Indianapolis, Indiana, August 4th, 2007 Options

[lynn32701]

I'm just a jaded Hoosier who wants to leave Indiana someday, don't mind me.

Ha! Trust me - it CAN be done! I moved from Fort Wayne to Orlando - now THAT's a move! I always say it's nice to grow up in the Midwest but it's even better to visit and know I get to fly back to somewhere better (especially during the winter!)!

I got your email ... I'm totally up for anything! I'll respond shortly. It's been ages since I've been Downtown Indy so I have no idea where to go ... my friend I'm hanging with would know (I think). Back in the day, we'd hang in Broadripple. Oh, and it needs to be inexpensive and laid back ... oh wait, it's Indy I'm talking about!

[Godiva]

Broadripple... sorority girl and frat guy Mecca. I like to go there sometimes, but it's not really my type of crowd (I went to Butler). I'm actually not that much of a bar hopper, but I do like to hang with some of my friends on Mass Ave or small pubs.

I will see you Saturday! In less than 48 hours, we get to see Live....

This post has been edited by Godiva: Aug 3 2007, 12:55 am

[PurdueSteve]

I got your email and PM.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to meet up prior to the show. I'm seeing the guys tonight in Louisville and will be driving to Indy tomorrow. By the time I get in Indy, meet my friends, and all that there might not be a lot of time. I would like to met some of you though, mainly so my girlfriend sees that I'm not some strangely obsessed freak.

Part of me doesn't want to run into Ed, cause I'm afraid she'll tell him that I'm in love with him or some shit. She likes the music but she makes fun of my knowledge of the band. Says I geek out, oh well....

Here's my myspace if any of you guys want to see if you can I.D. me....

www.myspace.com/Scubasteve2365

-Steve

This post has been edited by PurdueSteve: Aug 3 2007, 9:42 am

[lynn32701]

I would like to met some of you though, mainly so my girlfriend sees that I'm not some strangely obsessed freak.

Part of me doesn't want to run into Ed, cause I'm afraid she'll tell him that I'm in love with him or some shit. She likes the music but she makes fun of my knowledge of the band. Says I geek out, oh well....

That's awesome! Because my friends think the SAME thing about me!! They know I'm a total LIVE nerd but they've got my back nonetheless. We all have our passions in life ... ours just happens to be a KICK ASS rock band!

I'm sure we'll all be up front and/or in line together. Livegracefully and Godiva have my digits ... I'll be in town by 2:30p ... hope to see you tomorrow! MAN, am I freakin excited about flying up to Indy tomorrow!!

Oh, have fun at tonight's show!

[Godiva]

Yeah, we'll be somewhere up front I am guessing. We're getting there plenty early and will wait in line depending on how the crowd looks (hopefully there won't be much of one).

The TGIFriday's is with a couple minutes' walking distance from where we will be waiting in line. In fact, we may end up waiting in line right in front of the restaurant.

If we see you, we'll say hi and show your girlfriend that you aren't alone.

Safe travel everyone!

[Godiva]

Well, I guess I'll be the first to post. I really don't want this going on the main site reviews because this isn't meant to be a concert review. Surely somebody with more experience with these kinds of things can write it, and I was too busy enjoying myself to even remember the setlist. I'm pretty sure it's the same as it has been, I don't remember being surprised.

Okay, first on was Collective Soul, on time. A few songs into the set, a fight broke out a couple rows behind me. We were about three or four people deep into the crowd in front of the stage (great spot). While that incident was unfortunate, it did a lot to elevate the consciousness of the crowd. Ed Roland sang an inspired "World I Know" after cussing out the jerks for interrupting his show. They were energetic, and I knew all of the songs but a couple, which surprised me. A fair number of people around us were there for Collective Soul.

Live had a slightly bigger crowd from my perspective, but maybe that is just because the crazy ones were all gathered in a mob near the stage. Ed's voice was pretty great last night. It was a real treat. He smiled magnanimously at the crowd... in a look of appreciation and recognition. The band seemed energetic and "into" it. He did take off his shirt, of course. No climbing scaffolding, grabbing himself, or ultra-sexy moves, however. Shirtless-phobes out there would be proud. The setlist was the same as it has been the last few shows (and similar to last summer's... ), but I enjoyed myself entirely.

My feet were killing me and it looked like it was going to rain, so we left the ground and went to the stands for Counting Crows. Of the three, this is the band I'm least familiar with. They are definitely a much mellower band, but it was nice and relaxing after Live. It did end up pouring on all the Counting Crows fans (and us as we walked to a bar to get some drinks). The concert was obviously all about them... they had the most fans and a bigger portion of the crowd seemed to be participating.

Any questions? Feel free to ask.

