Summerland 2015: Alternative Guitars II

[the_laughing_world]

Looking at all these post about the Toadies, I swear, I thought they were bigger nationally.
But that's what I get for living in this bubble called Texas.

[sdilley14]

Have they announced any dates yet? I can't really find anything about dates yet.

[Lee Harvey Oswald]

A couple days ago on facebook Art said

"Summerland 2015 tour dates won't be out for a couple of weeks we are still confirming dates and booking a few shows...we are really close!"

[yourstupidgame]

Summerland 2015 dates up at Summerland.net. Interesting that the order of the bands is different date to date. I think the Toadies are headlining the Texas dates and Fuel is headlining a Philadelphia date. I think this is a good move to order the bands sets by popularity in that city/region. Unless this isn't happening this way at all.

That July 19 date at Aztec Theater is actually San Antonio, not another Corpus date. Good for me - I think I'll be able to see Summerland for the first time since 2012!

Alex

[Sea Change]

Super disappointed to see no Oregon date, especially considering the Portland show last year sold out. They are, however, coming to the Oregon State Fair right here in Salem.....so I can't complain too much!

[heartspark4ec]

I'm really disappointed that there is no Iowa dates. I mean... I know it's Iowa... but come on.... Bemidji gets a stop??

[PureWhiteEvil]

Anyone going to NYC's Irving Plaza show? I think I still have my White Lightning tshirt. Maybe I'll rock that. Any WLers still out there? Does the East Coast Hardcore group exist anymore?

[heartspark4ec]

They finally released a date in Dubuque Iowa. I think I am gonna try and pick up some tickets. I don't know how big it is going to be considering I think they are playing at a county fair. Now I kinda wish I had gotten the meet and greet BITNB package... but with the midwest it's always iffy whether a show is going to be in your area and they didn't release the date until the presale was over.

[clifornia_king]

Any word on the shows yet? I'll be going over to Pitt this Friday

[yourstupidgame]

Not much has been said yet. Word is that they're doing The Man Who Broke His Own Heart and American Monster.

Alex

[kmk182]

I went to the Bethelem show on Thursday. We got The Twistinside and no American Monster. Otherwise same setlist. 9 songs total. Fuel did headline this show since they are a PA band.

[ekeown]

I went to the Houston show last night, and had a blast. For the Texas dates the Toadies were the headlining band, so the line up was American Hi-Fi, Fuel, Everclear, Toadies. My wife and I decided to take my son to the show after he asked if he could come. This was his first concert but he had a blast! Art was nice enough to give us VIP passes so my son got to meet the band before the show; while we were there one of the other fans got Art to agree to let him play bass during Santa Monica. Everclear's set list was:

So Much For The Afterglow
Everything to Everyone
Heroin Girl
American Monster
The Man Who Broke His Own Heart
Wonderful
Father of Mine
I Will Buy You A New Life
Santa Monica


Here is video of the entire concert for those interested:

American Hi-Fi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dJooVJ ... EsIs7qQHjq

Fuel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPaNtFQ ... jy_Kr4bCHv

Everclear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phFsXtv ... 0ZHHUfGOC0

Toadies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwGZTr6 ... 1NjDajTHmp

[ndfan1993]

Glad you guys had a blast Eric!

[yourstupidgame]

My wife, Julie and I went to the show in San Antonio last night. I was worried about the attendance since I hadn't heard anything about it anywhere (TV/radio/print), well until this week. They gave away tickets on our local rock station. Our rock station, KISS, in my opinion is pretty bad. Why would anyone ever listen to this station? The signal is poor, they use poor EQ and compression and have a small playlist. This station used to be cool in the 90s, but now it's Metallica, Green Day, Foo Fighters, and Stone Temple Pilots every hour and every day. (They don't really play a whole lot of new music either, maybe because there's not much great Mainstream Rock stuff anymore and they don't do as much Alternative as they used to.) Those are cool bands, but do I want to listen to them with the high end rolled off and with extra static? No way! So I wonder if anyone else actually still listens to this station. Out of the Summerland bands, they only play these three songs: Father of Mine, Hemorrhage (In My Hands) and Possum Kingdom. Their playlist is so narrow! So I'm skeptical if this show is going to be any kind of decent draw in a city whose Rock radio station has basically forgotten about most of these bands huge hits.

But I guess many people, like me, don't care about the radio and just remember the good old CDs because it was a great turn out and a very enthusiastic crowd, ESPECIALLY for Everclear! They had two merch tables set up: one for Everclear and one for the other 3 bands. The Everclear line was full, maybe 20 people. The other table would have between 0 and 2 people at any given time (this was about 30 minutes prior to the show). Then the show. It was my third time seeing American Hi Fi. First was opening for Everclear on the Honda Civic Tour and it was a week shy of 14 years to the day! (I also saw them opening for Matchbox 20 in 03 or so). They put on a great, high energy show! Flavor of the Weak and Perfect Day were pretty good sing alongs. It was my first time seeing Fuel, which I was really excited about. They opened with a kind of boring (my opinion) hard rock song, might have been one from their latest album or maybe it's just another song I wasn't familiar with. That went straight into Empty Spaces from their second album, which I also find sorta boring. So I thought they wasted the first two slots, but then the hits came. Bad Day, Bittersweet and Shimmer. They did another new one (Puppet Strings) somewhere in there before finishing with Hemorrhage - a great singalong! I had heard that Brett had lost his voice which was why he was kicked out of the band or whatever, but I'd say he definitely found it again. I wish they could have done Untitled, Last Time or Sunburn instead of some of those that I didn't like as much, but it was a great set overall. Cool band! Then Everclear! The opened with Afterglow, which Art stopped after several bars because the lights didn't come on at the right time. He said we have to try it again and when I say "this is a song about SUSAN" that's when the lights go on. So they started again and I think the lighting operator only did marginally better (the lights came on a little late again). Oh well. There's a video on Youtube of the first attempt at least. There was lots of singing along and everyone seemed to be having a really good time. I thought Father of Mine was the highlight. They're doing it a little bit later in the set than in years past and the audience was really warmed up by then. I love it when I look around and I see everyone having a good time, smiling and singing along. This was one of those moments and one of those shows.

We decided to leave after Everclear. I don't think we've ever stayed for a band that goes after Everclear. It's so hard! I've left after Everclear, missing 311, Edwin McCain (we were so surprised when minutes before the show started we realized Everclear was going first), All American Rejects (stayed for a couple of songs) and now Toadies. We just kinda wanted to get back home so my parents weren't staying super late babysitting. I would have liked to see them, but my wife doesn't know their songs. It was a long day for us on top of that. I guess we're just old. But BTW, I noticed that most of the 30 and up looking crowd was hanging out in the back and in the seated areas and it looked like there were a lot of 20s-ish looking people up front. So we're not that old and it's cool to know that younger people are enjoying these bands, too.

We made our way past the smokers and around the building to where the buses and stage entrance were on our way back to the parking garage, just in case we might see somebody. We saw Fuel leaving, perhaps to a nearby bar or wherever, so I just called out to them and said "Great show, Fuel!" Brett kind of turned and waved. Then I looked to my left and Art was walking back to the side door. It was totally just perfect timing. I said "Great show, Art" and shook his hand. He said thanks and then was like "oh, hey Alex!" He didn't know it was me and my wife at first. We had a nice conversation and he asked about our baby since the last time we saw him, Julie was about 4 months pregnant. We talked for about two minutes as I think he had to go introduce Toadies. He did mention a Fall tour, which sounds really cool. I won't say any details since I know things can change, but just know it sounds cool! If you get to talk to him, maybe you can ask him about it. Otherwise, I'm sure an announcement will come when Summerland ends.

Alex

[ekeown]

I was disappointed that I didn't get to hear Fuel play Bittersweet, and you got to hear them play it... and you were disappointed that you didn't get to hear Fuel play Untitled, and I got to hear them play it. Obviously you can't make everyone happy, but it is pretty cool that Fuel changes up there set list.