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Mayhem Fest 2010 at White River Amphitheater on Tuesday, July 13^th

As the four of us arrived to the venue parking lot with Weezer’s “Say It Aint So” playing on the radio, I was excited & ready to get out of the car and into the sea of black clothing and mayhem. I am not familiar with White River like I am the Gorge so I was curious as to how they were going to give the Amphitheater its Festival Layout. It looked like a musical carnival while we stood in line; stages, bike ramps, tents, Rockstar Energy Drink, Jagermeister, and tour buses covered the pavement. We knew it was going to be a crazy day when three Umpa Lumpa’s walked out from behind the chain linked fences before we even got inside the venue. Yeah, Jason and I totally got our picture taken with them thanks to Beacher’s Madhouse.

One of my favorite things about the layout was how the Silver Star and Jagermeister stages were close together and ran off each other perfectly. Like how they run the main stage during Warped at the Gorge. One band plays and thirty seconds later you walk five feet to the left or right and the second band starts. It made the day fly by; before we knew it we saw nine bands and it was off to the main stage for four more! The line-up in order went; In This Moment, Drown Mary, Norma Jean, Shadow’s Fall, Winds of Plague, Chimaira, Atreyu, Hatebreed, 3 Inches of Blood, Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God, Rob Zombie, and last but not least Korn.

I cannot forget to mention our comic metal host for the day; he was very naughty and hilarious. You wouldn’t think comedy and metal would go hand in hand but thanks to Big Jay Oakerson it did!

The day was one circle pit after another. Best circle pit of the day was from the first band In This Moment where during the final song the band got on to the pavement and played in the center of the circle pit while the female singer belted the song from the soundboard. I have been to many many many concerts and I have never seen that before, what a fucking brave and AWESOME thing to do!

It was so crazy to watch the dreadlocks on the singer of Shadow’s Fall as he headbanged their entire set. It was also badass when Hatebreed had kids twirl their t-shirts or bras in the air, making a sea of fabric. Some bands even had some brilliant intros like 3 Inches of Blood came out to the Rambo Theme and Atreyu came out to Queen’s Fat Bottomed Girls. All of the bands kept the kids moving even in the heat.

Rob Zombie blew my mind. What a spectacle. WOW. I have never seen Zombie before and between the fire, video, costumes, masks, and robots it was sooooo fucking cool! Ahhh! He came out of a Knight and the band looked like they were creepy skeletons. The entire set was just packed full of horror clips, comics, and crazy effects, not to mention he played all of the hits. I could write for hours on all of the stuff that was going on! He even managed to get off the stage during a guitar solo during “Thunder Kiss 65” and just walk through the crowd! They even had glitter shoot out into the crowd. I do not want to ruin it for other kids going but DON’T MISS IT FOR THE LIFE OF YA!

Korn shocked the hell out me. I wasn’t expecting their stage set up and the fact that THEY SOUNDED PERFECT! I felt like I was back in the 90’s watching this new band Korn, I heard all of my jams! It was crazy how great their set was and how they hadn’t changed much minus new music. Korn definitely made our night as we left White River with ear to ear grins. So glad I had the opportunity to see this band and I am very excited to hear their new CD!

We also had a fun watching the Metal Mulisha do some INTENSE jumps and moves in the air. If you have never heard of or seen these guys please Google them! As their MC said “the louder you get the stupider they get!” My jaw was open the entire time. I felt like a kid watching fireworks on the 4^th of July, expect I was owwhh and awhhing over boys on dirt bikes. What an experience to watch that while you have some heavy live music in the background. Could you imagine their view of the festival? Lucky!

Third stop on the tour, thirteen killer bands, three major albums dropped today (Korn, In This Moment, and Norma Jean), Metal Mulisha sets, Ice Cold Free Rockstar Energy Drinks, free meet & greets; how can the energy not be sky high? The festival is designed extremely well with enough to keep everyone busy and entertained; worth every penny of your ticket. Would do it again next year! See when Mayhem will be in your town HERE.

Photos courtesy of Matt Auclair.

The Sounds, Paramore and No Doubt
Sunday, July 19th at White River Amphitheater

After conquering a beautiful drive over to Seattle and through Auburn, Matty and I arrived to White River Amphitheater to see the one and only No Doubt. We arrived a little early to make sure we could get in the venue and when we arrived there was already a line around half of the venue full of people waiting to get in. Once we were able to get in I sat on the hill and watched White River slowly fill up, ever inch of green grass was covered with blankets and people all excited to see a great show. People were still filtering in to the packed venue once No Doubt took the stage, always come early to a show at White River. Two lane road not so friendly with 10,000 cars on it.

The Sounds ran out on stage first with a hot blonde singer known as Maja in a little black dress and high heels, kicking her legs up. Like all of the “front – women” of the night she was sexy, feisty, and full of spunk. The Sounds are a Sweden indie alternative band that was a little dancy and just made you want to get up and shake it. Maja was raunchy and full of F-word, which was fantastic because you should of seen the parents run to cover their kids ears every time she opened her mouth. I love the bands attitude and willingness to get the fucking show started. I hope they come back in the fall on their new album release tour!

I saw more Paramore shirts then any other type of shirt at White River, Paramore was written on hats, hand-bags, hoodies, and more. I didn’t know this band was that big. The second the Paramore backdrop dropped on stage the whole amphitheater rose to their feet and everyone was screaming. Running out on stage they kicked off the set with Misery Business and from there on out it was hit after hit new and old. This was the second time I have seen Paramore and on stage they have gotten sharper with simultaneous head banging and Hayley was a bouncy ball covering the whole stage. At one point Hayley stopped the whole band because there was a fight in the pit, she said “…hey we got beef, hey look up here…lets not fight, grow up, if you want to fight there is plenty of room in the parking lot.” That was outstanding and good for her, I respect that. I will admit they were a fun band to see and it’s cool to see how far they have come and I am sure it’s just the start.

Never ever did I think I was going to see No Doubt. I thought for sure Gwen was going to go solo be a mom and that was that. I remember listening to Tragic Kingdom on cassette when I was a kid, I was pretty excited to see them and know that they were going to rock No Doubt classics. Opening with Spiderwebs from there on out the night was packed with the hits. Matt saw No Doubt at White River six or so years ago and he said they sound just as good and look the same, which is impressive for not being out on the road in a while. Gwen killed it and looked FANTASTIC after having kids. During Simple Kind of Life she just glowed during “…I always thought I’d be a mom..” it was cool to hear her sing this song when that is what she has now. The entire sea of heads were jumping up and down and clapping hands, singing along and having a great time. No Doubt also brought two spunky very talented horn players on tour with her that sounded perfect and they even did a solo song with the boys of the band while Gwen changed into a checkered outfit. The theme of the stage was black and white which looked really cool from on top of the hill. With funny and artsy video graphics, lights, and everyone on stage dancing it made for a high energy & fun night. I left hearing all of the hits and I am sure that was the same for everyone else in the crowd. I am glad the band decided to do another tour it was fun to sing along to the same songs I do know and did when I was growing up. Thanks No Doubt!!

Check out more photos from the show HERE!

Andrea@checkitoutmusic.com

Browsing Category white river amphitheater

3 Rockstar Mayhem Festival 2010

1 The Sounds, Paramore and No Doubt

The Sounds, Paramore and No Doubt
Sunday, July 19th at White River Amphitheater