. During the second Honest Man CT threw off his hat and went nuts for the entire rest of the song, I mean just WILD. You have to see him on OTD's videos, he was just feeding off the crowd jumping, stomping, throwing himself around on stage. Both Sean and CT work the crowd too, they'll get in your face as much as Kevin does almost saying to you "this is ROCK, PAY FUCKING ATTENTION!"

The two styles just blend perfectly together. CT was hilarious, he took off his hat and put it on Sean during one of his solos, and during Nothin' But Love he came up and started drumming on the bridge of Sean's guitar and torquing the tuning. The two play off each other during songs too, it's awesome to hear and fun to see.

This was, easily, the best concert I've ever been to. All five guys brought it and brought it loud. If you haven't seen these guys in concert yet buy tickets now and buy some for your friends too. Even if they haven't heard of TGF before they will be converted when the night's over. These guys do not disappoint, they will blow apart any expectations you may have.