Rockstar Supernova Concert

I went to the Rockstar Supernova concert in Columbus, Ohio, Friday night (Feb.2). I was expecting the music to be a bit harder rock than I prefer, and some of it was, but I'm still glad I got to go! (My pictures aren't very good, sorry!)

Toby's band Juke Kartel opened. It was a fun, short set, about what you'd expect. They're really good, and I would enjoy a whole concert of just them, definitely. They did some originals, including Throw It All Away which he did on the show. (Check out their myspace, they have a great acoustic version up!) They also did Burning Down the House and Rebel Yell. At one point he leaned down to take the camera of a front row fan and took a picture of himself with her. There was a table in the foyer with a sign saying he'd do autographs after the show.

Next was Dilana - with Magni!!!! Unfortunately he didn't get to do a solo, but his voice complements hers very well (& he played guitar on everything, though she had another guitar player too on most songs). They did Every Breath You Take (good except when she had the crowd sing "Dilana" in the middle, just like she did on the show), Wicked Game (awesome!!), Supersoul (a bit better than on the show) and maybe something else, then ended with Zombie, which I hate. But other than that I enjoyed her set.

Next was Panic Channel, Dave Navarro's band. Dave was shirtless, with a hat. It was very obvious to me that this band was formed around a guitar player! The frontman (lead 'singer' might be an inappropriate term - ok maybe that's a bit harsh ) was not that pleasant to listen to. He did, however, come into the crowd and ended up a few feet in front of me. We were in a side section, in the 2nd row. There's a nice 'ledge' in front of the 1st row where people could sit their drinks, and at least one of the gals in front of us had a beer there. Which he picked up & took a drink from! Then he said & headed back to the stage. Needless to say the girls were quite excited and she held the cup for a while. (Also, it was a nonsmoking venue, and Dave lit a cigarette after the 1st song & smoked it on & off for a while!)

They were incredibly loud, and had blinding strobe lights (and that's not much of an exaggeration, though I know my eyes are extra light-sensitive). This is where we got the earplugs out ("we" being me & my 66-year old mom who offered to go with since I couldn't find anyone else and it's like 10 degrees outside! Moms rock!!). And even then I had to leave after a few songs - nice time for bathroom & pretzel run, then 1 more song & they were done. They did mostly originals plus Suffragette City, and at the end they brought Dilana back out & she sang Highway to Hell w/them to close their set.

There were nice, short breaks for small set changes in between each of the openers, then 20-25 minutes for a complete set change after Panic Channel. Supernova had quite the stage set-up! A whole wall of screen for lights, videos, etc. Tommy faced the side the way his drums were set up. He came out twice to do some special effects & a tad of regular keyboard playing. Jason apparently had some kind of surgery & wasn't there; instead was Johnny Colt from the Black Crowes. Gilby is from Ohio so he had to talk to the home-state crowd; I'm guessing he doesn't normally talk much during their shows.

Let's see... there was a short video intro by Lukas & the stage was pitch black (as it was between several songs, which I thought was strange/unusual), then it rocked for an hour or so. They did several songs from their album, including Dead Parade, Be Yourself (and 5 Other Cliches), Can't Bring Myself to Light This Fuse, It's All Love (my favorite), and of course Headspin (my 2nd fave - and with cool head-spinning graphics!). Covers included a rocked-out Boys of Summer

(appropriate lyrics!), and Bittersweet Symphony, complete with live string quartet!! One of the highlights of the night.

Oh! Lukas did come into the crowd as well. The Panic Channel guy made some contact w/fans, touching their hands & such, but Lukas didn't do any of that, he just kept focused on singing & of course had security guards around him. If I'd known, I would've tried to get a pic, but I was at the ledge in case he came that far & was accessible! Oh well. At least I can say I saw him from about 6 feet away for a moment! He was definitely at his most OTT performance live, whereas I would've preferred to hear more of just vocals, but it was a good, entertaining show.

It was tons different than an Idol show (I've been to every season's tour, 2 mall tours, and several solo tours) - alcohol was sold, hardly anyone there was under 20, and I only saw one sign! There were no restrictions on cameras & they let anyone in the floor sections walk up toward the stage/in the aisles if they wanted. I'm sure there were several people who hadn't seen the tv show & were just fans of Motley Crue, Metallica, &/or Guns 'n Roses, but I think the majority watched the show and recognized each of the 4 contestants. Lukas mentioned several times that the audience was responsible for putting him/them there and thanked us.

Here's a really short clip of Boys of Summer: