On May 23, 1999, at Mt. Oak church, Blindside, Project 86, and P.O.D. (Payable on Death) met for what was the hardest, most insane concert I've ever been to. It all started at 7 pm, when Blindside came on and my energy never ceased until they ended their set. My friend, Scott, had gone to the concert, and it was the first concert he'd ever been to without seats. Before this, the hardest concert he'd ever been to was Audio Adrenaline, and if you've never heard any of these bands, they make bands like Audio Adrenaline and DC Talk sound about as heavy as Beethoven.
This was honestly the hardest concert I've ever been too, and I moshed to the point of not being able to stand. When Blindside played Invert (their CD opener), I moshed like I've never moshed before. Somewhere in their set, I got hit really hard in the chest, so was sitting out trying to catch my breath for a while. Though everyone in our group that moshed had to sit out because of pain, it was a great show.
Project 86 was on second. I really didn't know any of their songs, so I just went along with it. I'd have to admit that they have the most crucial mosh pits ever. up until this show, I'd never been so enthused in my life. While they blasted their hip-hop vocals and raging guitars, I spit water over dozens of kids in the crowd. They brought the lead vocalist from P.O.D. on for one of thier songs, which was totally insane for the crowd. I'm proud to say that I survived every second of being beaten and bruised.
P.O.D. headlined. Also with a hip-hop sound, they played for the remainder of the show. This band had the most awsome sound of charisma you could ever want to see in a show (if you liked the music). After about half their set, I got tired and just walked around talking to people from our group. I'd gotten pretty mellowed out (believe it or not), until they started playing the most crucial punk-core song. I threw myself into the mercy of 30+ kids in the mosh pit and got the life beat out of me. Although the song only lasted for about a minute, it was the best song of the whole night (in my opinion). After that, I stayed in the pit for a few more songs, then Nathan and I went and thrashed around outside of the crowd. I went to get a drink from the water fountain, and they started playing the hardest song I'd ever heard. As fast as I could, I ran back to thrash around with Nathan - without swallowing the water. Since I didn't want to jump around with my cheeks puffed out, I emptied it on Nathan. The two of us spit and moshed and whatever with each other for quite a while until my good friend Ben came along. I jumped on him and we relived the New Years Psalter concert (the bitting and wrestling, although much more crucial now) while he dragged me across Mt. Oak by my legs.
When I finally got him off my feet, I spit water on him like I did to Nathan (we're so nice to each other). I started thrashing around more, then realized that all the water and spit combined to make a VERY slippery surface that I jumped on. I fell on the floor and started spazzing, grabbing people's feet (and some the lack thereof), and spit even more. When the set ended, the people demanded that P.O.D. come back on for an encore. They played (I think) 4 songs, and gave a salvation message that quite a few people accepted. They anounced that they were going on the Family Values tour with Korn, Kid Rock, and whatever other bands were going on it. Which, to those who don't know, they get to get the salvation message out to people who are only hearing people singing about killing their families.
Over all, I think this was the best concert I've ever been too. I still have a few bruises from it, although it's been almost two weeks, and I regret having not brought my camera. I would never suggest going to a concert like this to anyone, except the people who went to it this time. Most people would just sit against the wall wondering why we had to stay, and wishing we could go home. As for me, I'd go anytime they came again.
Alan
(FP)
