By Ian Urie
It's been a while since I wrote a concert review due to the lag between magazine
issues.
2008 was a hectic year for me attending concerts with some particular highlights.
This concert was one of them.
This may well be a band whose name isn't recognizable by British readers.
They have had major success in America, though, where they hail from.
The band has been going for over ten years , but are known mainly as as an
unorthodox
post grunge rock band.
Their new album is self titled 3 Doors Down, and is their fourth studio album.
Having been alerted to this band through Last.FM,
I had been interested in seeing the band live.
I was in a less pleasant mood when, after purchasing tickets for their only
Scottish date, it was canceled at extremely short notice.
As you may imagine, this does a band's credibility no good whatsoever.
The band protested their innocence on the fans forum, but it left an extremely
bitter taste, even if it was down to record company
orders.
However, the concert was rescheduled for later in the year, 17th October,
to be more precise.
To save anyone searching, the venue was the Carling Academy in Glasgow.
Just for a change, the weather wasn't too inclement, and the wait to get in
the venue passed reasonably quickly.
For a band without much success in Britain, they engender a rabid
following.
The band itself tours practically nonstop.
One of the many reasons they have such a fan base.
The concert was kicked off by the support band Kolo
These are an English band hailing from Exeter and play music roughly
reckoned to be indie.
The band was picked on the tour by Chris Henderson, one of 3 Doors Down's
guitarists,
who also co-produced one of their demos.
Kolo play well together and their sound was excellent.
I wouldn't go out my way to listen to their music again, as it wasn't particularly
my taste.
The band perform admirably, but, I'm afraid the vocalist's little rambles
between songs and the actual song titles
seemed laughable to me.
The names of the songs escape me, but he would announce things like " I came
home from the pub and was sick in my bedroom, so this song is called
I was sick in my bedroom"
The songs themselves weren't bad, but the introductions and actual titles
cracked me up.
If this band is to do well, they really need to do something about this.
Now for the main event!
Actually there was an extended wait.
Kolo had left the stage and it had been changed over for 3 Doors Down, then
nothing happened.
Chris Henderson stood and drank a can of something, talking to the guy
on the mixing desk while everyone waited.
Was it 3 Doors Down, or the venue?
I'd lean towards the venue.
We'll never know, but when the band eventually appeared, they went straight
to the heart of the matter.
If memory serves me right, they started with Train, from the new album.
The band seem to enjoy playing live together and had an excellent sound even
from the front of the venue.
They also appeared genuinely surprised to get such an enthusiastic reception
from the crowd.
Each song was punctuated by a deep south accented "thank you very very much"
at the end.
The band hails from a small town down in Mississippi and are very down to
earth.
They are also known for their charity work
Brad Arnold commands the stage, and, for a change, isn't a six footer.
The whole band play with no pretensions and simply deliver excellent music
played well.
Since the band tour constantly, you can imagine that they don't have a problem
with timings.
To highlight the fact of his smaller stature, Brad destroyed one of the mic
stands trying to get it low enough for himself.
His voice lived up to the vocal performance on the disks, proving they have
a true sound, unlike others who disappoint when on tour.
There are no superstars or huge egos on view here, and the band powered their
way through some of their older material.
I thought they would have showcased the new album, but actually played a lot
from their previous CD, Seventeen Days.
As a piece of trivia, the album was supposedly named because it is the number
of days off they had between the album before it and going back into the studio.
No histrionics required.
The crowd bayed for more and sang along with every song.
Brad looked surprised to hear them sing word perfect to songs like Train and
Citizen/Soldier.
Maybe the band hadn't realised how many had bought the import of the new album,
since it wasn't released in Britain, or simply downloaded it.
The band hadn't forgotten any of the older standards like Loser or Kryptonite.
The fact that the crowd were so up for it seemed to spur them to even greater
heights.
For a relatively unknown band, it was refreshing to see such an age mix throughout
the crowd.
3 Doors Down play an interesting mix of songs from out and out rockers to
acoustic ballads.
The enthusiasm shown was surely seen by the record company and we can expect
to see much more of them in Britain.
Highly recommended listening.
An unassuming band that helps restore faith in the music industry.
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