You've Been Saying that For the Past Five Years!

Hoo, yeah, tired. I don't know how people travel all the time for work; it's exhausting.

The highlight of our manager's meeting are all the band performances. They're not always a band/an artist that I'm into but they're always someone that's relevant. At the very least I can always impress a 14 year old by going, "Oh yeah, totally saw them live."

First we saw Melissa Auf der Maur.


She was in Hole and Smashing Pumpkins and is now doing a solo thing. It was inside a meeting hall and the acoustic was meh so I couldn't get a good sense of her sound but I'm thinking she might appeal to fans of Lacuna Coil, though, I could just be thinking that 'cause of all the Viking and bleeding trees image that was playing in the back. I was a bit jet lagged and out of it but she was very personable on stage, which I liked. I hate it when bands just go up, do their thing, and leave.

The next day we saw Bruno Mars.



He sings that, "Beautiful girl, all over the world, nah nah nah nah something something something got nothing on you babe... Got nothing on you babe..." I liked the B.O.B. album a lot but chose to eat my In-n-Out burger in the shade rather than stand in the hot sun near the stage.

After Bruno, we were treated to 3OH!3.


I'll admit that they've grown on me a bit, especially since the performance; they were a lot of fun. The biggest debate seems to be: Do they know they're big douche buckets? Do they take themselves seriously? Is it all an act? Like it's somehow okay to like them if it's all for show and in real life they're just nice, humble, quiet gentlemen who respect all women. Does it matter? Does it change the fact that millions of impressionable 13 year old girls listen to, and love, their demeaning lyrics?

Back inside, we were treated to...


...Christina something I think... Perri? Yeah, Christina Perri sounds about right. She was apparently a struggling singer working as a waitress (or a barista) just three months ago until Dancing With the Stars used one of her songs (something about a jar full of hearts) and BOOM! Suddenly she's everywhere. She had a very nice voice.

Usually all performances are kept secret but I knew Black Veil Brides were going to play 'cause I saw two of the dudes walking around the office earlier. By the way, they are the skinniest group of guys I've ever seen. I was actually excited to see them because they are one of those immensely popular bands that I never took the trouble to actually check out. I mean, look at them:


Who would not be intrigued? And yet, can you blame me for not rushing home to check out their myspace?


The music was... Meh. But, you know, as someone said of their performance, you got to admire someone who's willing to go all balls out.

The main performance, the one that everyone's supposed to get all super excited about, the one that's kept super super secret hush hush is the one after the awards ceremony on Sunday night. Now, every year I cross my fingers for AFI and every year there's a rumor that it's AFI, but every year I'm disappointed. This year, due to some detective work, we were absolutely certain that it was going to be a band that starts with the letter "A". Could it be? Will this finally be the year...


No, it was Alice Cooper.

Off Topic: I strongly, strongly believe that artist should be alphabetized by their last name and not their first. I know most music stores and iTunes use their first name but, you know, when ever my name gets entered into a file, it's always last name first, right? I mean, I guess you can make the argument that artists are more of a brand than a name but still... Last name first!

Back on Topic: I actually wasn't that bummed it wasn't AFI since I've now seen them live. Besides, Alice Cooper is a rock legend! He was in an episode of Monk! I got a very good place in the pit. As the performance went on, Alice Cooper kept throwing stuff onto the crowd, who would surge forward to catch it, pushing me closer and closer to the stage. Normally, that would be awesome, but I didn't know any of his songs really so there I was was, like right by the stage, surrounded rabid fans just totally rocking out, and I'm just, you know, standing there. I swear he made eye contact with me several times and he didn't seem pleased. Sorry Alice Cooper... Loved you in Monk though!