Are you ready to Rock and Roll? If your answer to that was no, don’t read this review. If you answered yes, you should have gone to the Troubadour on November 5th 1999. If you were there, that was a killer show wasn’t it? One of the best damn rock shows that I’ve seen in a long time. This show is still fresh in my mind, and it has been a while. (I should change my nick to SlackerBoy heh.. )
The first band to take the stage was Supagroup. These guys really know how to rock! Supagroup really reminds me of old AC/DC. Their set was full of sexual songs, and if you weren’t listening to, or couldn’t understand what that singer was saying, you would figure it out by the movements he was making on stage. I don’t think any of the band members, except the drummer, where in the same spot for more than 3 seconds. Almost as if they were trapped animals pacing around their cage trying to find a way out. From what I understand, the lead guitarist is only 18, can you say prodigy? You’ve got to see Supagroup the next time that you can. Trust me.
Next up was Full Devil Jacket and from the opening of their set, you felt the need to be in a constant state of movement. The haunting vocals of Josh Brown where incredible and to make things more insane, halfway through the set he mentioned that he was sick, and had been that way for a few days. I couldn’t help but think, ‘if he is sick now and sounds this good… wow’. The rest of the Full Devil Jacket sound is made up of Jonathan Montoya and Mike Reaves on guitars, Kevin Bebout on bass and Keith Foster pounding the drums. Expect big things from this band because they will deliver.
The lest band of the night was a band that I first saw at Locobazooka ’99, and they knocked my socks off then, so I thought it would be awesome to see Drain S.T.H. at a small venue like the Troubadour. And what a wild ride it was. The Troubadour was packed with people waiting to hear their favorite Drain S.T.H. tunes. Simon Says, Enter My Mind, Get Inside and other Drain favorites came blasting through the speakers. This being a small, intimate venue, it was cool to see how Maria Sjoholm (vocals), Flavia Canel (guitar), Martina Axen (drums) and Anna Kjellberg (bass) carried themselves on the stage of the Troubadour and to see how they interacted with their fans. Maria even brought a fan onstage that had Drain’s logo tattooed on her.
During Drain S.T.H.’s encore a fan was crowd surfing and kicked Maria on her head, whipping her head back, ending the song and the encore. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but it was sad to see a killer night ending this way. Afterwards we hear that Maria is ok. I know a lot of us there were very worried for her. I guess it looked worse than it felt.
I must thank Karen Wiessen at Island Def Jam for everything she has done. This review and photos from this night would not be possible without her. Thank you!