This post has been edited by Godiva: Aug 5 2007, 1:31 pm

[Godiva]

From our local paper:

Review: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti.../708050390/1081

Comments from attendees: http://www.topix.net/forum/source/indianap...8SHRUEIPC9LV9KU

[dangum]

From our local paper:
Review: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti.../708050390/1081

Rather than dwelling on his band's best-known songs, Live vocalist Ed Kowalczyk chose to strive for a spiritual awakening through selections such as "Mirror Song" and "They Stood Up for Love."

At times sluggish and seemingly self-conscious of their past-prime status, the members of Live probably startled more than a few in attendance with news that they issued a 2006 album called "Songs from Black Mountain."

********************

That's pretty harsh!

[Godiva]

Rather than dwelling on his band's best-known songs, Live vocalist Ed Kowalczyk chose to strive for a spiritual awakening through selections such as "Mirror Song" and "They Stood Up for Love."

At times sluggish and seemingly self-conscious of their past-prime status, the members of Live probably startled more than a few in attendance with news that they issued a 2006 album called "Songs from Black Mountain."

********************

That's pretty harsh!

I know, right? Self-conscious? And SLUGGISH? Uh.... I didn't notice that, and I was in the front. Ah well. What a way to end the review, huh?

I guess this reporter had never heard the other songs they sang that were "best-known". According to the comments people posted, Live apparently impressed fans who came for the other two bands. That's a victory if you ask me, no matter what this reviewer says.

This post has been edited by Godiva: Aug 5 2007, 9:40 pm

[PurdueSteve]

This is a copy from my post on the SOY forums
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not a reviewer either, so I just babble about the show a bit.

First off, I was at the Louisville show the night before, and I'm only going to dedicate 1 paragraph to that shitty experience. Sluggerfield would NOT let me on the field. For some reason they distinguished between "field general admission" and "general admission". I sat and watched as literally hundreds of people were denied access to the field. The Indianapolis show did NOT work the same way, they let anyone and everyone out on the field. For those of you going to the up and coming shows I suggest calling the venue and finding out what they will be doing. If they operate like Sluggerfield I know of a work around.

Moving on,

Collective Soul was OK. These 3 bands are labeled "90's Bands" and it appears that +Live+ and Counting Crows have moved out of the 90's. Ed Roland from Collective Soul haven't. He was sporting the super tight jeans and the Guns-N-Roses-esque stage personality. However, he DID have a lot of energy and the band played well. During the show a fight broke out in the crowd and Ed Roland yelled "Hey cut that shit out right now, we don't do that shit here". He then mediated the fight by asking the guys if they were cool and if it was over. Lastly he said "Assholes, interrupting my show". I thought he handled that kinda cool. He didn't want them thrown out, he just wanted them to stop fighting.
I watched Collective Soul from the stands.

+Live+ came on exactly on time and performed the exact same set as the night before in Louisville. However they had lots more energy and the crowd was way more responsive. [probably because they weren't all stuck in the stands] Ed's voice sounded a lot better than the night before as well. During Selling the Drama CT and Pat were playfully BSing with each other on stage over what appeared to be a slight disagreement on whether or not CT should take up temporary residence on Pat's side of the stage. Pat then walked over to CT's side and manned his guitar effects pedal during his solo. I've seen them do this before and I thought it was pretty cool. Pat sung on Where Do We Go From Here which was rare. Ed was full of smiles and enthusiasm. Walk the line kicked 10 kinds of ass as always with CT stomping and then holding his guitar in the air at the end of each solo section. All in all it was a great 60 minute set.

After Live's set I rendezvoused with some other +Live+ fans to go back stage for a Meet-N-greet. This was going to be a friend of mine's first chance to meet the band. There was also a younger looking guy that had some flowers he was giving to the band. We waited for about 15 minutes then they came to take us backstage. We walked down the path that the tour crew used to transport the equipment and they had all of +Live's equipment to the side. I then saw Adam Duritz coming my way and I stuck my hand out and said "hey whats up Adam" He didn't acknowledge me at all. I had heard from people before that he wasn't the most friendly person, which kind of sucks because I really like Counting Crows and their music. I'm now tainted with this guy blowing me off as if I didn't exist as he walked past me.

When we caught up to where +Live+ was it appeared that they had just finished signing a guitar from someone. There were only about 10 of us so I was excited because it seemed like it was going to be a great meet-n-greet since there were such small numbers. It was all diehard fans too, there didn't appear to be any radio station call ins or other people that didn't care to be there. They guys were still in their sweaty stage clothes [and yes Ed was still shirtless] so they quickly ducked away to the tour bus that we were standing in front of. We figured they were changing and cleaning up. After about 15 minutes we saw them sneak out from behind the tour bus and they hopped in a van and began to take off. A couple of us told the kid with the flowers to just stand in front of us and sort of get in the way of the van. He did and the van stopped. Ed opened the side door and took the flowers from the kid and shook his hand or whatever. Then off they were. Bill [Tour manager] chatted with us for a little while, and told us that they were going home and wanted to get there ASAP because they had been touring so much. We all understand. They have a 10 day break and I totally understand them wanting to get home ASAP. My girlfriend took this opportunity to let Bill know how frustrated she and I was with the Louisville show. Bill told us that he and the band felt like the Indianapolis show was significantly better and that they didn't know about the field restriction in Louisville. I said that's why the shows were different, all the fans were stuck in the stands.

