Well, as promised, here it is.
Friday was the day after my birthday, and I was more than pumped to see LB for the second time this year. For one, the Oakdale in Wallingford is a terrific small venue with great acoustics. I know this not because I'm from Connecticut, but because I went to college 15 minutes away from this venue and naturally saw some shows there. I was also pumped for this show because I was bringing along a friend who's LB fandom has skyrocketed over the past couple of years, so much so that he made an account here. You guys might known him as Mental Aquaducts. After the initial tour cancellation, it really seemed like our hopes of seeing LB this summer were destroyed. And even once we had our tickets for this show, we both tried to keep in mind that just because it's scheduled doesn't mean it's a sure thing, lol. But as the date drew near, I began to prepare for an epic night. I just had no idea how epic it would be.
This is where I give a big shout out to Max, the man who made it all happen. Unexpectedly, he reached out and told me he might be able to get me backstage. I was shocked, but had to ask for my friend too. No problem, he said. Wow. Not something I had been planning on, and now I was almost a little nervous. Fast forward to 6:00, about four hours before LB took the stage. There's a slight hick up with us being on the guest list and David Patton, the band's General Manager, comes out to straighten it out. Hands us our All Access passes. It started feeling so surreal at this point, like a scene straight out of Wayne's World. We head back there and wait for a while. Chat a bit with some of the LBGC guys (nice meeting you if you're reading!). Then got to meet Max! Was super cool and a great host for the evening. While waiting outside the dressing room, we were hearing whispers that LB was planning on playing Walking Away tonight. Some of the LBGC kids who had been there longer even said they go to see the band rehearsing/strumming along to it earlier. Was jealous of that! But soon that was forgotten as Wes came out of the dressing room and we all got his autograph. Was a very good thing my friend brought his Sharpie- it came in handy for everyone that night.
Not long after, Max invited us to come hang in the dressing room. As we entered and shook Fred's hand, this is when the surreal feeling started to really come over me. The band was in the middle of trying to work out their set list. They were talking about opening with the Pollution intro/Pollution! Fred seemed concerned that the crowd wasn't there for them (and really, 90% of them were wearing Avenged Sevenfold shirts, so I understand). They were trying to plan a Pollution/Counterfeit back to back medley, John and Fred started rapping the verses to Pollution right there in the dressing room
. They talked about how this would cut into their usual set, and Fred had no problem dropping Rollin'.
We stayed in their dressing room for all of Hail the Villain's set, and most of All That Remains'. I have no regrets about that, because even though at this point we were just kinda sitting on the couches while the band was getting ready, it was still awesome. This is when the Gold Cobra tracks started playing. I already made a detailed post about the tracks in the Gold Cobra thread, so check it out if you haven't. Jordan Schur was hanging around back there too, and told Fred that he thought 90to10 was really powerful after it played.
Mental and I got some face time in with Fred for a good 10-15 minutes before we left to see Avenged. You could tell Fred was still a little nervous about the show, but was still being super gracious. We were talking about the whole single thing, and he was saying how he really wants to put out Walking Away. Having just heard it in the dressing room, we concurred that it would be a fucking awesome choice. He said he wanted to "fuck people up a bit", screw with their expectations. He seemed pretty dejected that the label was hoping for something more hip-hoppy. But then he really blew our minds with this one: he said, "Hang on a minute". Went back to the dressing room, came back out 2 minutes later with his iPhone and massive Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Hands them over to me. Unlocks his iPod, searches around, hits "play". Walking Away begins to dominate my ears. Definitely NOT how I imagined my night going! I mean what can I say, the song was awesome, the fact that he did that was probably even more awesome. I made sure to pass the headphones to Mental- lucky SOB got to hear the second (and more epic half) of the song! At the time I was probably in too much of a daze to fully appreciate the fact that I was hearing the song...now I have echoes of it in my head and I CANNOT wait to hear it again!
The show itself was top notch. I even enjoyed Avenged's set more than I thought I would. LB tore it up and had the whole place going CRAZY. The highlights had to be Pollution/Counterfeit, Wes throwing his guitar and Fred bringing up Will from the LBGC during Take a Look Around. Also, Max was on stage filming the band yhe whole time, dressed as a Ninja. LOVED that. Oh, and for Faith they invited a shitload of women up on stage, not sure if this has been posted on youtube. Was pretty wild to see.
So after getting covered in gold confetti, we headed backstage again. Waited about an hour for the band to wash up and get ready. I just wanted to thank Max and the band one more time for everything. When the band was getting ready to head out, we were about to go out the main exit and leave, but Fred and Max told us to get in the elevator they were getting into, which took us all out to the back area where the tour bus was. There, the band was greeted by a some more fans who had been waiting. They were unbelievably generous with their time and stood out to chat with everyone for over an hour. Max introduced me to Wes and I nearly shat myself. We had Wes' attention for a good 15 minutes, talking about everything from his Yamaha guitars ("I can't afford them either!"- Wes), to what gauge strings he uses, to Gold Cobra/single stuff. Wes said they are just wanting to make sure the album is as good as possible. We talked about Walking Away and he said they came SO close to playing it, but when Fred asked the crowd if they wanted to hear something new or old, someone shouted "Counterfeit!" so they obliged.
I got a few words in with David Patton again, thanking him for everything. Super nice guy. Max was still filming everything and I joked that we could end up in "Poop". David then told me he recently saw a cut and that it was really good.
Then we spent pretty much the rest of the time talking to Mr. Samuel Rivers, who is ONE CHILL MOTHERFUCKER, as if you didn't know. God, we talked about so much. I mentioned that band Indorphine to him, the one he was producing a few years back. We both agreed that it's a shame they've disbanded because they could've been the new, funkier System. Since it was such a lengthy conversation I'll just bullet point it-
-The Truth video was done in one take. He flew out to do it, performed it, and went home.
-The One is a favorite of his, was a "total accident" he said. He also loves the Scott Weiland collab tracks.
-They've rehearsed Trust?
-Gold Cobra is more of a "journey" compared to previous albums
-Interestingly, he said the label really doesn't have much power when it comes to picking a single. In the end, they'll present what they want.
-The main difference is that they're all just having so much fun with hit now. This is really apparent being with them too. He said he never used to smile during shows and told us how he tried to tap Wes' sack during the show, lol.
-He said Drown was a guitar part he'd written when he was 16, and it combined with a separate song that Fred wrote on his own.
-Promised they'd be back and that they still have some life in them.
And with that, it was time to leave. Thanked Fred one more time, and told him I was a fan of his movies too which he really appreciated. Mental then made a quip about Population 436 and without missing a beat, Fred shook his hand sternly and introduced himself as Deputy Bobby Caine. LOL. What can I say? Not to overuse a word here, but EPIC experience. Yes there are some pictures but none were taken off of my camera, since I don't have one currently. They will surface eventually. Just a huge thanks to Max, David and Limp Bizkit for an unforgettable night.
[80] Rebel Souls - "Leviathan"
[69] Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - "¡Blow it....at Madison's quinceañera!"
