Payable On Death. Project 86. Blindside. May 29, 1999.
I have been anxiously awaiting this show for three months and the time had
finally come. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep the night before. And I
"patiently" waited until 6:00 PM when Hillary, Jason, and I headed out to
Conyers, GA. We got there around 6:50, got tickets, and went inside. I went
back out and got a POD and Blindside t-shirt (cuz they had already sold out
of a certain shirt I wanted). We met my bud Brent inside and he was pumped.
The lights went off. We all screamed in ecstacy.
Blindside came out and did a hard-n-heavy instrumental to get us started.
Then Christian came out and lead us into "Liberty." The crowd goes wild (we
had an awesome audience). "One Mind" was next and we all screamed into the
mic as Christian dove into the crowd. They played tow other songs ("This
Shoulder" and "Superman") and then rocked out a new song...entirely in
Swedish! I was wondering when they were going to do that. The new release is
expected out in August, from this song, I know it's gonna be a lot heavier
than their debut! Finally, Blindside closed out with "Invert" as we all
screamed the lyrics and the middle crowd moshed.
I went outside for a while (because sweat was pouring off my fingertips) and
went back in once I heard Project 86 start to pump out some. I never really
liked this band on CD, but they tore it up live. Lotsa danceable grooves
(which Brent just could not resist) and energy. I was surprised. I just
thought they were a RATM rip-off. I was wrong. The vocalist talked to us
about fear. He said that we need to always remember that we are in God's
care and that we should leave out lives up to Him. Great words.
Went outside again. Talked to a guy about emo and indie rock (because I had
my Roadside Monument shirt on) and how much the emo/indie scene stinks in
Georgia. Oh well. I went back in right away because I wanted a good spot for
POD. POD opened up with none other than "Know Me." I knew that this was
going to be intense. "Draw the Line" was next and everyone knew the words.
Sonny: "Who's gonna draw the line?!" "WE'RE GONNA DRAW THE LINE!" They
played all the favorite plus three new songs that are going to be on the new
CD on Atlantic. They, of course, pumped "Breathe Babylon" and did new tunes
like "Hollywood" and, my personal new fave of the night, "Outkast." Oh, they
also did the dubbed "French Fries" song :) Before POD went on the do "Full
Color," Sonny gave a great testimony about his mother onn her deathbed and
his decision to follow Christ. This band is not afraid of speaking of Jesus.
Thank God we still have them. After an emotionally intense "Full Color," we
chanted for an encore, and they gave it to us!
This was an absolutely amazing concert. This was my friend's Jason and
Hillary's first hardcore show and they loved it. Hillary said, "It's not my
type of music, but the show itself was awesome." If you ever get the chance
to see POD live, do it! You will NOT regret it.
