ALWAYS ACOUSTIC™

Sunday, December 7, 2008
By Aaron Keker

THE VENUE, Indiana - Imagine the illusion of a lawless nation where it is so chaotic that you feel like disrespecting someone by throwing something at him or almost violently beating the crap out of one another.

This type of lawlessness is what occurred on several occasions at The Venue in Hammond, Indiana.

The chaotic evening started with earlier performances by State of Shock, Papa Roach and Seether.

Aaron Lewis made an early entrance as Seether sang “Nutshell” by Alice in Chains. After the song concluded, Aaron Lewis and more then 1,000 law-abiding assemblers sang an early “Happy Birthday” greeting to vocalist Shaun Morgan. Shaun’s birthday is actually on December 21st.

About a half-an-hour later, Aaron Lewis and Staind were all business as Staind opened with “Suffocate.” As the song concluded, there was an ear-piercing ovation.

As Aaron Lewis energized the audience with his singing, Mike Mushok whipped his hair around as he played the guitar. I am not quite sure how Mike could whip his head around the entire evening. If I did the same action, it would rattle my brain so much that it would cause a headache.

The evening progressed like a typical rock concert as one woman was on top of her boyfriend’s shoulders. As the law-abiding assemblers sang alongside Aaron Lewis on “Right Here,” the lawless illusion for several individuals was quickly unfolding.

As Aaron Lewis belted out the lyrics to “Outside,” security proceeded to escort one lawless individual out of The Venue. Was he the culprit of illicit drug smoking or the lawless individual who disrespected Aaron Lewis as he performed solo acoustically on “Epiphany?”

As the law-abiding assemblers started to sing alongside Aaron Lewis some lawless idiotic individual tossed a plastic cup at him. It infuriated him to say “What the f*** is wrong with [someone] throwing something at me! [I’d] punch him in the mouth; you’re paying good money!” Honestly, did this person believe they were above the law?

Sure it is only a plastic cup, however it could have indirectly caused an injury to Aaron Lewis or even an innocent bystander in the audience. Also, tossing something at an artist is just plain disrespectful!

This is the first time that I have observed Staind headlining and I wonder if that incident ruined any encore that Staind may have performed.

The chaotic evening continued as four more lawless individuals were escorted out of The Venue by security because they appeared to be on the verge of several violent fistfights. With all of these events going around Aaron Lewis and Staind, they maintained their composure. Staind performed some of their other biggest hits like “So Far Away,” “Outside,” “Believe” and “Mudshovel.”

Staind was touring on The Illusion of Progress theme but only performed “Pardon Me” and “Believe.” I hoped that Staind would have performed additional songs like “The Way I Am,” “Tangled Up in You,” “Raining Again,” “Nothing Left to Say,” “The Truth” and “Something Like Me.” Maybe even played one of Mike’s favorites, which is “The Corner.”

Finally, although the evening appeared to be very chaotic, everyone seemed to enjoy, including me, Staind’s performance. Hopefully, Staind will perform additional songs from The Illusion of Progress when they tour again in Chicago. Next time those lawless individuals want to disrespect an artist, please do us a favor and do not attend! Believe me, I do not think that you want to do a throw-down with Aaron Lewis! I met him backstage last year and he seemed like a bad ass! Below is the set list for Staind at The Venue in the Horseshoe Casino.

The Venue:

1. “Suffocate”
2. “Falling”
3. “Right Here”
4. “Fade”
5. “So Far Away”
6. “Pardon Me”
7. “Tangled Up in You” Intro/“Epiphany”
8. “For You”
9. “Tolerate”
10. “Outside”
11. “Spleen”
12. “Believe”
13. “It’s Been Awhile”
14. “Mudshovel”

akecker@alwaysacoustic.com