My friend was kind of bummed because he had saw Ed and Adam in the mall earlier that day, and Ed said "Hey nice shirt". He was wearing a V album cover Tee. He didn't bother approaching Ed and asking for an autograph because he had passes and thought he was going to meet him that night.

After that we went back to the concert and watched the remaining hour or so from the Crow's performance. I don't know who thinks they suck in concert cause they rock. They put on a good show, of course I think +Live+ is better, CC is a great show nonetheless. Here are a few of the images I took during the concert. They aren't that great at all, I think Courtney took better pics. I'm not big into taking pictures during a show, because I'm too busy enjoying it.

Me, my girlfriend Natalia, and Trisha [I wasn't ready for the pic]



Collective Soul




Ed



CT


Pat



CAG



Lightning Crashes group pose


This post has been edited by PurdueSteve: Aug 6 2007, 8:07 am

[Godiva]

Hey! I remember seeing you. You were just a few people to my right. I remember wondering if that was you, but I was too chicken to say anything. That's great that you got to see them. I wish I would have been lucky enough to run into them... I'm really sorry I missed your call now! I wouldn't need to party and chat with them, I'd just want to shake their hands and say "Thanks." Maybe next summer. If I start making devious plans now, surely by then I'll have a way. Positive thinking.

I'm happy to hear they thought the show was good, too. Sometimes I wonder if how we feel on the ground is always the same vibe that they get on stage.

I got some okay pics with my cell phone that I still need to upload. We left the big camera in the car because we thought that they might take them away from us and we didn't think to go get it back after we found out we could have real cameras. Lynn got some good pics too, I'm sure she'll post a link once she's uploaded them.

[livegracefully]

My Indy pics are here for those of you who haven't seen them yet. Steve, your pics were good, too!

I was on the field for CS and really enjoyed their show. Beforehand, I was not expecting to. It was a memory lane set, but what the hell? That's what you have to do when you disappear for a decade. I liked CC--I took to the stands for them. There is a marked change in tempo and style, much different than Live. Nothing wrong with that!

All in all, a great time!

[lynn32701]

Hi! I got back into Orlando a few hours ago (and work - blah). I agree with everyone's "reviews." I thought Ed from CS was a bit cheesy with his rock star persona but to each his own, I suppose. I think being right up "muffled" the sound a bit. I don't think I can say anything bad about the LIVE performance though! I just love those guys too much!! I did see CC in 2000 but don't recall their performance back then. I did think they put on a good show the other night - definitely a CC crowd / concert. I probably wouldn't pay $$ to see them but good. Too bad the rain hinder the excitement but at least it was halfway through the CC set.

And yes, I took a crapload of pics during the guys' performance (over 100!!)! I'm a nerd, I know. I'll get those downloaded to the Kodak site tonight and share the link. I would have loved to say "hey" to the guys but fortunately (and hopefully) I'll have another opp next month in Clearwater.

I was frustrated with the a**holes next to me who didn't care so much about LIVE and decided to have their own little "party" during the performance. I kindly told them to "calm the f*ck down!" I just wished the non-LIVE fans were a little more considerate of those who are fans. I kept my mouth closed while they were jamming to CS. And left after LIVE so CC fans could be up close. I would expect others to do the same. If they're not going to move, at least be nice. I'm sure the mass consumption of beer didn't help matters. However, that whole thing would make me second guess going to a similar concert where LIVE wasn't the headliner. I didn't pay $50+ for some ass to be immature ...

But oh well, I had a great time nonetheless! It was great meeting you Shannon and Courtney!

[Heather]

It seems like in a lot of the reviews I've read the crowds are pretty out of hand and inconsiderate to fans of other bands. That really sucks. I guess it has a lot do do with the tailgating and the fact that a lot of the people must be drunk, I really hate going to shows where the main focus is on the beer and not the music especially for that price. I hope the show I am going to next week isn't as bad.

[lynn32701]

Here is a link to the pictures I took:

http://olympus.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow....&Uy=fqh8qv&Ux=1

If it doesn't work, please let me know. I'm still editing but wanted to share. Yes, there's a lot! Guess I was on autopilot and just kept snapping away! Maybe deep down inside, I wouldn't know the next time I'd see them and so close with a digital camera!

Enjoy!